Leafs new Tree
by CharitysSongbird
Summary: A mistaken trust leads Naruto to be neglected due to his Jinchuuriki sisters; as time passes Naruto fades from notice of his family and his village. But someone has other plans for the blond Hero. Watch as Naruto sets out to show Konoha and his family what he can do. Minato and Kushina alive, NaruHina, gradual development. NO GOD MODE! Enjoy
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form. **

This story is my take on a neglect fic which I hope is enjoyable to those of you who have found this story.

**IMPORTANT READ THIS- **

At one point in this story the following symbol will appear **(CS)** this begins a part of the story where the perspective shifts back and forth rapidly so the text will do likewise to help understand which is happening where the first will be in** BOLD, **while the other will be in _**Italics**_**. (CS) **will also mark then ending of this scene I hope this helps you read it easier.

ok this is a warning, if you are looking for a multi kekkei genkai Naruto, a sharingan Naruto, a story where he becomes brooding or lusts for revenge then I will tell you now you are likely not to find what you are looking for here. Also this story takes a few points of the story cannon and plays with them, so please do not assume that everything is based on canon as that would be plagiarism which I do not partake in. Anyway I do hope you enjoy the story and that you give it a chance to surprise you, after all things are not always as they seem.

Also I use flashbacks quite often in combination with a framing device to get the necessary exposition out of the way while not simply writing block paragraph after block paragraph with dead wording. If you don't care for this then consider this fair warning.

Enjoy.

**Chapter one **

"Talking"

"_Thinking"_

"**DEMON"**

"Jutsu"

**-A Deal Struck-**

On a late October day a crack of sunlight peered its way through a shade covered window set within the stone walls of an imposing tower that stood at the center of a bustling village lit by the orange glow of a fall sun as it sank across the horizon. As that last trails of light pushed through the window they fell upon a blond man relaxed in his chair facing a worn wooden desk his body lax as he looked out towards his dimly lit office. As the light traveled across the worn wood of the desk skipping over unopened scrolls and the discarded bits of quill and paper it came to rest glinting slightly on a pair of china saucers and a photo that sat before them as if the frame itself was to enjoy their presence. Even as the light dimmed the last vestiges of it glinted upon the frame housing the image of an old smiling man staring out defiantly from the glass holding a peace sign as he flashed his eternal smile to the blond before him. Sitting across from the still image the blond man remained motionless as his eyes drifted across the photo, his mind casting into the stream of his memory as he found a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

-Flashback-

"Minato my boy that hat sure suits you." Chuckled an elderly man draped in a set of older white robes his crinkled face turning up in a smile, as he watch his successor place the hokage hat upon his head and take his first seat behind what had long been his own desk.

"Of course it does Sensei, can I teach them or what?" laughed a white haired man dressed like a kabuki actor swelling with pride at seeing his student succeed in his dream thanks to his guidance.

"Well I did some of the work Jiraiya-sensei." Chuckled the blond man as he adjusted the brim of the hat now sitting atop his head so that the red emblem of fire faced towards the pair before him.

As the three men chuckled Minato could not help but smile back at his own inauguration a few hours before as he took his first sit in the Hokage office with his predecessor and sensei looking over him. The blond Hokage simply sat smiling at the two basking in the realization that at long last he had accomplished the dream he had held since childhood. Turning his head slightly he set his gaze out over the village resting below his new perch… his village. As he looked out he felt a small pressure on his chest as his eyes tracked out over his home, pride, hope, and most of all love fighting for dominance as he looked upon the scattered rooftops and the small moving shapes that made of the people he had sworn to protect. Then and there he swore to himself that he would follow in the footsteps of the other Hokage and protect his home from any danger no matter the cost to himself.

As Minato gazed out on the village, the third hokage watched his successor a small smile upon his lips as he felt a growing pride at the man who would be carrying on his duty from that day on. Sighing to himself the third cast his mind back over his time in the office; he had carried the village through the slog of war, the glory of victory, and the simply calm of peace, but now, at long last he was passing on the will of fire to the next generation.

A small tear formed on the corners of his eyes as he saw himself all those long years ago first taking the hokage hat, the look of pride on his sensei's face at the time even as his own lit up smiling just as Minato's did now. And at long last it was his turn to watch the torch pass on. Turning slightly he looked at his student, the toad sage, and couldn't help but chuckle at the expression playing across the man's face.

Jiraiya had never been one for sultry, so while the old third and new fourth hokage allowed this moment to wash over them with small warm expression, Jiraiya had elected to sport a pair of waterfalls that fell from both eyes muttering how proud he was, that his student had made it this far, his words barely audible as he tried to rub away his tear with one red sleeve.

"I…always. *Sniff*.. knew… you had it in …. You… you blond gaki….*Sniff*." the old sage managed between his continued happy sobs. Turning around at the sound Minato could not help but burst into a wide grin looking at his old sensei's expression, rising from his chair as he made his way slowly towards the man.

"Come on ero-sensei, this isn't a time to be crying, wouldn't want all those beautiful women to see the gallant Jiraiya in such a state would we?" chuckled Minato as he clapped a hand upon the sages back causing him to halt his sobbing for a moment. This seemed to snap Jiraiya out of his stoop as he blinked up at Minato for a moment before smiling widely before striking a triumphant pose in the center of the office.

"Your right gaki, I Jiraiya the gallant toad sage am now the teacher of the fourth and soon to be greatest Hokage the leaf has ever known! The ladies won't be able to resist me!" Shouted the white haired man even as a perverted smile spread across his face. At the sight of Jiraiya's perverted smile Minato and Sarutobi could only shake their heads before as Minato slung his arm around Jiraiya's shoulder smiling so brightly he face seemed to glow.

"Well come on then ero-sensei I have a date with the most beautiful girl in the village, and it's a time of celebration!" the blond laughed as he glanced around to the other member of the trio.

"You coming Sarutobi?" Called Minato as he and Jiraiya moved slowly towards the door the blond glancing back to see the third standing silently before the old desk one hand lying upon the worn wood while looking into the photos of the previous hokage's that hung above the window with a small smile upon his lips as he traced each image. As he turned to face the two men his smile slowly grew to match the pairs own as he looked upon the future of his village with pride.

"Yes Minato I'm coming I wouldn't want to keep Kushina and my wife waiting." Replied the third as he turned from the desk starting forwards towards the pair only to stop dead as he came to a sudden realization. The other two noticed this change and stopped their merry making to gaze questioningly at the third who had gone completely ridged.

"Hey old man/sensei are you alright they questioned?" in unison as they looked at the seemingly frozen man. As they watched the smile Sarutobi had adopted grew steadily larger and larger, until it appeared to cover his whole face. As Minato and Jiraiya watched they would have sworn that a younger man had been standing in the office that day so full of life and happiness was Sarutobi as a glorious thought took root in his mind. Then without warning the old man bursting into the loudest and happiest laugh that the two had ever heard from him, the sound echoing around the office seeming to only grow louder every moment as it ricocheted off of every surface.

"HAAAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAHH…no no…. HAHAHAHAHAHAH… pap.. pa.. pa… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH…. FreEEEHAAAAHAHAHAAHHHAA! I..I HEHAHAHA I'M FREEEEEE!" laughed the old man as he threw up his hands as thought he was proclaiming to the heavens themselves of his great victory.

"Um sensei did Sarutobi just go crazy?" questioned Minato glancing around to his sensei who looked just as lost as his student at the old man's apparent breakdown.

"I have no idea gaki." responded Jiraiya as he continued to watch his sensei cheer for a moment longer.

"Hey sensei snap out of it!" shouted jiraiya as he waved towards the man who didn't seem to notice him. For a full minute afterword's the third continued to laugh barely able to speak only sputtering the occasional word out here and there as the pair looked only completely lost as to the cause of this episode.

"It kind of sounded like he said "no more paper work", but why would he say that?" Asked Minato after a few moments of listening to the old man's howling. At this both turned to each other before remembering all of the years they had watched the third wage his seemingly unending war against what he had always said was his greatest foe.

Then as the pieces fell into place the pair found themselves joining in the laughter themselves, at the old man's last victory as hokage. Yes the third hokage student of the first and second had finally surpassed his predecessors in outlasting the evil that was paperwork. For a time the three continued to laugh and joke before finally gaining enough control to head out to the celebration. But not before Minato had insisted on the photo to commemorate Sarutobis' greatest victory.

-Flashback End-

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So two years after that happy memory Minato sat alone in his office his eyes tracing across the photo he had insisted on taking that day dropping his gaze slowly to the saki dishes sat between him and the smiling face of Sarutobi. Looking at the old photo he could only think how happy they had all been then, remembering how Kushina had hit him over the head when the three arrived late, and how Jiraiya had been thrown through a wall by Tsunade when he had tried to flirt with the waitress. It seemed like so long ago now. If only those days could have continued on…but as his memories continued swim slowly past him those bright days slowly shifted till arriving at the darkest night of his life.

-Flashback-

That night under the mid October moon Minato found himself standing beside his wife within a hidden cave, lit only by the fiery elimination of touch light, that they were using to safe guard the birth of their children. Covering the walls and table were a practical sea of seals meant to hold the beast that dwelt within the woman at bay as she gave life to the struggling forms still nestled within her belly. Though at the moment Kushina was quite intent on ridding herself of that particular burden.

"MinatO I'm GOING TO KILL YOU FOR DOING THIS TO ME!" screamed Kushina as she continued to contract her face grimacing as flashes of pain flashed across her sweating brow.

"Come on honey your almost there, you'll be fine." whimpered minato even as the bones in his hand cracked under the redheads grip his face turned up in worry at the sight of his wife in pain before him.

"DON'T YOU Honey ME MIsTER HOKAGE, AHHHH, I BETTER GET ALL THE RAMIN FOR THIS!" she screamed out again as the contractions picked up cutting her words off to be replaced by her labored breathing. The absurdity of the last comment causing Minato to momentarily sweat drop, only his wife could be thinking of ramen at a time like this. However, before the blond could give further thought to the matter his attention was turned around as Sarutobi's wife moved forwards to help received the first child that was slowly pushing out at that very moment.

The birthing was longer than he would have thought possible as each child came one by one, but after what seemed like an eternity, Minato was looking down at three beautiful faces all scrunched up and crying. As he looked down at his newborn children tears found themselves spilling from his eyes, as he waked over with the thirds wife, holding the children up for Kushina to see her own face still stretched with exhaustion lit up in a beautiful smile as she gazed upon her children's small forms. Even as Kushina slowly reached out towards her children's small forms Minato moved forwards to aid in holding the demon sealed within Kushina at bay less the great nine tailed kitsune seize the opportunity to escape its prison.

That moment of relief was when everything had gone so terribly wrong. As Minato had moved forwards a man in a spiral mask had appeared seemingly from nowhere slaying Sarutobi's wife with a single slash spattering the stone floor with a crimson stain as he reached out to seize the still sobbing bundles of his daughters from her quickly cooling corpse. Even as Biwako's body fell the man had swung his still bloodied kunai to the baby's throats and demanded Kushinas' life in exchange. Minato had engaged the man in a desperate battle, and had managed to save his newborn children, but at a cost. The man had managed to tear the demon from his wife as they battled. The Kyuubi had been released and was now attacking the village, his village.

On the front lines ninjas desperately tried to hold the beast at bay, throwing their lives towards the kitsune in a desperate hope to buy a few more precious moments for their loved ones to escape the demon's wrath. Meanwhile within a secluded safe house Minato had managed to retrieve Kushina was now leaning over his wife as he gazed out the window; even as the distant sounds of carnage steadily drawing nearer. As his eyes trailed down to his new family he felt an odd calm wash over him as he prepared himself for what he knew was his duty. He could not let the beast take them, he would not let it take his village, and he would never let it take anything from him while he still drew breath.

"Minato…" Kushina whispered as she gazed up into her husband's face, even as he set it into a look of determination the fear in her voice noticeable even through the pain and exhaustion that wracked her body after having the beast torn from her.

"Min…Minato." she managed again drawing the blonds' eyes to her as she struggled to speak.

"Wh…what are we going to do, the Kyuubi, we…we can't let it hurt them." she whispered her voice fading slightly as she clutched her three babies closer to her bosom each letting out small whimpers as the distant roar of the Kyuubi rumbled across the land.

"Don't worry Kushina, I won't let it hurt them, I promise." he whispered he slowly moved towards her his tone setting of small warning bells within her mind even as she felt Minato's lips upon her forehead, and his hands pulling the three bundles from her arms as he rose.

"What are yo.." was all she was able to say as he disappeared in a yellow flash leaving her alone her arms now empty as she felt a growing horror building in her chest.

"Minato!" she called as the realization of what he was doing, and what it would cost, began to set in for her even as her voice rose what strength she can pushing out in a cry of fear for the lives of her loved ones.

"No Minato not them, not you, NOOOOOO!" she screamed, even as her husband raced towards his death.

A moment after his departure from his wife Minato arrived on the battle field, within a flash of yellow light, landing beside his old sensei and the third, both panting from their continued attempts to hold back the Kyuubi.

"Minato?" they shouted as the blond arrived. Their eyes immediately drawn to the three struggling bundles he had clutched against his chest before shifting back to the young Hokage confusion evident upon their faces.

"Gaki what are you doing bringing them here, this isn't a good time for bring your kids to work day!" the toad sage joked called taking a second to crack a joke despite the desperate situation.

Not replying to his sensei's jib Minato turned to face the two his gaze telling them in a moment that he stood ready to make the ultimate sacrifice that night. At this realization both suddenly felt like bucket of ice water had been dumped down their backs as their thoughts came to settle on the only reason for the children's presence, and the haunted look now evident upon the blonds brow. The Fuinjustu; Shiki Fujin they both thought at the same time.

"Gaki no, you can't do this!" yelled Jiraiya taking a step towards the forth desperate to talk his student out of this.

"I'm sorry sensei but it's the only way, if I do this at least the fox won't be able to take anything else from me, and they," at this point he looked down upon the faces of his children a soft smile touching his lips "at least they will be safe" he finished in a determined tone.

"NO Gaki there has to be another way, we can think of something we just need a little time!" pleaded the toad sage.

"Time!" growled Minato as he turned to his sensei.

"Time is something we don't have, every second is being paid with by the blood of our village, my village, if my death can stop that flow I will jump into the jaws of the Shinigami himself!" Minato shouted back his voice causing the babes in his arms to suddenly begin to struggle slightly against his chest as a the little face of his son let out another loud cry.

"Jiraiya!" spoke the third cutting off the sages retort before it could begin.

"He is right." Whispered the third his words causing the sage to spin around to face him looking horrified at his old senseis words.

"This is what it means to be Hokage, this is what is means to be prepared to give your life for the sake of the village, and this is why Minato was the right choice for Hokage." continued the third as he slowly approached Minato even as the roar of the Kyuubi drew steadily closer.

"Bu…but sensei." Managed the white haired man as he watched the aged hokage pass him by as he slowly moved to stand before Minato.

As Sarutobi approached Minato found his eyes drifting down to the crying face of his son as he raised one hand to lightly caress the boy's cheek in an attempt to quiet him silently thanking the third for understanding what had to be done as he looked upon his children for what could be his last time. That moment, however, was all the aged man needed as he disappeared in a burst of speed appearing behind the young hokage, and with a swift chop to the neck, rendered him unconscious. Before Minato's body had reached the forest floor Sarutobi had moved yet again gathering the three children in his arms and turned to his student who looked on in shock.

"Jiraiya!" the third shouted causing the toad sage to turn away from his fallen student to his teacher.

"Look after the hokage, and," here he paused his eyes drifting slowly across the treetops to where the barest hint of the village could be made out illuminated in the raging flames around it.

"Look after the village for and old man will you." he finished a look of peace overcoming his face as he watched his student looking unbelieving at him.

"Bu…but sensei you can't!" jiraiya began only to fall silent as Sarutobi shook his head slightly the ghost of the sensei he had been seeming to fall around him as he lectured his student for one last time.

"Jiraiya, I told you a long time ago what it meant to be a shinobi of Konoha." The old man said looking back at Jiraiya with that same look of peace upon his face as he slowly turned away from his student.

"Besides." the third called cracking a small smile as he continued, "I think beating both paper work and the Kyuubi will make me welcome when I see my sensei's tonight…after all…I can't keep Biwako waiting for me." finished the old man with a smile even as he vanished towards the raging Kyuubi leaving the pair alone in the clearing as the roars of the Kyuubi thundered across the land, the drums to the final march of a true shinobi.

Jiraiya could only fall to his knees looking down at the form of his student lying unconscious before him. Even as the roaring of the Kyuubi grew and Jiraiya heard and saw the explosions and seal arrays that singled the final battle of his teacher, he could only remember back to his first days as a student with the third.

**(CS)**

"_Sensei, what the idea of the will of fire that you keep talking about?" asked a young jiraiya as he sat tied to training post blinking up towards where his sensei stood looking down at him._

**Pushing what strength remained in his aged form Sarutobi dashed forward breaking out of the forest edge as he turned to face the rampaging Kyuubi a blast of smoke obscuring him for a moment before his oldest partner, the great monkey king Ennma was falling into step beside him. As the two rushed ahead another blast of smoke erupted before the charging man was suddenly amongst a field of identical figures, all now sporting great staffs that they lowered to face the great Kitsune that swiveled to face them.**

"_The will of fire, hu, well that is something my senseis passed down to me when I became a shinobi of this village. Honestly what do they teach you kids in the academy these days." replied Sarutobi putting on hand to his chin as his eyes drifted momentarily from the bound boy who looked annoyed at being suddenly ignored._

**With a monstrous roar the massive kitsune rushed towards the approaching storm of Sarutobi's enormous claws, fangs and tails coming to bear upon the army before him that answer his roar with one of their own a last valiant battle cry that echoed out through the night as the elements themselves hurtled one after another covering the skies in flashes of flame and electricity beside the dull force of water and earth all cast against the beasts ferocity.**

"_Well how to put this? You see the will of fire is what makes us able to protect those we care about. It's that strength that only comes when defending those you care for. It's because I care about the people of the village that I'm able to protect them all, they are my strength." smiled the third as Jiraiya blinked up at him obviously confused._

**As the storm of elements crashed upon the great Kitsune the beast seemed to ignore them as it barreled ahead roaring as it swiped its massive his tails back and forth scattering all that came into contact with them even as its' claws and fangs tore still more of the army before it. At the same time Sarutobi turned to four of his clones handing off the three children, trusting them to handle the ritual as he turned to buy them what time he could.**

"_But sensei, how does that make you strong, I mean aren't we just paid to protect people? Besides everyone protects their home what makes us different?" questioned the boy obviously lost as above him Sarutobi let out a small chuckled shaking his head from side to side._

**Sarutobi hurled himself aside as the massive jaws of the Kyuubi snapped down towards him swinging the massive bow staff, that was his partner, into the beast jaw even as its tails lashed towards him. Swiveling its enraged eyes to focus on the source of this new Kyuubi brought one massive paw around, claws bared, to smash this incest that dare oppose him flat. Just as Sarutobi managed to avoid another crushing tail of the beast a shadow fell over him causing him to spin in time to see a paw, the size of a building, descending upon him. The next moment with an earthshaking impact the Kyuubi felt its paw crushing into the forest floor as a fierce grin to spread across its face. **

"_That is true gaki, sometimes we are simply hired to do jobs for others, but let me ask you this, if you're out on a mission won't you be with your team?" smiled the third, causing the boy to look up at his sensei before nodding slowly as the old man smiled. "You see our home isn't just this village Gaki, it's the people, our comrades, as long as you are a member of this village you will always be with the will of fire." smiled the third as the young boy blinked up at him still looking puzzled at the old man's words._

**Before the great Kitsune could celebrate smashing the annoying fly his smile faltered as a sudden pain erupted from his paw a moment before the end of one massive bow staff burst through its fur rocketing skywards through his very paw staking it to the ground. As the staff continued to rise the enraged Kitsune's eyes turned up to spot the accursed man running up its side going through hand signs as he went. Upon becoming level with the Kyuubi's face the man sprung from the pole towards the beasts face even as it brought its other paw to swat the pole from it paw. **

"_You see jiraiya as long as we have people to protect we have the will of fire, and by protecting them they inherit that will and carry it to the next generation, so our flame will always be passed down." smiled the old man._

**Itsutsu ryu Arashit** **bellowed the third as he became level with the Kitsune's head spitting out streams of earth, fire, wind, water, and thunder towards the beast. Each of the steams forming into a separate dragon which crashed into the beast slamming it into the ground, even as those remaining shadow clones began to slam bow staffs through the beast's tails desperate to hold it for even a moment longer. Meanwhile across the field the four clones had finished the preparations as the three children clung together on a small shrine as around them the clones began flying through the hand signs to call forth the ritual.**

"**FILTHY APE!" roared the Kyuubi as it struggled against its new bindings.**

"**YOU THINK YOU CAN HOLD ME!" spat the kitsune as its tales began to rip the bow staffs away from its body the remaining clones falling one by one as the beast freed itself. **

"**I BURN YOU VILLAGE TO ASH, AND USE ITS PEOPLE TO KINDLE THE THIRST OF MY VENGANCE MONKEY!" roared the Kyuubi as it continued to surge forwards.**

**However, the third was not listening to the beast, he had used the momentary opening to rush to the sealing alter to complete the ritual. Skidding in front of the alter he suddenly found his legs weakening as he fell to his knees coughing up blood as he did. **

"**Guess this old body of mine just isn't going to be enough to for much longer." Managed Sarutobi as he looked back to the Kyuubi even as it began to break free from its cage. As the clones finished their work a sudden cold power radiated across the clearing as the Shinigami himself appeared glowing faintly in all his horrible magnificence dropping to hover slightly behind the aged hokage. At the same moment the seals around the alter began to glow attracting the attention of the Kyuubi, and unbeknownst to those present something else that looked on from the heavens. **

"_And even if we lose someone important to us, their death sparks a light for others to protect those who care about one another, that is the will of fire." Finished the third as he looked down at his student who still didn't look convinced._

**As the Kitsune watched a ghostly hand suddenly emerged from the old man plunging into his being as pain the likes of which he had never known slowly ripped him apart his roars echoing out across the forest. As the broken parts of the Kyuubi were pulled towards the infants by the Shinigami a swirling seal appeared on two of the children as each began to absorb the Kyuubi the beast slowly drawn into each. Even as the last bits of the fox began to fade into the two little girls, Sarutobi noticed a small seal appearing on the only boy of the three…a seal he did not create. As his vision blurred he saw a small tree like tattoo appear for a moment on the boy's forehead, before fading. The time for wondering, however, was over…. his time was over. Looking back towards the village he could just make out the faces on the hokage monument even as the light of his eyes began to fade.**

"_So Jiraiya does that make since now?" asked Sarutobi as he bent to untie the boy from the training poll._

**And with a smile on his face Sarutobi the third hokage, the professor god of shinobi knelt down at the scene of his greatest victory smiling towards the village he loved, and the faces of his masters he knew he had pleased.**

"_I still don't quite get it." Replied Jiraiya a shrug causing his sensei to chuckle slightly to himself._

"_Well that's ok gaki you'll understand someday." smiled the third._

**(CS)**

And as the Kitsune slowly faded from sight Jiraiya sat kneeling before his student his eyes fixed upon the horizon where his sensei's final lesson had finally managed to pound its way through his thick scull…his mouth twitching up in a smile even as tears began to spill from his eyes at the knowledge of what this final lesson had cost his sensei.

-Flashback End-

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As Minato membered that night his thoughts turned to his own part, how he had awakened only in time to help find Sarutobi already dead, his children beside the man on and alter, two having the Shinigami's seal still glowing slightly upon them as the three had moved to hold tight to one another trying to stay warm in the cool night air.

Minato couldn't help but smile remembering how Kushina had first burst into happy tears when he had returned with all three of their children, and then proceeded to beat him into the ground while crying yelling about worrying her so much. He chuckled remembering that following this Kushina had collapsed on him crying into his shirt and telling him never to leave her like that again.

The days following the attack had been tough for the village besides the physical damage the sprit itself had been wounded with the loss of so many. The dead were located and honored, a massive ceremony was held to honor both them and the third for their sacrifice to the village. Minato had announced to the council that his two daughters had become the new jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi explaining the events of that night. While somewhere at first scared of the children, Minato's assurances finally won the counsel over and his daughters were celebrated as heroes for helping the third to save them from the raging Kitsune. Shaking himself from these memories Minato's gaze slowly returned to the photo before him as he let out a small sigh.

Smiling slightly Minato raised his hand to cup one of the Saki dishes raising it towards the photo of the third's offering another thank you to the man.; who one year ago to this day had saved both his family, and his village.

After finishing the drink Minato proceeded home to celebrate along with his family the life they had been given this day.

-Time Skip-

We return to the leaf village some four years later. During this time the village had been able to rebuild itself from the Kyuubi attack, and was well on its way towards a complete restoration. The memories of that horrible night slowly fading into history as Konoha marched into its future. Meanwhile in the Namikaze home most of the family was happily preparing for dinner, or at least attempting to.

Naruto Namikaze the oldest and only son was bouncing up and down in his chair excited for his dad to get home, barley able to contain his excitement as he looked around the room as if expecting the man to pop out from under one of the chairs scattered around the large circular table that served as the centerpiece to the kitchen. The young child's grinning face was just like his mothers, but everything else was a complete mix of his parents. His eyes were a blind of both the violet of his mother and the azure blue of his father so that they carried a look not unlike a sea at sunset. Meanwhile his hair had chosen a bright blond mop just like his dads. As he looked around his blended eyes meet the bright blue of the second oldest child that stood opposite him.

Naruko also bouncing around awaiting the return of their father, her blond hair waving behind her pulled back into a single pony tail that draped down the side of her head while here blue eyes darted around just as her brothers did a wide smile playing across her whiskered face which carried the same smooth curves of her mothers, and her personality happened to be similar as well. As the two children continued to bounce excitedly their matching red and white Uzumaki shirts waving around them, their constant movement drew the attention of the final child.

Standing over by the skink the youngest of the triplets Minami stood in stark contrast to the other two, starting with her fiery red hair that was drawn back so that it cascaded down her back becoming two pigtails mirrored after he godmother Tsunade. Her eyes as well were different carrying a deep red almost brown color that gave her a powerful presence exemplified by her slightly sharper face like that of her father. Unlike her two siblings she was offering help to their mother while every once in a while looking at her siblings with a sad little smile and a shake of her head as though she was looking at much younger children instead of her older siblings.

Meanwhile the threes mother Kushina was currently standing over an oven working to get their dinner ready for when Minato arrived a happy smile upon her lips as she listened to the excited chatter of her children. The previous jinchuuriki had not changed much over the past five years still easily identified by her long red hair her round happy face and warm violet eyes. Thanks to the timely arrival of Tsunade she had recovered from the events five years ago, and had been able to look after her family ever since. At present she was dressed in a simply green and white dress that allowed for her protruding belly to be accommodated. It seemed despite her statements that night Kushina had not been to oppose to brining another little one into the world, and at present her family couldn't be more excited to meet its newest member.

"Here you go Minami put these on the table for me." Kushina said as she handed a few plates to her daughter who turned up to her mother red eyes meeting violet as she nodded.

"Hai Kaasan." Smiled Minami taking the dish from the taller redhead and turning to face her siblings still bouncing up and down at the table.

"You know," she called towards the pair momentarily drawing their attention to their imoto, "you two could help Kaasan and me with dinner it's not like you're doing anything." Finished the redhead as she marched over towards the table.

As she moved the two blonds turned towards their imoto both sporting fox grins and jumped up to help her out. From behind them Kushina could only look on as the children started to set the table, idly placing on hand lovingly over her belly and the new life within it. When Minato had first told her that her two daughters were holding the fox, she had been horribly worried about how the village would react, but thanks to her husband, most had seen them for the hero's they were. Meanwhile her fists had convinced those foolish enough not to listen to think twice before messing with her family. She also remembered back to the time that they had told the girls that they contained the fox one year ago.

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-Flashback-

"Now girls there's something, Naruko get off Naruto." Called Minato as he attempted to speak to his children while them seemed intent on their own activities.

The three children had been engaged in a poking battle while they sat on the couch facing their parents, and Naruko had finally abandoned subtlety and tackled her older triplet over the back of the couch moments before just as their father began to speak to them. Meanwhile Minami was rolling around giggling at the whole thing her tiny hands clasp over her mouth as she tried and failed to stifle her giggles.

A moment later the two blonds emerged from the back of the couch grinning and laughing at their red faced father, while their mother giggled off to the side at her husbands failed attempts to control their children. Receiving nothing but laughter for his efforts Minato looked pleadingly at his wife for help with the situation.

"Okay you two front and center we have something important to say, you can play later." called Kushina finally taking pity on her husband's attempts and deciding to handle her children.

"Hai Kaasan!" the three trumpeted in unison suddenly sitting straight up on the couch once more silently waiting for their parents to continue. For a moment Minato could only blink from his wife to his three kids with a look of shock upon his face, wondering how she could do that so easily before deciding better of it.

"Ahem, anyway there is something important we need to tell Naruko and Minami today and Naruto you need to know to." began Minato as the three listened eagerly.

The two parents then proceeded to tell the three children how the Kyuubi had attacked how the three had been taken to be sealed, and how Naruko and Minami become the next jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi just like their mother before them. After they had finished their story the pair of children sat silently looking between their parents horror slowly creeping their faces. Seeing fear upon their daughters faces both Minato and Kushina started to assure the two girls that everything would be alright… but their son beat them to it.

"So you two have a big fox in you tummy's that's so cool, how does that feel, is it fuzzy, where can I get one?" Naruto called excitedly fired off question after question while poking both of his sister's stomachs unintentionally tickling them.

"Na-Naruto heheha, stop that it tha heahah tickles!" Laughed Minima she tried to get her brother to stop; the tears that had begun to form out of fear, and sadness turning to happiness before she could even let them fall.

"He-Hey Oniichan hehehahe, no fair, stop that!" laughed Naruko, who like her sister had her mind shift form sadness to happiness due to her brother's assault her hands trying and failing to batter his away as he continued to poke at both of the girls drawing fresh giggles from their lips.

"But why, you said you have a fox in your tummy, so I'm just petting him, maybe he's ticklish to!" smiled Naruto while continuing to play with the two sisters each glancing at each other through their laughter before smiling back at their brother and tackling him to the floor intent on paying him back, with cries of fox power, and For the fluffy one ringing out amongst the children's laughter. End the end the serious discussion of the daughters burden culminated in three children two blond and one redhead rolling around before their parents laughing and playing, the fears of what they had learned banished before they be given life.

Meanwhile both Minato and Kushina looked on happily at their children, silently thanking their little maelstrom for protecting his sisters from their own doubts.

"Well Kushina-Chan, I don't think we have to worry about them feeling bad as long as Naruto is around." smiled Minato as Kushina nodded to him, her own thoughts, remembering the words of her predecessor Mito, and knowing that within this family they would always find the love they needed to hold strong to their burden.

-Flashback end-

Just as Kushina allowed her memories to fade Minato entered into the kitchen only to be bowled over by two blond missiles that tackled him to the floor, with ear to ear smiles, and cries of "Tou-san". As she watch Minato disentangled himself from the two with help from Minami who always seemed the more adult of the trio, and helped her father to his feet.

"Well how my favorite family is today?" Asked Minato as he walked over to Kushina planting a kiss on her cheek as he did so.

"Your family is fine dear, we were all just getting dinner ready before the party tonight, isn't that right kids." Kushina said smiling down at the three.

"Hai!" called the three smiles covering all three of their faces.

"Well that's great guys." Replied Minato as he moved to help Kushina with the meal fussing over her to the point she had to swat him with her ladle just to get him to calm down.

After dinner the group proceeded to get dressed for the arrival of their guests for the party, before they headed out to the Kyuubi celebration. Once they were all down in the living room again minato called his family forward to make a quick announcement before the guest arrived.

"Now Minami, Naruko I have talked to your Kaasan and we have decided that we need to begin you training a littler early, so that we can get you guys ready for the academy next year." he said smiling down at his girls.

Both girls smiled brightly at this Naruko even jumping up and down saying how awesome it was going to be to become a kunoichi as the looked excitedly towards their parents. However, both stopped a moment later when they realized that their brother wasn't celebrating. Naruto was looking between his sisters and his parents wondering why he hadn't been mentioned his little face turning towards Minato confusion evident upon his face.

"Ano, Tousan?" spoke Naruto prompting Minato to turn towards his son.

"Am I going to start my training with Naruko-chan and Minami-chan?" questioned Naruto as his Imoto's soon turned to look from their brother to Minato in turn just as confused as the blond boy.

"Well you see Naruto-kun your sisters need to learn to control the fox so they will be safe as Kunoichi in the academy, but once they have gotten the hang of it you can join in training but for right now we have to make sure they are safe. I know it's hard but for right now we have to work with the girls a little more." Spoke Minato kneeling down so that he was closer to his son, his face an odd mix of sadness and determination that was lost to the young child.

His Tousan's words caused Naruto to turn towards his two sisters who were watching him with worried expressions, as though they were scared he was going to blame them for this, and worse that they would be leaving him behind. From the time they were kids they had always been inseparable, and the idea of leaving Naruto to fend for himself sounded wrong to them.

As Naruto saw the pairs expression slowly shifting he realized they were worried about him, and thought back to what his tousan and just told him. He did want to train with his sisters, but he remembered hearing from Kushina once that training with the Kyuubi had been hard for her. That must be what this was, so if he wanted his two sisters to be ok when they entered into the academy he'd have to wait a bit...well that was ok wasn't it. And besides it wasn't like his parents were going to not train him, they just needed to look after his sisters first, that was all, he reassured himself as he nodded towards Minato.

"Ok Tousan, I understand." Replied the blond boy smiling as he turned to face his sisters.

"You two better train hard or when I join I'll leave you in the dust!" boosted Naruto smiling as he saw the pair shift from concern to happiness at his assurance.

"Oh yeah, well I'm going to train so hard, I'll be hokage like Tousan before your training starts!" shot back Naruko not one to back down form a challenge as a confident smile split across her face.

"Ya we will be so great you be begging us to teach you what we know!" added Minami, inwardly happy that her brother was going to be ok, and promising to be strong enough to help him like he helped her at learning about her burden.

"Ok kids it's about time for the guest to show up." called Kushina getting the three to separate and calm down in time to greet their guests.

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-Time Skip-

It was now almost a year later and the triplets had just turned six a few days ago, while their newest little sister Mito was just turning one. The three had changed little during the year in manner of looks. Meanwhile their new little sister had been growing quickly into a little bundle of energy that the whole family adored. Little Mito with bright red hair, and violet eyes was like a little Kushina in the making and her bubbly excitement was partially infectious to anyone who meet her.

Over the year since the birth Minato and Kushina had been training Naruko and Minami to harness and control the Kyuubi chakra making steady progress as they worked with the pair. Minato had even called Jiraiya to stop by and help train the two whenever he was free. As a result the two sisters had begun to blossom as future Kunoichi each determined to make their family proud. Speaking of family one of their instructors usually sported a little redheaded babe at most of their sessions.

Following the birth, Kushina was often found with Mito in her arms instructing the two while she watched them practice. Meanwhile the children's Godmother Tsunade was busy most of the time with the medical program she had pushed through after the Kyuubi event, but still found time to stop by and spoil her goddaughters rotten and patch them up when they managed to bang themselves up like children are want to do. Sadly even as Minami and Naruko grew steadily closer to their family their brother was slowly fading from that same light.

Naruto found himself being left out little by little from family activates, slowly being overshadowed by those around him as his sisters drew more and more attention. After the birth of Mito his parents tended to stress their attention between his sisters training and looking after their newest little member leaving little time for him. Meanwhile those outside of the family like Jiraiya while kind to Naruto but only present every now and then, and for some reason that Naruto didn't understand seemed to focus only his twin sisters. At the same time his godmother, Tsunade, was always chatting with his sisters whenever she was visiting, helping to patch them up whenever their training got out of hand, leading to a strong connection between all of them, but whenever she looked at Naruto he would notice her eyes getting teary, before she turning from him leaving him alone and confused in her wake.

What he could not know was that Naruto looked so much like Tsunade's younger brother when he was growing up that Tsunade could not look at him without remembering her brother's death. So instead of facing her fear head on she simply chose to avoid Naruto. While she did not dislike they boy, she simply told herself that he had others to look after him.

So slowly Naruto became more and more excluded from his family, while his sisters still played with him occasionally they had begun to incorporate training into their games playing ninja running, and the like that he could simply not keep up with. But as always he insisted that they go on ahead not wanting to make them feel bad about their abilities. Despite everything happening to his life Naruto stayed the same kind boy he had always been, he smiled and laughed and did whatever he could to see his family smile. And that was no different today almost a full year after his sisters had begun their training.

The birthday was in full swing now with people milling around. All of the clan heads in attendance to offer their congratulations to Mito turning one. Speaking of Mito she was sitting happily, in a bright white onesie with an Uzumaki spiral adorning it on the back, between the feet of her older brother while giggling as the played with her.

As Mito sat laughing as she rolled around under her brother's gaze as it trailed to the yard where Naruko, and Minami were off playing with a few of the clan heirs, while Minato and Kushina where talking with their parents and discussing the upcoming year at the academy, where many of their children would be attending.

As Naruto continued to play with his red haired imoto he heard a quiet voice call out to him from behind. Turning his mixed eyes fell upon bluish hair and wide eyes of his best friend, Hinata Hyuuga. The two had only known each other for a few months but already they were almost inseparable thanks to an event back when they had first meet where he had stepped up to protect her against some bullies at the park.

-Flashback-

Naruto had been walking through the park wondering what to do while his sisters were off playing shinobi tag, when he heard the sound of raised voices from behind a clump of trees a bit off the trail. Curious Naruto headed towards the voices. Upon arriving he had found Hinata in a circle of boys all making fun of her, and pushing her to the ground.

"Hey leave her alone!" shouted Naruto running up to stand between the bullies and Hinata the girls eyes still moist with tears looking up to see the blond haired boy standing before her. As he came slowly into focus she suddenly remembered seeing him from afar when the Hokage had meet with her father.

"Hu, who's this kid?" asked one of the boys looking at Naruto as beside him his friends shook their heads not having any idea.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, and I won't let you pick on her!" shouted Naruto at the bullies raising both his first in front of him to make his point clear. The bullies stared at Naruto with varying looks of confusion, before one finally spoke.

"Wait I though the hokage only had two kids, the village princesses?" muttered one looking at his fellows who nodded at him.

"Yeah everyone knows that, you moron!" said another pointing at Naruto.

"Let's teach him for lying about our hokage guys!" shouted the last, as the boys fell upon Naruto.

Hinata could only watch as her hero was attacked by the three boys, trying but failing to stand up to the onslaught of all three. She was about to try and help him when a pair of yellow and red blurs crashed into the bullies blowing them back off the small form that was Naruto.

"HEY! WHICH ONE OF YOU WANTS TO TELL ME WHY YOU ARE HURTING MY ONISAN!" shouted the enraged form of Naruko, as she stood protectively in front of her brother blond hair wiping back as her blue eyes trailed across the stunned bullies.

"Never mind Naruko, it doesn't matter what they say they're still getting a butt kicking for hurting out Oniisan!" called Minima cracking both her knuckles like her godmother often did, whenever their godfather did something perverted, the three boys shivering as the pair advanced on them.

Before the three boys could do more than cry out in fear the girls were upon them returning each punch tenfold for having hurt their brother. During this commotion Naruto had slowly gotten up, and look around to find Hinata looking worriedly towards him her eyes still moist with tears. Smiling at her Naruto half dragging himself over till he was beside her looking her over with an obvious amount of concern.

"Hey are you ok they didn't hurt you did they?" Asked Naruto once he got close enough to see Hinata clearly. Hinata in turn simply nodded slightly as her mind raced trying to figure out who this boy was before her.

_Wait I thought the hokage only had two girls, but they just said he was their brother, so wait does that mean the hokage's son just saved me? _She thought in a rush even as a red blush began to creep over her face as Naruto leaned in looking concerned.

"Hey bro you ok?" came the call of Naruko who had just finished giving the world's worst weggy to one of his would be attackers. Turning at her call Naruto found himself smiling at the sight of the three bullies now tearing across the clearing all crying as his sisters stood triumphantly before him.

"Oh course dattebayo I'm fine those guys couldn't beat me if they tried!" he said trying not to show that he was actually pretty hurt.

"Oniisan, what are we going to do with you?" sighed Minami as she approached shaking her head slightly.

"You're not strong enough to protect yourself yet, try thinking before you act." she finished looking a little sad at lecturing the boy for getting himself hurt.

"I'm am to strong, I'm going to be stronger than both of you, just wait till we get into the academy and you'll see!" Naruto replied standing up and thrusting his fist into the air.

"Baka" Minami said while putting her hand over her face. She knew her brother wanted to be strong, but the fact remained that he was only going to get himself hurt if he kept on going the way he was. She was also getting more and more annoyed with how he seemed unwilling to realize it.

_Why doesn't Oniisan see how far behind he is. I mean he just keeps saying that Kassan and Tousan will train him soon, and he'll show us then, Oniisan has to learn how things work or he's going to get himself hurt. _She thought as beside her Naruto had other ideas.

"Ha, no way bro, I'm going to be the best every, and become Hokage, you don't need to worry I'll always be here to protect my baby brother. And then I'll train you to but only if you ask nicely!" laughed Naruko as she smiled at her brother. Naruto responded to her jab by sticking his tongue out and telling her that he would be better than her in no time, and the two degraded into a small friendly argument while Hinata and Minami watched on.

-Flashback End-

After that Naruto had gotten to know Hinata slowly the two becoming fast friends playing when they could, and generally just enjoying each other's company. Each also learning the similarity they shared in their family. Like Naruto Hinata seemed to have been slowly pushed away after the birth of her younger brother a little over a year back. The little boy Hanabi having become the center of attention within the Hyuuga household, happy that he had emerged despite the worry surrounding the boys Kaasan.

Their mother had been sick for several months while carrying little Hanabi, but thanks to the presence of Tsunade she had pulled through, though the events surrounding the birth still resulted in her being bound to a wheel chair for the rest of her life.

This on top of the new child severely hampered Hitomi's ability to look after her daughter, but if nothing else the Hyuuga woman was stubborn to a fault and did what she could for her daughter even if it was just the two sitting in compounds gardens together. Hinatas' father, however, was a bit of a different story; he had latched onto his son and had become more and more attentive to him bragging about how he was going to raise him to be the greatest gentle fist user, even better than his brothers' son Neji. Unfortunately for Hinata she was born into a family where power and skill seemed destined to decide ones fate, the competition slowly growing throughout her family making for a hard place for the innocent girl. But for now she was free from that as she smiled across at her friend and his imoto.

"Hello Naruto-kun." Whispered Hinata as she approached the pair of Namikaze's, guiding her ototo Hanabi as she did so. While Hinata took after her mother, Hanabi was a little Hiashi in every regard, and walked with a sense of pride that made him an odd sight only being one year old himself.

His stoic mask broke however, when the little red headed Mito walked over to him smiling wildly into his stoic face. Before the little Hyuuga could do more than look at this smiling redhead Mito let out a happy giggle before throwing her blanket towards the boys head intent to drape him in it. Hanabi seeing the blanket approach tried to perform the spinning move he had seen Hyuuga do to deflect things form hitting them, but sadly not understanding that only twirling wasn't going to save him as the blanket fell over him winding its way around him so that he soon found himself wrapped up and on the floor looking up at a giggling red head who dropped down to start pushing playfully at the trapped boy.

While the two one year old had been having their tiff, Naruto and Hinata had begun talking about the academy hoping they would both be in the same class when it started. And so on. This continued throughout the evening until at long last the guests had left and only the Namikaze family remained.

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As they parents tucked each of their children in for the night Naruto sat waiting in bed for the chance to ask his parents the question that he had been waiting a full year to ask. When the two came in to wish him goodnight they found Naruto bouncing up and down on the bed in restless excitement.

"Now what has got you so excited?" asked Kushina smiling down at her son as Naruto's excited eyes turned to her.

"Well Kassan, now that Mito is one does that mean I can join the training now, can I?" asked Naruto with stars in his eyes as he looked between his parents.

At his question Kushina felt a slight pang of guilt as she looked down at the smiling face of her son. She had only recently been able to get back up and start to help the girls with their training and despite their improvement they were still not where both Minato and she wanted them to be before Naruto joined them. With Mito finally becoming old enough to not need her complete attention she had hoped to move towards training the girls on a more hands on approach to finish things up.

Meanwhile beside her Minato was biting back his own guilt as flashes a choice he made assaulted him like so many hammering blows. He still had to help his girls prepare for the job they would have in the future…he knew that…and for that he also knew what he would have to sacrifice. But he had to make sure they were ready if everything he cared about was to be protected.

_Besides, I went through the academy without help…so did sensei, it's not like I'm leaving him to the wolves, and there will be time later…yeah…later. _Thought the man as he shook himself back to reality look down at his son.

"Well?" spoke Minato drawing Naruto's attention to him, "I think it would be best for you to start up in you academy studies before we start your training son." Spoke Minato as Kushina looked to him a little worried.

"hu, but why?" asked Naruto looking confused.

"Well you see son, the academy will be able to tell where you are good at so that when you start with us, we will be able to teach you even faster, and we don't want you having trouble with both our training and the academy work." lied Minato, even as he felt the pang of guilt in knowing that he was misleading his child.

"Bu…but I thought I would get to be trained by you." whispered Naruto looking sadly between his parents feeling a horrible sinking feeling in his chest as the joy and excitement that had been building there tumbled away.

"You will Sochi, we'll be training you in no time, but we need to make sure we don't rush things." said Kushina feeling tears on the corners of her eyes even as she saw the confusion on her sons face, as she too threw in the white lie she hated herself for using.

Naruto for his part looked back and forth between his parents feeling a multitude of questions springing to life within his head.

_Why can't they train me, I mean they love me right, and they train Naruko and Minami. Why am I being left out? Hey why does mom look sad, I hate it when she looks like that. Stupid Naruto of course they love you look they are sad you don't like them looking after you, baka, quick smile show them you're ok. Wait… why I mean I am sad maybe they should feel bad… no, no I won't let them be sad dattebayo! _Thought Naruto as he pushed back his confusion forcing a smile onto his lips.

"Um…ok!" he said happily causing both parents to relax slightly, " but when I know what I'm good at you better be ready because I'm going to show you that I'm the greatest shinobi ever dattebayo!" cried the boy his words causing both parents to let out a breath at this relieved that Naruto seemed to be taking the idea ok. Soon they finished tucking him in and left to look after Mito, before turning in themselves. As the pair moved down the hall towards their own room Kushina found herself doubting her own actions as she turned to her husband.

"Minato, do you think this is ok, I mean leaving Naruto out, he needs to be trained too you know. Sure I want to make sure the girls are ok but lying to him like that…it's just wrong." Finished Kushina solemnly as she and him got ready for bed.

"I know Kushina, but we need to make sure the girls are looked after first, and you are the only one who can safely train them, neither of them are able to form your chains so we need to be careful, I just don't want to seen any of the hurt. Sometimes we have to tell a white light to protect them, but we'll never stop loving him Kushina, and well make it up to him…I promise." Minato replied softly silently trying to convince himself even though he knew he was only telling half-truths.

"I guess, well start his training up next year, and then well make him an amazing shinobi…right?" Kushina responded with an almost pleading note to her voice.

"We…we'll make it up to him Kushina…I promise." Replied Minato as he laid down to sleep beside his wife, feeling as though his mind would tear itself apart for what he was doing.

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Meanwhile down the hall Naruto was having more problems falling to sleep as well his mind continued to fire off controdictoring arguments about his parent's behavior.

_Why don't they train me with my sisters, is it my fault, no I haven't done anything. What should do, I want to be strong enough to protect them? No, they are both awesome shinobi, they have to have reason for what they're doing right, right? _He continued to ask himself desperate for some kind of answer...

"**Will YOU STOP THAT I'M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!" **shouted a feminine voice from seemingly all around the room as Naruto froze wondering for a moment if his silent pleading had been answered. Naruto looked wildly around in an attempt to see where it was coming from only seeing the shadowed shapes of his room before him.

"Who said that" he shouted, still looking around his room starting to get a little frightened as he continued to see no one that could have spoken to him.

"**Learn some manners and I might just tell you, you little seedling." **Replied the voice once again seemingly coming from nowhere. With nothing else for it Naruto decided to answer the voice.

"umm ok Mr."

"**That's Ms."** The voice interrupted.

"Sorry Ms. But where are you and why can't I see you?" Asked Naruto wondering what was going on. _Am I going crazy, you see this is what you get for being stupid; Kami is making you hear voices? _He thought to himself before he was interrupted from his mental berating by the sound of laughter.

"**Kami he heha, oh that's good, me kami, that's priceless, I wouldn't be caught dead looking after the universe, too much work." **Chuckled the voice slowly petering out into a small fit of giggles.

"Wait how did you hear me, where are you?" asked Naruto again searching for the source of the voice, this time looking under his bed as if he expected to see someone hiding under it.

"**You can stop looking for me little seedling, I'm not in your room, I'm in your head." **the voice stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. This caused Naruto to stop dead in his search, and look across to his wall where a mirror hung, as if expecting to see another face reflected upon it.

"What do you want with my head, what's going on, who are you Ms. what do you want?" Asked Naruto firing off questions one after another.

"**Relax already you're going to give yourself a heart attack, I swear you little seedlings are all the same. To answer your question I suppose you can just call me Juubi, and what I want is to make a deal with you." **Spoke the voice as Naruto continued to stare into the mirror.

**Ok chapter done few points to answer your questions before they come.**

**Yes Hanabi is a boy here, the name is genderless as far as I can tell and so he is a boy in this story, besides he looks about the part all the same anyway.**

**Yes Tsunade is not a godmother but this isn't cannon so things aren't the same.**

**I feel I need to stress this, ahem no god mode, no super powerful I can take on an A and S rank shinobi when I am 10 years old here, if you're looking for that you will be disappointed. My Naruto will not be a powerhouse overnight, and he will have to struggle to win his fights, after all with no struggle how can it be engaging?**

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	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

First I would like to give a shout out to those who have reviewed, and favorite my story in the short time it has been out, I hope that you continue to enjoy my work as we go. So this next chapter is dedicated to you guys and gals.

Also it has been pointed out I made several grammar mistakes in my last chapter, I will endeavor to correct this as I continue. I will only say that I wrote the chapter in one day, and was eager to get it out, but will take more precaution in the future.

So without further talking from me here we go for chapter two….. Oh my god I'm typing in rhymes!

**Chapter two**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation_

"**DEMON"**

"Jutsu"

-**A life forgotten**-

"What do you want with my head, what's going on, who are you Ms. what do you want?" Naruto called firing question after question out with hardly a pause between them.

"**Relax already you're going to give yourself a heart attack, I swear you little seedlings are all the same." **Sighed the voice as she waited for the boy who seemed to have finally run out of steam to quiet down. As he finally fell silent the voice spoke out again echoing in the empty room.

"**To answer your question I suppose you can just call me Juubi, and what I want is to make a deal with you." **Continued the voice as Naruto looked across the room into the mirror that showed is own puzzled face.

"Juubi?" muttered Naruto quirking one eyebrow up as he spoke, a little surprised by the word.

_Well that's a weird name _he thought to himself as he crossed his arms in thought_._

"**I will have you know it is not a weird name young seedling, and it is not polite to insult someone who can make your head explode from the inside out"** the Juubi replied with an air that only an irritated woman could pull off.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" shouted Naruto a moment before rolling off of his bed both hands now clapped to either side of his head as he thumped to the wooden floor where he proceeded to roll back and forth in apparent panic.

"No Ms. Juubi don't blow up my head! Please Ms. Pretty beautiful, kind loving Juubi; you wouldn't do that to me would you? Please?" begged Naruto as he rolled to a halt looking into the mirror with rivers spilling from both of his eyes as he clapped his hands before him as though in prayer.

"**pfft, oh this is priceless, you're great, I can't wait to see what else I can make you do." **Calm the amused voice of Juubi from seemingly everywhere in the room.

_Oh this was so much better than being stuck in the moon_; thought the voice, at least here she could have fun messing with humans again. After finally getting her amused giggles under control Juubi turned her attention back out to her host, noticing as she did that he had fallen silent once more.

"**Hey little seedling you still alive out there?"** asked the Juubi as she once again looked out through the boys eyes to seem his face now turned from fear into a childish pout that was looking back at him from his own reelection.

"**Aww does the little seedling not like being picked on by the big bad Juubi?"** she laughed looking at the cute pouting form of Naruto who had brought his arms up folded before him as he looked pointedly away from his reflection as if trying to ignore the voice.

"That wasn't funny." Muttered the boy still refusing to look at his own reflection as if that was who he was conversing with.

"**Oh on the contrary I think it was quite funny."** replied the Juubi, waiting a few moments for a response from the boy who seemed quite set on ignoring her..

"**So do you want to know what my deal is or do you want to sit pouting on your floor all night? Because I can wait a lot longer than you seedling."** Chuckled the Juubi as she saw the boy glancing back to his reflection a thoughtful expression upon his young face as he slowly let his arms fall to his sides.

"I guess." Mumbled the boy finally turning to face the mirror again, even if he was only facing his reflection.

"Um Ms. Juubi, is there a way that I can see you it's kinda weird talking to myself." Called the boy as he gave his reflection another glance.

The boy's remark seemed to trigger something within the woman as her own thoughts turned back to a time when her only companion had been her voice…and how that long loneliness had come to an end so many years ago.

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-Flashback-

The disembodied consciousness of Juubi was silently flouting within her lunar prison, her thoughts cast out once more to how she had managed to let some stupid women steal her charge, and worse let that same women's children seal her away after robbing her of her power and children in one fail swoop. As her thoughts began to swirl the agitation became too much as she called out into the starry night.

"**AAHHHHH if I ever see that women and her sons again I'll seal them in this stupid rock and see how they like it!" **screamed Juubi into the silence of the moon that she called home.

It had been thousands of years since that stupid sage had sealed her into this lunar prison and with only her thoughts to keep her company the time had passed very slowly indeed. Her only reprieve had been when on a full moons night she could cast her gaze down at the world these brief glimpses being all that kept her from falling to absolute despair within her celestial tome. So tonight like those before she turned her gaze upon the earth, not knowing that this moment would spell that end to her long exile.

As her eyes slowly shifted down her attention was immediately drawn to a commotion within a forested land. As she looked closer she saw her youngest son causing his usual nine kinds of hell for the people of a shinobi village. As she watched her son swiped his tails back and forth across the armies of the village his mouth open in a roar of rage…but something was wrong. That rage, it wasn't his.

As she watched the great Kitsune raging among the trees she saw his almost rabid assault upon the village that sat burning beneath him, her eyes narrowing as she saw his eyes momentarily turn skyward his eyes sporting a horribly familiar red marking. Her memories recalled the only other time she had seen her son like this, all those years ago in that valley as he stood between the decedents of that stupid women, used as a pawn in their petty battles for power. As her memories fell into place beside the vison before her an uncontrollable rage boiled up within her.

"**Damn them!" **she yelled as she struggled hopelessly against her prison walls.

"**It's not enough that they bind me here but they have to continue to use my children in their stupid war!" **cried the woman as she looked down at her sons body paraded like a puppet to that families tune.

"**Leave him alone you bastards! When I get out of here I swear I'm going to tear them limb from limb and scatter their ashes to the four winds so even kami can't put their bodies back together! LET HIM GO!" **screamed the Juubi as below her son continued to rage.

Even as she howled and struggled her eyes noticed as an older figure charged along to attack her son. Unable to tear her eyes away she watched the battle began the shinobi throwing everything he had in an attempt to halt her son's assault on the village.

As the struggled her eyes turned to a small sealing table which appeared behind the man, her attention now drawn to the three small bundles that lay upon it. Turning her attention back to the battle she watched as one of the attacking figures split form the fight turning to run towards the table, as the seals around it began to glow eliminating the night sky around it.

Then he appeared…the one she had long ago known, the brother of her lord…the lord she had failed so long ago.

"**No it can't be."** Whispered Juubi her tone speaking of the disbelief currently running through her as she gazed upon the figure who had emerged from behind the old shinobi. But there he was…the Shinigami himself, in all of his terrible glory his hollowed mask looking down across the bundles before him before turning to looked up upon the great Kitsune.

Then before she could overcome her shock she was forced to watch as his hands reached out to tear her child apart. She watched helplessly as the hands tore the yin and yang from her son his roars of pain flooding the night's sky as her own rang out in the heavens above. And still all she could do was watch as the Shinigami's hands dragged the two halves into the children sealing her son once again into a living prison.

As the scene slowly came to an end Juubi found herself openly weeping at the sight of her son's fate. The nine may have never been her chosen children, but they were born from her, and like any mother, she could no more bear their suffering than her own. As the final flickers of her son began to fail Juubi found herself turning from the surface not wishing to see any more, not able to bare to see her children suffer as she sat helplessly above them.

Then just as her eyes slowly turned away from the lands below a gentle pressure caught her, as though a hand had reach up to halt her from looking away.

As she turned towards that feeling her eyes found themselves moving down towards the table beside which the Shinigami still stood looking up towards the moon right into her eyes. As the pair's eyes meet the Shinigami slowly inclining its head towards the final bundle upon the table. Watching Juubi saw the skeletal hand of the figure moving to trace a small seal upon the boy's brow…her symbol as he looked back to her as if to tell her that it was waiting.

For a moment she was unable to even believe that this was happening. Had Kami finally heard her prayers, after all of these years, was she finally being given a second chance a place outside of this moon prison to once again live in….a chance for freedom?

The Shinigami once again shifted his head motioning for the Juubi to move towards the bundle even as its form began to fade. As the ghostly figure slowly began to dissipate she shook herself from her thoughts as she looked back to the disappearing figures her lips parting as a chocked voice issued out.

"**Thank you"** she whispered as she allowed the pull from the sealing table to draw her down towards the final struggling bundle. And so as her soul had finally been freed from her lunar prison, finally back to the world she had so long been apart form. And so she found herself slipping gently into the final struggling babe who lay beside his siblings a small look of peace crossing his face as the seal upon his head glowed faintly before fading.

-Flashback End-

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As Juubi shook herself from her memories her attention returned to the small blond still looking curiously at his reflection as she felt a small smile crossing her lips.

"**Well since you asked nicely I guess we can meet face to face."** Spoke Juubi as she considered the how to go about handling the situation before her.

"**Tell me boy do you know what a mind scape is?"** asked the woman's voice after a moment as she watched the boy blinking at her words.

Naruto in reply cocked his head to one side at the question moving to re-cross his arms in what passed for a six year olds thinking pose. For a full minute the blond sat there his eyes closed in apparent concentration as Juubi waited silently starting to wonder if the boy had slipped back to sleep on her. After a little longer Naruto suddenly opened his eyes with a look of confidence on his face as he spoke.

"Nope no idea!" he called as a wide grin found itself spreading across his face. For a moment Juubi simply looked at the boys smile before letting out a sigh as she shook her head.

"**You know that's not something you should be particularly proud of seedling." **Pointed out the woman as Naruto's smile faded replaced with an annoyed look.

"Hey, it's not my fault; if you're so smart why don't you tell me what it is dattebayo!" Naruto fired back as Juubi's face quirked up into a smirk the boy could not see.

"**What did I say about asking nicely"** Juubi whispered in a dangerously sweet voice that caused Naruto to freeze his mixed eyes to go wide as he shifted back into his pleading look, complete with clasps hands.

"Um, I mean ah, please tell me smart, pretty, nice Ms. Juubi." gushed Naruto with a hint of panic as he looked to his own reflection hoping his head wouldn't explode any moment.

"**Nice to see you remember, oh and drop the Ms., but the pretty you can leave." **Chuckled Juubi as she focused on drawing the boy into his mindscape.

"**Now just relax I'll help you in this time so you can get a feel for it"** she called as her presence reached forwards towards the boys own.

Even as the final words echoed within the boys mind he felt a tug on the back of his neck as darkness slowly closed in from the outsides of his vision. At first the sudden blackness terrified the young boy as it slowly crept across his eyes swallowing him whole. However, just as the last vestiges of light disappeared his eyes were suddenly assaulted with a blinding flash that caused him to raise his hands before his face as an impromptu shield. A moment later as the light slowly faded Naruto lowered his arms allowing his eyes gaze around at his new surroundings.

Where before, he would have seen the simple plaster walls of his room, with its usual amount of mess he instead saw a massive expanse of blue and green stretching out to the horizon. A moment before he had been sitting in his room on the second floor of his home, but now found himself in an open field the soft green grass now all around him brushing lightly against his bare feet. As he turned his eyes skyward he saw a cloudless blue sky that seemed to stretch on for miles in every direction on and on as if this land had no true end to it. Feeling the touch of the green ground below him Naruto's eyes fell across his orange pajamaed from to the grass on hand running gently through it as he pushed himself up from the ground his mind already buzzing with questions.

_Where am I? Last thing I remember was something about mindscape, and that voice saying something about helping me. Was I dreaming? Wait no is this that mindscapy thing? But this just looks like some field like the ones outside the village. Maybe that's all that happened I just fell asleep in the field. _Though the boy as he continued to take in his surroundings. However, before he could continue to try and explain how he had found himself in this deserted field a voice jerked him back to reality.

"**Well are you going to sit there all day or are you going to say hello seedling? Things may pass slowly here, but you don't strike me as the patient type." **called the voice now coming from behind the blond instead of from his own mind.

At the call Naruto spun towards the source of the voice his eyes traveling across the plain to the peak of a large hill he suddenly realized he was standing at the base of. Looking up the hill the blonds eyes were immediately drawn to the summit where a single magnificent tree stood. The tree stretched some forty feet into the air, and had bark of pail white, as though the clouds absent in the blue skies had been formed to create its massive trunk.

As the boys eyes trailed up the great tree his eyes found an explosion of color awaiting him as the thousands of gently swaying leaves formed a great canopy above him, each of the leaves shining with a deep purple light or shifting to an odd glowing black as thought the leaves themselves had not chosen what color to remain. The tree seemed the center of this place, as though the blue skies and grass themselves were given light from its branches.

Slowly Naruto began to approach the top of the hill feeling an odd pull to reach the beautiful thing. As he continued to get closer he felt a strange peace about him as though he was greeting an old friend that he hadn't see in a great while. Soon he reached the summit and stood before the tree a rather disconcerting thought popping into his head as he looked up at the massive tree.

_Great, I'm talking to a giant purple tree, oh that's just great, this is what I get for eating all that ramen, Minami was right its rotted my brain. Stupid delicious ramen. _Thought the boy as he extended one hand towards the bark of the tree curious to see if it felt as soft as it looked.

"**I wouldn't do that if I were you little seedling. At least not until we have our talk. Oh and I'm not just some talking tree."** Called the familiar voice now coming from directly above the boy. The sudden voice caught Naruto off guard as he jumped slightly back from the tree looking back and forth for the source of the voice before a small giggle drew his attention up into the softly shifting purple canopy.

"**That's right I'm up here seedling."** called the voice once again a small smile almost visible in the words alone. Looking up Naruto's eyes fell upon the outline of a figure he could barely see against the tree his eyes squinting to get a better look. As if in answer to his desire the figure began to decent slowly from above one of the branches bending to accommodate its passenger as the pair moved steadily towards the blond boy.

As the branch came closer the figure sitting upon it slowly came into clearer focus. She sat gracefully upon the branch one hand draped lightly over her lap while the other held the side of her living transport figures draped lightly over the silken branch. Her hair was the same shade of purple as the leaves of the tree and seemed to glow with the same simple radiance as the tree as it fell about her shoulders waving gently as she gazed down upon the boy. Her skin was porcelain white like the bark of the tree itself covered in a simple kimono that lay upon her, adorned with the pattern that mirrored the falling of leaves. Despite the simplicity of the dress it somehow seemed to only intensify her beauty as it curved gracefully around her form accenting her beauty and strength in equal proportions.

However, despite this staggering image, what drew Naruto's focus was the woman's face. The gentile heart shaped curved set between the waves of her purple hair turned towards him as a smile played across her lips. But even this was not where the boys gaze sat…his gaze fell only upon her eyes…her unearthly eyes.

They glowed pure black, as though one were looking into a night sky that had yet to give forth any stars. Yet they were somehow welcoming, like some great expanse that was begging to be explored, the warm glow seeking to embrace one just as night would come to embrace day in the endless dance of the heavens.

"**Well my little seedling, what do you think, not too bad for a women that has been trapped in the moon for the last thousand years.**" call Juubi, as the branch finished its decent settling before Naruto as Juubi rose slowly from it, her bare feet alighting upon the grass as she looked down at the boy who now came only to her waist.

"Wow" whispered Naruto as he looked at this woman lost for words at the woman who had literally just descended from on high. All he could do was look at her in silence for a few moments as he took in her image noticing the small smile upon her lips growing into a slightly amused expression as her eyes crinkled near their edges.

"**I know I'm amazing seedling, but if you're just going to stare at me all night, then I'm afraid we won't get much accomplished."** giggled Juubi as she brought one of her hands up to push a few stands from before her face as Naruto seemed to shake himself out of his stupor.

"Sor..sorry, it's just I've never seen anyone with eyes like that before" said Naruto looking down at his feet in an attempt to hide the blush at being caught just staring at the beautiful woman.

"**Hmm, I suppose you haven't' at that, no one has seen my eyes since kami himself sent me down to your world to guard his fruit upon my branches…well I that stupid woman and her sons saw them to, but I don't like to count them."** Remarked Juubi as she adopting a simple thinking position, one hand raised to tap ideally at her smooth chin.

"Hu?" asked Naruto turning his head on his side and once again adopting a confused expression as he looked at the woman before him.

"Fruit, kami, what are you talking about pretty Juubi" asked Naruto remembering to add the little tick to the woman's name, drawing a small smile to her lips as she looked down at him.

"**I guess I'm laying a bit too much on you at the moment, this is our first meeting after all, let's start over" **said Juubi as she bowed slightly, as a lady of the court might, her eyes never leaving the boy before her.

"**My name is Josei no Juubi tsuri, but you may call me Juubi. I am a warrior of the heavens, and have been imprisoned in the moons for the past thousand years. You may also know me as the mother to those you call the tailed beasts."** Finished the woman as she rose Naruto blinking up at her for a moment before rushing to bow as well.

"Um, oh right well I'm Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, son of the fourth hokage and soon to be greatest ninja of Konohagakure dattebayo" he said glancing up to Juubi who reached out to pat his blond head slightly nodding down at him.

"**Well it's nice to finally meet you Naruto. We'll have to work on your matters later but for now let's get to why your here."** spoke the woman as she moved over to rest herself against the tree. Naruto soon moved after her settling himself before her so that he was looking up into her face as she fixed him with those blackened eyes of her again.

"Um Josei No Juubi Tsu..tsura." started Naruto as Juubi let out a small chuckle waving him off.

"**I told you seedling just Juubi, I never liked the whole title anyway." **Called the woman as Naruto nodded smiling as he looked around himself again.

"Okay, up Juubi where are we?" asked the blond as Juubi looked around them at the open field with a small nod.

"**Well this is a place is in your mind Naruto. Kind of like a room in your mind that I've organized to suit me."** explained the Juubi. Seeing the confused look on Naruto's face she continued.

"**Think of it like a little vacation home, I just set up here, I can assure you that it won't harm you at all"** smiled the woman as Naruto seemed to be satisfied with her words.

"Oh ok then!" replied Naruto a little loudly a smile upon his face as he accepted the woman's words without a second thought.

_My kami this kid is so innocent it's almost scary; he'll have to realize at some point it's going to get him into a world of trouble. Though I suppose that is the problem that lead him here isn't' it. _Thought Juubi as she let out a sigh focusing back on the boy blinking up at her.

"**Naruto , since I'm living in your head I was thinking, that I could do something for you. Like a way to pay you back for letting me say her, how would you like that?"** asked the woman in an offhanded way that none the less caught Naruto's attention, as he seemed to vibrate slightly at the prospect.

"Really what do I get, is it a cool super power, or the extra chakra like my sisters, you said you were the tailed beasts mom, does that mean I'm a jinchuuriki like my sisters, hay does that mean that I'll get training from my parents now just like my sisters, does it Ms. Juubi?" Naruto called firing question after question in that way only an excited child could.

There were many things that Juubi was prepared for, an excited six year old, that was on the equivalent of a sugar high with the attention span of a nat was not one of them.

"**Wow there seedling, hold on for a moment, I can't answer you if you never stop asking now can I?"** asked Juubi with an exasperated shake of her head. This caused Naruto to slap both his hands over his mouth in an over the top manner as if to completely stop all sound from escaping from his mouth as he looked worriedly towards the woman.

"**Better." **She chuckled as she looked over the boy before nodding slightly as if deciding something.

"**Now I guess I'll start with the question of chakra I'm afraid that I don't really have any more chakra, you see when a certain man",** here she adopted an annoyed look, **"who we will just call, deadbeat, took my chakra from me. He used all of my power combined with my ability to give life to chakra in order to create the tailed beasts. So my power is in all of my children like my youngest that is sealed into your sisters." **Explained the purple haired woman as Naruto gave her another puzzled look.

"Hu but my sisters have the Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox?" said Naruto quirking his head to the side as he looked up into the woman's black eyes.

"**Yep that's my youngest, always trying to show he is the best of his siblings by flaunting his power, silly little boy." **she said more to herself than to the boy shaking her head slightly as she spoke.

"**Anyway the point is that I'm afraid I don't have any chakra to give you. But you are still a jinchuuriki, just not like your sisters." **she finished her words causing the boy before her to deflate slightly at her words. For a moment Naruto felt the happiness that had slowly been growing within him faulted as his hopes of being like his sisters were dashed.

"**That doesn't mean I can't do anything for you on the "super powers" though." **Added Juubi hoping to get the boys spirits back up. The result worked a little better than she was hoping for as it caused the blond to leap up off the grass and start running around the tree yelling about how cool it was. Before Juubi could even begin to call him back he was already rounding the trunk coming back to stand right in her face blasting off questions once again.

"Really that's awesome, what kind of powers, will I be able to fly, that will be awesome, or maybe I will be able to get some cool ability like a bloodline, like some of the clans, tell me Juubi please, what is it PPPPLLLLLLEEEEAAAASSSEEEE!" he asked falling to his knees and looking at her with stars in her eyes his little face showing so much excitement that Juubi found herself smiling despite her slightly annoyance at the boys performance. Drawing in a deep breath, Juubi set her face into a stern look as she gazed across at the boy who seemed to freeze at her gaze.

"**Ok Naruto we can't keep doing this song and dance all night. If you want me to help you will sit there and listen to what I have to say, or I can just let your head explode." **Stated the pale skinned woman as Naruto froze before nodding hurriedly.

"Yes Juubi-sensei!" called Naruto falling back and sitting excitedly before her rocking slightly back and forth as he smiled up at her.

"**Good, now I'm afraid I don't have a magic wand to wave to give you super powers, but what I can do is give you the training so that you can use my abilities with your own chakra."** Started the woman as Naruto nodded excitedly at her words.

"**Now before I get any farther, this would require you going through a long time of training, and it would require us to leave the village for a while" **continued Juubi as Naruto blinked up at her.

"Um, how long are we talking about?" asked the boy watching as Juubi took a moment to think before replying.

"**Hum I would have to say at least ten years to get the whole training done, but if you work hard maybe just eight." **

"What! Ten Years, are you crazy I can't leave for ten years, what about my family, my friends, what about my parents they are going to start my training in a year, I can't just leave!" shouted Naruto as he pushed himself to his feet looking down at the woman who watched him a small frown upon her lips.

_Poor boy, he is so worried about others that he is going to stunt his own growth just to make them feel better. And he's just stubborn enough not to care…gah what am I going to do now? _Thought the woman even as Naruto crossed his arm fixing her with a determined look.

"I'm not leaving my family, my Tousan and Kaasan are going to train me to be an amazing shinobi, and then I'll protect everyone!" called Naruto as Juubi fixed him with a sad look upon her brow.

"**Naruto if you keep waiting for everything to work out you're going to end up left behind, and me along with you. I'm trying to help you, but you need to be selfish this once." **Replied Juubi fighting to keep her own voice steady as she slowly rose to her feet so that she towered over Naruto who looked stubbornly back at her.

"So what do you care, they are my family, they care and love me what makes you think you know what's better for me then them?" called Naruto now feeling slightly scared as his own worried found themselves now being directed towards the woman before him.

"**It's not a matter of love you baka you want to be a shinobi well you need to be ready. I have seen hundreds of kids like you go out to save everyone and only end up losing their own life as a result." **she called flashes of her own battles rushing though her mind as she recalled those times such ideals had led her to fail in her mission, to caring to sacrifice the innocent to capture that hated woman.

"**I…I can't." **Juubi whispered as the fight left her, allowing her to slowly slip back to her sitting position looking sadly up at Naruto, her lifetime alone crashing upon her as she gazed at another who risked the same suffering.

"**I can't let you sacrifice yourself for them…I can't watch helpless while those I have come to care about are taken from me." **continued the woman as Naruto's anger left him as he watched the woman seemingly shrink before him as her voice grew softer, more pained with every moment.

"**I was just like you…all good intentions…and I lost my children to good intentions, I lost by freedom to good intentions, I am not prepared to see you lose everything I did seedling…I can't live though seeing that again." **she finished turning her moist eyes towards the boy.

Naruto looked again into those bright black eyes with the starlight tears that were falling from them as his own doubts surfaced. He hated to have these thoughts…and worse he hated to see someone so sad. So he did the only thing he could think of, he stepped forward and embraced her letting his smaller form to be pulled close to her as she openly wept into his shoulder.

It took a few moments for Juubi to regain her composure, and a little longer for Naruto to step back and allow her to right herself rising to sit upon her branch once more the small moist trails upon her cheeks still staining her beautiful face.

"I'm sorry I made you cry Juubi." whispered the boy looking into her face as he saw Juubi shaking her head slightly.

"**No…no Naruto I'm sorry. I guess you are just like me after all, a couple of bakas." **Smiled Juubi slightly as Naruto gave a small nod.

"Hai two of a kind." Smiled Naruto remembering one of the few phrases he had picked up from his godmother over the years. At his words Juubi suddenly froze as her face slowly shifted into a smile as she looked back to the blond boy before her.

"**Well, maybe you aren't a baka after all seedlings. I think you might have given me an idea how we can both win"** she finished as Naruto gave her a puzzled look as she began to explain her plan to him.

That night a decision was made that would rock the foundations of the shinobi world to their core, and from the hope of two Baka's the world itself would find itself forever changed.

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-Time Skip-

Two years after that fateful night within a simple classroom within the shinobi academy a group of potential shinobi and kunoichi sat listening with varying amounts of attention to the words of a man who stood before them marking off notes on a wide blackboard. However, most were to distracted to listen as an odd little mantra permeated the entire classroom drawing several eyes as the steady beat continued.

"Bored, **thud**, bored **thud**, bored **thud**, bored **thud**, bored **thud!**" continued the steady beat drawing more and more eyes as it continued.

The source of this mantra being a particular orange clad, blond haired boy who sat in the back of the room where he was banging his head against his desk while droning on and on like some broken metronome. Already his seemingly continues banging had attracted the attention of a large majority of the class and even he chunnin instructor himself.

_gah is that baka ever going to stop he is messing up the lesson again. _Thought a pink haired girl looking back towards the front of the room as she tried to focus on the lesson.

_Zzzzzzzzzz… hu wha.. oh just Naruto again….zzzzzzz. _Thought a particularly lazy individual before returning to his sleep deciding that whatever the blond had planned it was too troublesome to worry about at the moment.

_Hmm wonder what mom packed for lunch… hmmm maybe it's those pork buns again? _Though a particularly good natured boy who sat beside his sleeping friend his hands ideally rubbing his protruding stomach as he continued to worry about lunch.

_Hmm maybe if I show I'm strong like Itachi nee-san I won't have to sit through these lessons anymore…. Ahhh if he doesn't stop that pounding hokage's son or not I'm going to hit him with my fire ball_! Thought a black haired boy, who had a desperate urge to prove himself to everyone his eyes narrowing back towards the titular blond.

_I swear if he doesn't stop that pounding I'm going to hop in his head, and make him run around town in a dress! _Schemed a blond haired girl within her mind from where she sat beside her pink haired friend.

_Hmm maybe mom will let me bring Akamaru next time, at least then I will have something to do during these classes, Naruto's right this is so boring. _Thought a feral looking boy as he ideally scratched at one red fanged cheek.

_Bbuuuzzzz… yes….bbuuuuzzzzzzz buzz.. yes I know…buzz buzzzz buzz… don't worry I'll be ready for it._ A heavily clocked boy whispered as he continued to silently converse with the insects inside of his body.

_Haha Oni-chan always does know how to sum up sensei's history lessons. _Silently giggled Naruko her hand moving up to cup over her mouth as she smiled around at her sister who seemed less amused about the situation.

_Baka oni-chan, if you don't pay attention you are never going to get any stronger. _Thought an exasperated Minami who shot her older sibling an annoyed look.

_Naruto-kun you need to start listening or you aren't going to be able to pass; I'll have to talk to him later, even if he is right about Iruka sensei's lectures. _Thought Hinata as she looked at the blond sitting to her left her young face a mix of disapproval and amusement at her friend's actions.

"bored **thud**, bored **thud**, bored **thud**, AHHHHHHH!" shouted Naruto as he suddenly burst into movement leaping onto the top of his desk and as he slammed both his hands down into the baggy pockets of his orange jumpsuit. Every person in the class except for on particular sleeper now turned their attention towards the boy as he made his declaration.

"Boredom must die, die I say DEATH TO BORDOM!" roared the blond as his hands re-immerged from his pockets an almost manic smile now plastered across his face. As everyone's eyes saw that smile a feeling of dread fell over them so that they almost failed to notice the two bright orange objects that Naruto had grasped in his hands.

A split second later both objects were loosed into the middle of the room, followed by a loud bang, and an ensuing river of orange in every direction. A moment after the blast the whole classroom found itself dripping in orange paint save for a few interesting exceptions. While most of the class had reacted by diving under their desks, at the sight of the orange projectiles, or in the case of one Red head pulled under by her sister there were two exceptions.

The first being Iruka who had been heading up the stairs towards the blond at the time, and as a result was at ground zero making him look as though he had stepped on an orange landmine his whole form now dripping in a blanket of neon paint.

The other victim was one, no longer sleeping, individual who was now plastered against the back wall of the classroom slowly slipping down the wall even as he mutter to himself something about troublesome blonds.

"NARUTO UZUMAKI NAMIKAZE!" Shouted Iruka as he cleaned the paint from his eyes and cast his gaze around the room. However, Naruto was nowhere to be seen only an open window and the distant sound of laughter to mark his escape.

"NARUTO!" bellowed Iruka as he leapt out of the window after the blond the pair soon hurtling into the village as the remainder of the students watched them go.

"What the heck, why does he do stuff like this!" roared Sakura as she attempted to shake the orange paint from her books casing annoyed looks around the destroyed classroom.

"Ya I mean why can't he be more like you Minami, even Naruko never causes this kind of trouble." Added Ino looking across to where the sisters were emerging from below their desk.

"Hey what is that supposed to mean Ino?" fired off Naruko as Minami let out a sigh shaking her head towards her sister.

"Relax Naruko, Ino didn't mean anything by it." Muttered Minami as she surveyed the damage to the classroom.

"Who cares that was awesome, best history lesson every" laughed Kiba from the back of the room bearing a toothy smile as he looked down at the class.

"But he trashed the lesson?" shouted Sakura turning on the feral boy.

"Wasn't that much to trash if you ask me." sighed Sasuke looking out the window that the blond had escaped through.

"What.. But Sasuke why would you say that?" questioned Sakura.

"Cause he's right, Oni-chan gave us the rest of the day off! Let's get out of here!" cheered Naruko giving Sakura a her fox like smile.

"Hey that means it time for lunch, come on Shikimaru." Called Choji as he pushed himself up glancing around to his now neon friend.

"Hey Hinata, any idea where Oni-chan ran off to this time?" asked Minami approaching the back of the room where the pale eyed girl sat.

"Sorry Minami I don't, we were going to meet up later for Hanabi and Mito to play, but that wasn't supposed to be until after class." Replied the girl watching as the redhead before her let out a sigh.

"Oh well come on Minami let's go find Kaasan and get in some training!" called Naruko happily as she moved towards the door Minami turning away from Hinata and following after her.

"Ok Naruko." called Naruko falling in behind her as the two moved out of the classroom.

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Meanwhile within the village streets the titular blond was currently sprinting at top speed down the road perused by a bright orange Iruka the pair drawing several eyes as they darted around food stands and pedestrians alike.

_Ha take that ninja history you can't stop me now! _Laughed Naruto inside his mind as pair of voices added their own comments to his situation_._

"_Ya that was awesome, man did you see the looks on their faces?" _cheered an excited voice from within Naruto's head causing the blond to grin wider if that was possible.

"**I swear Naruto you never fail to amaze do you my little seedling." **Added Juubi a small giggle joining the happy laughter of the pair.

_Ya I know I'm awesome._ Thought Naruto as continued his race deeper into the village.

"NARUTO!" shouted Iruka again causing Naruto to shake himself back to reality.

_Uh-oh/"Uh-oh/_**"Uh-oh" **said all three voices at the same time.

"Come on legs don't fail me now!" shouted Naruto as he upped the pace.

At the same time a few blocks ahead of the pursuit a red headed woman dressed in a simple blue kimono was looking at the food in a stall, while also keeping an eye on the little red head that was running around at her feet smiling slightly to herself as she let her focus drift back towards that coming night.

"Hum now what should I make for dinner, Minato is coming home early to help with the girls, and Naruto is taking Mito to the Hyuugas for a playdate so I guess we could just go out." Kushina mused to herself as she moved back from the first stall turning to continue her way down the street as her youngest rushed to keep up with her.

As she moved through the market her thoughts began to turn towards her only son a small flicker of uneasiness accompanying her thoughts as they centered on the boy. It had been a little over a year since she had to ask him to hold off on his training yet again. With a small stab of regret she remembered the look on his face when she had to tell him that the girls training was not advancing as much as she had hoped, and that she was going to have to have him look after Mito while she worked with them.

She wasn't originally thrilled with the idea, but Minato had reasoned that the sooner the girls were on the right track, the sooner they could focus on Naruto. After all it was just one more year, no real harm there; she still had plenty of time she continued to reason to herself as she watched her youngest moving ahead of her giggling happily as she looked around the market. Besides Mito and Naruto had bonded so close they were nearly inseparable whenever they were home thought the woman the sight of her youngest becoming another justification for her actions.

Looking down she smiled as Mito glanced up to her, violet eyes turning up into smiles that mirrored the one upon her lips. Her youngest was a mini her in every way, from her long red hair to her violet eyes. At the moment the child was dressed in a simple white dress that made her hair stand out all the more as she bounce around below her mother a little ball of energy just like she had once been…and like her son still was.

_Hum maybe I can talk to Minato about training Naruto sooner, I mean it's not like it would mess things up all that much. _she thought to herself as her thoughts turned back to her son.

Just as she was thinking about asking Minato about her son she felt a tug on her arm drawing her out of her thoughts and down towards her daughter who at that moment was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet pointing down the road her mouth opening in an excited cry.

"Oniisan, Naruto Nissan, over here!" called Mito waving her free hand in the air towards the oncoming figure her red hair waving behind her as she practically wiggled with excitement.

"Naruto?" questioned Kushina looking towards the road, _wait shouldn't he be in class, what would he be doing in town now, did class let out early? _she thought to herself as her eyes focusing ahead to where a small commotion was occurring.

Just as she saw her son coming into view, she heard his name being yelled across the village getting louder even as he got closer.

"NARUTO STOP NOW AND GET BACK HER AND TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT!" shouted Iruka as he chased after the blond.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE IRUKA, YOUR HISTORY LESSONS WILL NOT HAVE ME!" fired back Naruto as he continued to sprint unknowingly towards the pair of redheads. At hearing the voices of the two runners a visible tick mark appeared on Kushinas head as her hair began to stand on end.

_Naruto what did you do this time? _She thought angrily to herself. Mito meanwhile ignorant to her mother's anger, was laughing and trying to pull her mother forward towards her brother.

As Naruto closed the distance he faltered at seeing his mother and younger sister in front of him, the red hair of his mother already waving dangerously behind her.

"_Oh you are in trouble now." _laughed the voice in his head.

"**It was nice knowing you seedling, I will always miss you." **echoed the Juubi mockingly.

_What should I do? _thought Naruto worriedly as his fellow voices paused for a moment before responding.

"**Surrender." **suggested Juubi.

"_Pray to kami." _offered the voice.

"**Won't work I know kami they won't get involved with this." **replied the Juubi.

"_Crud well then we are doomed." _said the voice a moment before Naruto reached his mother…or more accurately Kushina reached him as he found himself wrapped up from head to toe in a familiar set of golden chains.

"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, what in the world are you doing out of class, and why is Iruka chasing you through the village and why?" here she paused as she got a clear look at the bright orange Iruka. For a full second Kushina simply blinked at the man before her anger cracked as another sound replaced her lecture.

"pmft. heheahahaehehea!" laughed Kushina as she gazed at the bright orange Iruka her anger escaping into a fit of giggles at the poor chunnins expense. Mito in the meantime had fallen onto the ground giggling at the poor man, while smiling at her older brother who still stood bound in his golden prison beside her.

Iruka for his part could only look down at himself for a moment before chuckling along with the rest at the whole situation. After a few moments when Kushina had regained her composure, she turned to face Iruka once more, with a small grin still playing around her lips that she couldn't seem to shake.

"Now Iruka, do you mind telling me why you have taken up my son's dress code and why you are chasing him throughout the village when he is supposed to be in class?" asked the redhead as Iruka nodded to her ideally whipping a bit of the paint form his face as he replied.

"Sorry Kushina-san, you see Naruto here," at this he looked down at the still chained up boy "decided that he would redecorate my classroom today, while I was in the middle of my lesson." Finished Iruka as the pair of adults looked down toward the blond.

"Lies and slander, I was framed, ask anyone they'll tell you." Naruto began before a chain wrapped around his mouth causing him to both fall silent and over on his side. As the blond thumped to the street Mito walking over still giggling as she reached out to pat her brother's head as he looked up at her with pleading eyes to help him.

"Naruto you are in big trouble mister, if we weren't already looking after your sisters tonight you would be grounded for this." Lectured Kushina in a scolding voice as she looked down at her son.

"You have to act more mature if you are ever going to be a proper shinobi dattebane!" she continued allowing her verbal tic to slip by due to her annoyance at the boy.

Naruto in turn looked up into his mom's eyes, violet into his mix of blue and purple. After a moment his gaze dropped as he nodded his head at her words allowing his body to go lax within the chains.

"Good." said Kushina allowing the chains to resend back into her body, allowing Naruto to push himself back up.

Even after rising Naruto continued to look down at the ground not wanting to look back up at his mother for fear of seeing her disappointment in him. Then he felt a hand on his head softly ruffling his hair causing him to look up to see his mom smiling brightly at him.

"With that out of the way nice going, with the paint I bet the whole class looked hilarious." The redhead feeling a small warmth as she saw Naruto's face brightening at her praise. Even if she was angry at him for getting in trouble her pranking nature could only be proud of her son's most recent action.

_He is so much like me it's scary sometimes_.Thought Kushina to herself as she let her hand part from his golden locks.

"But don't go doing that again in class." she finished bopping him on the head for good measure.

"Yes Kaa-san." Naruto said looking up at his mom, while Mito took the opportunity to attach herself to Naruto's leg. He was happy that she had stopped being angry with him, due to his interaction with Juubi she had slowly developed a bit of a fear of angry women, and his mother was no exception.

"Kaa-san, can me and Naru Oniisan go see Hanabi-kun and Hinata-chan now?" asked Mito still bouncing up and down, looking between her mother and brother. The three others looked at Mito's smiling face, before turning back at each other eyes shifting to Iruka who let out a small sigh as he looked down at himself.

"Well I guess I have to go back to the classroom and see if I can get some people help me clean it up, maybe the hokage can give me a small d-rank to help speed it up." Muttered the man as Kushina focused upon her children.

"Well," said Kushina looking down at her son and daughter "ok but you to be back after dinner with them ok, I don't want you wandering around town without us." finished the redhead as Mito exploded into movement.

"Yay! Thanks Kassan!" yelled Mito happily dragging Naruto off towards the Hyuuga compound. As the two faded slowly into the distance Kushina could only shake her head with a small smile on her face, as her thoughts to once again return to Naruto's training.

_Maybe we should wait till he moves out of this pranking faze before we get him into training, wouldn't want, him getting hurt by not taking things seriously. _She thought to herself unknowingly taking another step away from her son in the process.

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Meanwhile Mito was still dragging Naruto towards the Hyuuga compound her little face lit up with obvious excitement as they sped down the winding streets.

"Slow down Mito Hanabi isn't going to disappear before we get there." Called Naruto even as the little redhead continued to drag him ahead as though she hadn't heard him.

"Hey Oniisan Onii-chan over here!" called a voice from ahead of them just at the pair entered into another street. At the call both siblings turned to see Naruko and Minami approaching them down the street Naruko waving as she came.

"Oneechan uko, Oneechan Mina!" Mito called waving at her sisters with her free hand as she changed direction now dragging Naruto towards their other siblings.

"Hey squirt." said Naruko rubbing the top of Mito's head as she got close enough, causing Mito to playfully slap at her hand while giggling.

"Hey Mito, why are you with Naruto, I thought you were going to be shopping with Kassan today?" asked Minami as she glanced down at her sister.

"I was, but Naru Oniichan and the orange man found us now we are headed over to Hanabi's!" called Mito smiling up at the darker redhead who looked momentarily puzzled.

"Orange man, oh right Iruka," muttered Minami as her gaze shifted to Naruto "that reminds me, Naruto what were you thinking doing that in class?" asked the girl as Naruto gave a small shrug.

"What, Iruka's lessons was so boring all I did was get us all out of there easily, you should be thanking me." he smiled back, his words causing Naruko to chuckle a little nodding in agreement.

"Naruto you need to pay attention in class or you won't be able to become a good shinobi." Continued Minami in a slightly annoyed tone as her thoughts turned to her growing irritation with her brother.

_Geeze Oniisan if you don't start taking things seriously you're going to get yourself hurt out there. Gahh how can you be so blind to it you baka I don't want to see you hurt. _She thought to herself as she watched Naruto looking down at Mito who was excitedly asking all about the paint prank.

Meanwhile Naruko was having her own mental debate as she looked at her little sister holding onto her brother's hand.

_Why doesn't Mito every look at me like that, I mean I know that she and Naruto spend a lot of time together because of our training but I'm awesome and stronger than him so why doesn't she look up to me like she does to him. I want to be her hero too. _ she thought allowing her focus to slowly shift back to reality.

"Hey squirt what do you say that after my training I take you out for some ice cream, just you and your Oneechan, how does that sound?" Asked Naruko hopefully looking down at the little redhead. At her words Mito looked up at her adopting a thinking pose, which with her age made a cute little picture to be sure.

"I can't uko Oniichan, Naru Oniisan and I are going to Hanabi's!" she said smiling up at her sister, ignorant of the touch of sadness moving across her sisters face.

_Gah it's always Oniisan this or Naruto that, come on Mito, I'll show you how much better I am than him, and then you'll be proud of your big sis too. _She thought to herself as a dark little seed began to take root in the young blonds mind. Meanwhile Minami was watching the exchange between her siblings with a thoughtful look upon her face.

_If Mito keeps hanging around with Naruto all the time, I'm worried she will start to act like him with that carefree trusting attitude. I don't want to see Mito her get herself overlooked for training like Naruto because she picks up on his bad habits. I mean why else would Kassan and Tousan be leaving him out? _thought the redhead as she shook herself back from her thoughts.

"Ok well we have to get back home, and start training with Kaa-san, see you two later ok." said Minami as she turned leading Naruko away who gave the pair a small glance with just a hint of jealousy as the two moved away.

"Ok see you guys later." called Naruto missing the subtle change in his sister.

"Bye uko by Naru" waved Mito still smiling after them before returning to dragging her brother towards the Hyuuga compound.

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Later at the Hyuuga Compound we find Naruto and Hinata standing on a small wooden outcropping to the main house beside the chair bound Hitomi watching Hanabi try and fail to stay ahead of Mito as she chased him throughout the gardens of the Hyuuga Compound.

"Go get him imoto, he can't run forever!" chuckled Naruto as he watched the two chase each other around.

"Naruto-kun, don't pick on Hanabi." stated Hinata looking over at the blond who smiled nervously at her.

"Oh course Hinata." chuckled the boy his reply drawing a small smile to Hitomi's face among several others.

"**Aww does the big bad Hinata-chan scare little Naruto" **giggled Juubi.

"_Hey"/Hey _two voices responded drawing even more giggles from the purple haired woman.

_Not funny Juubi, you know she can be scary when she is angry, remember when Naruko stole her cinnamon bun that one time. _ through Naruto.

"_Ya she couldn't lift her arm for a whole day after that."_ Agreed the other voice.

At the same time outside of Naruto's mind Hitomi turned her smile from the elder children as she watched her son running for his freedom and sanity from Mito. She loved how Naruto and Hinata had started setting up these little get togethers between Hanabi and Mito, these times being some of the few she felt her son was getting to be the child he was instead of the heir Hiashi seemed intent to make him.

Ever since Naruto and Hinata had meet all those years ago at the park they at become the closest of friends. Together he and Hinata had managed to overcome much of her shyness, although she was still a soft spoken and kind young girl, she now had a strong will to defend both herself and those she cared for. Naruto had given her that, and for that Hitomi would always be grateful.

On top of that he kindly brought Mito over to help Hanabi have a childhood. Once Hanabi had been born Hiashi had dedicated more and more time to training his new son, always bragging about how he was training the next great master of the gentle fist. With that came intense training, followed by lessons on educate, everything a growing future clan head needed, but not what she wanted for her child. Then Naruto and Hinata had become friends, and with them came Mito. The little redhead becoming a breath of fresh air to the Hyuuga compound allowing Hanabi whether he realized it or not to be the child she wished him to be…at least for a time.

Speaking of children Hitomi could not help but giggle as she saw her son get tackled to the ground by Mito in the game of tag they were playing, before the redhead leapt up darting away before the Hyuuga boy could right himself.

"Ok kids it's time to get ready to eat, Naruto would you mind going and getting Mito and Hanabi for me?" Asked Hitomi as she looked across at the blond.

"Sure Hyuga-san." Replied Naruto as a branch member approached to wheel Hitomi back into the home.

"Come on Hinata lets go save your brother before he decides to take this chase into town." smiled the blond hopping off of the porch and offering a hand to Hinata to follow after him.

"Um.. ya." she replied as a blush moved across her face, even as she took the offered hand.

They found Hanabi a moment latter having been cornered up a tree by Mito as she ran around the bottom of it yelling at him to come down.

"Well looks like you have treed a Hyuga there imoto." laughed Naruto as Mito turned to him smiling wildly at his words.

"Hanabi come down, it's time to get ready for dinner." called Hinata up to the trapped boy who gave her a worried look.

"Promise me you won't let her get me Oneesan." called Hanabi down a moment later, causing both Naruto and Hinata to sweat drop before looking at Mito wondering what the young girl could be doing to scare the boy so much. It didn't help that Mito at the moment had a grin that spread from ear on her face only adding to the boys worry.

"**Have I mentioned recently how much I love your little sister."** Chuckled Juubi as Naruto gave a mental sigh.

"Ok I promise imoto now come on down." called Hinata gesturing with her arms for Hanabi to come down.

Once the boy was finally down and both of the younger children were off getting ready it was only Naruto and Hinata out in the garden, the pale eyed girl looking nervously towards her oldest friend as she steeled herself to speak.

"Hey Naruto." whispered Hinata finally mustering the courage to speak.

"Yeah Hinata what is it?" questioned Naruto turning around to face her noticing her slight worry as he did.

"Earlier in class, you.. you need to start paying attention, I don't want to see you get held back." she said with concern evident in her voice as she looked up towards he friend.

"Don't worry Hinata I'm going to be the greatest shinobi of the leaf there's no way I will get held back dattebayo." replied naruto raising one arm in victory as Hinata continued to look slightly worried.

"But Naruto, you need to work to get better… why don't you go and ask your parents for training again?" ask Hinata knowing that Naruto hadn't spoke of his families training for months. At her words Naruto seemed to pause for a moment as though his mind had momentarily gone away before he focused back on her.

"Hinata, I've told you they have to train my sisters for now, I'll get my training I just have to wait a bit more. Besides Naruko, and Minami need to learn to use the fox or they could get hurt, if that means I have to wait then that's just what I have to do. Being selfish isn't going to help me get any better." He finished as he looked across to the girl, who still did not look convinced.

Hinata could only frown slightly at her friends words; Naruto seemed to trust his family so much that he wouldn't hear a word against them. It made her worry. Still his parents were the Hokage, as well as a former A class ninja, they had to know what was best… right?

"I guess Naruto, but please will you promise me to train some, just so your ready when it's time for their training?" she said looking full into Naruto face right into his eyes that so resembled the sunset ocean. Naruto found a little heat rushing to his face as he gazed back into her lavender tinted eyes his lips moving before his mind seemed to have any say in the matter.

"Ok Hinata, I'll start working harder I promise, and I always keep my promises dattebayo." he finished with his usual gusto drawing a small smile to the girls lips that caused him to smile all the more.

"**Hay tell her to join in."** called Juubi out of nowhere.

_What why? _Thought Naruto in reply.

"**Because I said so Naruto now get you but in gear and ask her." **fired back Juubi as Naruto felt a small mental shove from the woman.

"_But Juubi why, I mean sure Hinata is great but why have us train with her?"_ asked the other voice as he too received a mental shove of his own.

"**Just do it you knuckleheads!"** shouted Juubi as Naruto sprang back into reality even as both he and the other voice nodded in unison towards the purple haired woman.

"Um hay Hinata, how about you train with me, just the two of us so that we can get stronger together?" smiled Naruto not even realizing what he sounded like to the poor girl.

_Naruto and I, alone, together, out in a secluded training field, where we might eep, _thought Hinata her mind taking a hard right turn before she knew it, and with that the poor girl fainted falling face forward into the unsuspecting Naruto. As a result Hinata Hyuga, unknowingly took the blond Uzumaki to the ground with her, now pressed beneath her small from.

What she would also did not know was that the way she had fallen she had unintentionally given her first kiss to Naruto at the same time.

_Hinata's…lips…me, soft, uh,_ were Naruto's last thoughts before he too fell into unconsciousness at the sudden contact.

"_I..she…they…uhh."_ added the voice as it too fell silent .

This left Juubi alone to nearly fall out of her tree laughing at the whole situation.

"**I freaking love these kids!" **she laughed even as she continued to roll around in the shade of her tree.

**End chapter 2.**

**Ok with this the set up to the story is finally out of the way, now we can move onto the actual playing out of the neglect and its consequences. The first two chapters have been to help and flush out some of the character personalities, as well as addressing their motivations. With that said thank you to all who have reviewed, followed, and favorite, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Any questions or comments I welcome so send them down. And don't worry the other voice Naruto hears will be explained I promise. Until next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

I would like to give a shout out to those who have reviewed, followed and favorite my story in the short time it has been out. From here we should start getting into the meat of the story so I hope you all enjoy.

Fair warning, you will want to punch Naruto at one point in this story, but trust me there is a method to my madness, and everything I am writing does have a purpose. I won't spoil it but Naruto is going to change in the upcoming chapters, but the catalyst may surprise you. It has also been said that Naruto is being stupid, well he is eight…. Really people who was that smart at eight, and he is trusting to a fault this leads him to put absolute trust in people, and in that area he is indeed flawed. However, to call him stupid is a bit of a stretch in my opinion, all I can say is I am trying to write the characters at their age and personality to an extent, and if that means they are flawed then I guess I'm writing real people then which I think is a good thing.

Another point but for those who will doubtless start nagging about shadow clones fix everything….not this time. I'm limiting them here, and why because if they functioned like they did in the show, aka, with no limitations then there clap your hands cause the story is over, as is any fanfiction where they don't just end the story with the person using them becoming a god. The training trick was a shortcut in the series to explain away a technique, like the hyperbolic time chamber in DBZ, it's a plot conveyance that doesn't work with a larger story, so please don't nag me about it.

Also flashback warning there are a few here, hope that isn't a turn off.

**Chapter three**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-Facing your Fears-**

As the first rays of light crested over the horizon they found themselves falling across the slumbering village of Konohana slowly illuminating the hokage monument as well as the orange clad figure that stood astride the top of the third Hokage's head. The blond figure stood silently gazing down upon the village as the first rays of the new day began to reach across it.

The last four years had been trying for our young hero yet despite the hardships he had managed to persevere in the face of what his life had slowly become. As his eyes scanned the village below he was able to make out in the distance the rooftop of his own home where no doubt at this very moment his sisters, and parents were just rubbing the sleep from their eyes and preparing for the day ahead of them. As his thoughts turned towards his family he could not help feeling a sense of regret at the last four years he had spent with them…and all the times he had been forced to what himself fade into the backdrop of their lives, but such was the cost of his conviction…his faith.

-Flashback-

It was now the Triplets ninth birthday, and Naruto was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement, it was finally time, he had waited and waited, but he was finally going to get to start his training with his sisters. As he hurried to thrown on a simple set of orange pants and a white t-shirt with the Uzumaki swirl in bright red on the back he glanced around to see his own smiling face looking back at him from the mirror across from him.

A blond boy looked back at him both swirling blue and purple eyes turned up with his lips into a look of excitement. The few years of aging had done little for his growth though his now regular training with his best friend Hinata had allowed him to slowly lose the traces of baby fat that still clung to him only a few years previously. Aside from this the only real change to come over him was the gradual lengthening of his hair, so that it now sat much like his fathers the spiky mess waving around his head as his face looked on happily at his reflection.

_Todays the day, I'm going to start up my training, and become the greatest shinobi that the leaf has ever known dattebayo! _ The blond practically roared within his mind as he finished pulling on his clothing just as a voice he knew well spoke for only his ears.

"**Yes we heard you the first hundred times seedling. Though knowing you we're in for another hundred." **responded Juubi shaking her head even as a small smile played across her lips. Naruto had not been the only one to be looking forwards to this day; she had sat with just as much anticipation all year while helping to guide her young host.

Ideally her thoughts turned to why she privately prayed she was wrong to doubt his family even as flashes of the blond boy's life availed themselves before her midnight eyes. Over the past year she had watch helpless to do more than comfort him as he had seen his sisters surpass him in class, surpass him in ability…and surpass him in the love of his parents, each another wound to the boys heart. He may have been able to fool his parents even his sisters, but Juubi knew that the boy was tearing himself apart in side over slowly falling away from them…and along with that pain grew another's anger.

"_Ya we told you Juubi all we had to do was wait, and now we're going to learn all of these awesome Justus, hay don't forget to learn them well, we want to be the best ever!" _Called another voice from inside the boys mind also teaming with excitement at the coming training.

"Right! Well let's go!" called the exited blond as he spun out of his room and into the hall beyond starting down the stairs before his bedroom door had a chance to close behind him.

As Naruto reached the bottom floor he turned towards the sitting room only to be nearly bowled over by a small red missile that slammed into his gut with an excited cry of greeting.

"Aniki!" called Mito as planted herself into his chest turning her smiling face up at him as her red bangs fell across her smiling cheeks.

"Happy birthday Aniki!" giggled the little red headed terror still smiling happily up at her brother her little arms looped around him so that she hung slightly off of the wooden floors of the landing.

"Hey Mito." Naruto responded as his breath returned to him ideally reaching down to returned the embrace of his youngest sister causing her to let out a giggle as she pulled herself closer to him.

"So Mito where is everyone, the party is going to get started soon?" ask the boy as Mito pulled back from her death grip on him blinking a pair of violet eyes up to him as she adopting a thinking pose.

"Ummm Naru and Mina Niisan are still getting ready, but Kassan and Tousan said they needed private time and I had to wait out here." replied the girl finally allowing Naruto to slip out of her grip so that the little redhead now stood before him still smiling as she looked up at him.

_Hmm wonder why they didn't want Mito with them, must be something really important._ Thought Naruto as he allowed himself to be slowly pulled forwards into the sitting room passing down a small hall, the walls covered in smiling photographs of the family in various states of happiness.

"_I say we go and check it out maybe it's about our training or about some cool secret mission!" _called the other voice within the boys mind as its partner voiced her own opinion of the news.

"**I guess it wouldn't be a horrible idea to take a quick listen, after all you are going to be a shinobi, and intelligence gathering is going to help you out in that regard." **Juubi added her tone hinting at a bit of curiosity herself.

_Great then operation eavesdrop is a go! _Naruto thought allowing a look of mischief to spread across his face as he arrived in the sitting room his gaze traveling over to the hall that leads to his parent's room.

But first how to distract Mito, she may be many things but silent was not one of them. Heck that was one of the few reasons that Hanabi was still able to give the little girl the slip. That and he had managed to activate his byakugan at the amazing age of three thanks to her constant concussive greetings.

Hiashi had been so pleased at his sons accomplishment he had spent the following week bragged it was due to his excellent training, and showed how well Hanabi was suited to the position of future heir to anyone who would listen. Meanwhile Hitomi, Naruto and Hinata had chuckled knowing he had only activated it in an attempt to escape Mito's chasing him one day during their games of tag. The memory of Hanabi suddenly throwing himself to the ground as Mito fly clear over him into one of the gardens ponds still brought smiles to the threes faces when they recalled the small boys excitement as he looked up to see the socked girl turning to him a look of surprise plastered across her face along with her matted red hair.

"Hey Mito, could you wait for me out here I'm going to go check on Kaasan and Tousan but I'll be right back, promise." smiled Naruto as Mito turned to blink up at him for a moment.

At his words Mito's face slowly took on a pouting look her little arms crossing before her as she looked up at the blond.

"**Well I don't think she's too interested Seedling." **Chuckled Juubi as Mito slowly dropped her arms.

"Ok Aniki…" murmured the little girl as she made her way over to pull herself onto the couch. As she began to heave herself onto the cushions, she felt a pair of arms helping her up turning to see Naruto smiling softly down at her. Despite herself Mito found a smile working across her face as she soon was back to her smiling self as Naruto stepped back.

"Ok Aniki, but you better be right back!" called Mito her voice once again carrying a happy tone as she suddenly became interested in adjusting her white party dress.

_Same old imoto! _ Chuckled Naruto to himself, as he made his way down the hall towards his parent room as quietly as he could sliding forwards until he stood just outside their room. Pressing his ear to the wall of the room he was just able to make out the sound of voices from inside.

"So Minato what do you think we should start Naruto on, I was thinking of starting him with taijutsu, or do you think chakra control would be better?" asked Kushina from where she sat facing her cabinet mirror fixing her hair so that a single red pony tail fell forward over her chest, framing the back of her head in an elegant cascade of silken hair.

"Hmm what was that Kushina?" called Minato from the connecting bathroom as he stepped out, one towel wrapped around his body while the other was currently being used to dry his hair muffling his reply slightly. Turning with a slightly annoyed look on her face Kushina saw as the towel dropped from her husband's head as she repeated her question.

"I said what do you think we should start Naruto on now that his training is going to get started?" Asked the redhead just as Minato was turning towards the armoire that held his clothing.

As her words fell across the small gap between them Minato came to a halt as his blue eyes slowly widening as he bit back a silent curse. In truth he had been dreading this moment ever since he had said to hold off the boys training the previous year, and from that dread he had allowed his time to run out. Now he stood here on the very day his dread only matched by the cold reality of what now faced him. He could only hope that his wife would see things his way…and that maybe his son could forgive him for what he was about to do.

Swallowing slightly Minato turned to face his wife his face set even as his mind recalled that fateful day knowing that since then that this day would come.

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-Flashback-

It was the day of his children's fifth birthday, five years since he had been given the three greatest gifts he could ever imagine. Smiling slightly to himself the blond man's eyes drifted over a happy photo of his family the children standing around their seated mother as he looked over them all looking out happily from the glass frame. Shaking himself slightly Minato turned back to his work eager to get though the reports on his desk, glancing every once in a while at the two shadow clones that were also digging through the paperwork that had accumulated hurrying to get done so he could be with his family.

_Note to self-thank Kushina again for suggesting shadow clones he smiled to himself_. As we watch the work progress eyes glancing to a clock that hung across from him showing the hands just striking noon.

As his eyes dropped back to his work the sound of a window opening behind him, caused him to smile slightly as he turned to greet the only man who chose that particular way of entering his office.

"Hey there Minato, how's the big chair treating you?" joked Jiraiya as he stepped down from the window sill the small wind from the open window jostling his matt of white hair as he turned his older face towards the Hokage.

"Not too bad sensei just getting some more work done before I head home, you know the triplets are going to be turning five you know, and Kushina and I were thinking of getting the three started on some of the basics so they would be ready for the academy next year. Oh and you better be there tonight or Tsunade's going to track you down and drag you there." smiled the blond Hokage as he set down his pen watching as Jiraiya moved slowly around to take one of the large seat that sat just before the Hokage's desk.

"That so kid, well then it's a good thing I got here when I did." Replied the toad sage leaning forward slightly as his face became slightly more serious.

"Why is that" asked Minato with a note of curiosity towards his sensei, as he took in the shift in his sensei's words.

"Well you see gaki you remember about the great toad sage?" replied Jiraiya looking straight into the younger man's eyes as Minato paused for a moment to think back to his days learning with his sensei.

"Yes the one responsible for laying down the prophecies right, wasn't his last one just before the beginning of the third war?" asked Minato as Jiraiya nodded slightly.

"That's right, he tried to warn us about the whole thing, even gave us a hint as to Whirlpools destruction…if we'd been willing to listen to him we might have even stopped the village from falling." sighed the sage as he shook himself slightly focusing back on the Hokage.

"But anyway the point is he's made another prophecy kid. A prophecy that concerns your children." Finished Jiraiya as Minato looked slightly shocked.

"Another prophecy, wait you said it was about my kids how could you be sure, what was it?" asked the blond hokage as a small amount of worry began to enter into his voice.

"Easy kid, the prophecy said "A great evil will descend upon the ninja world, and that two who share a great burden with the blood of my student, and the blood of the leaf will be the ones to determine the worlds fate." It went on to say that "the two would either stand side by side and together join their power to vanquish the darkness, or one would fall, and the remaining one would then have a choice to either save or damn the ninja world." finished Jiraiya with a firm look on his face as across from him Minato looked slightly horrified.

"Wait what do you mean one may fall, are you telling my one of my children is going to die!" shouted Minato knocking his chair to the floor as he rose towering over the sage eyes blazing as his hands curled into fists. As Minato began to let off waves of anger Jiraiya lifted his hands up in a playacting manner as he continued.

"No kid, remember what it said before that, if they combine their power then they will save the world, no problem. Your family will be fine as long as we don't ignore the prophecy." Replied the sage waved both his hands in front of himself as if to shield himself from the blonds rage.

As Minato relaxed slightly he bent down and repositioned his chair allowing himself a moment of quite as his mind focused on his sensei's words.

_Ok calm down Minato panicking won't help you here. So two of my children will be the ones from the prophecy that should cover the blood of the student that was spoken of, ok fine. As for blood of the tree, well that's easy after all this is Konoha, so that's easy, so that leaves the last hint sharing a burden._he thought to himself as he slowly repositions his chair sinking into it a moment later as his attention returned to his sensei.

"So you think this prophecy is referring to my daughters Jiraiya." stated minato quietly as he thought back to the Kyuubi attack, and the sealing that took place the final clue snapping into place as he finished speaking.

"That's about the long and short of it kid, they fit all of the parameters of the prophecy, I mean what is a greater burden then the freaking Kyuubi, and unless you have your son secretly building up his own village, it has to be them." he replied confidently smiling a little as he attempted to lighten the mood.

"Ok so what do we do, I mean the prophecy says that one can fall unless they stand together, how are we going to make sure that doesn't happen?" asked Minato as he looked across at his sensei.

"I don't know kid, all I can think of is to keep an eye on them and make sure that that they can work well together, without any distractions. Just make them the best we can and have faith in them and the prophecy." replied Jiraiya as Minato nodded slightly.

"I suppose that's all we can do, well Kushina and I can handle that just fine, I'm sure the kids won't have any trouble working together. Besides it's not like we weren't already planning on making them the best shinobi and kunoichi they could be." smiled Minato some of the worry leaving him as he considered how to break the news to Kushina that night.

"What about Naruto?" asked Jiraiya breaking the blonde's train of thought as he looked back to the sage.

"What about Naruto, what do you mean sensei?" asked Minato as he saw the sage shifting slightly as though he was suddenly uncomfortable.

_Aw hell he doesn't see what I'm talking about, should have figured things wouldn't go smoothly._ Thought the sage as he prepared for the coming backlash…one he had been preparing for ever since he heard of the prophecy.

"What I mean kid is that we have to focus on Naruko and Minami, or else we risk messing up the prophecy and losing them. The two who carry the burden, not three kid." Replied Jiraiya looking back into his student's eyes, as comprehending dawned on them. For a moment Minato simply stared at the man across him as his hands unconsciously began to grip his armrest causing the wood to splinter beneath his grip.

"Sensei you better not be asking me what I think you are." replied minato with a mounting feeling of anger and dread fought for control of his mind. Across from him Jiraiya remained steady as he looked back at into his students eyes.

"Look kid this isn't going to be easy but you have to think as a hokage with this, if we risk your daughters then we also risk losing the village, hell, we risk the whole world. Whatever else happens we have to make sure your daughters are ready for what is coming." replied Jiraiya his tone almost hollow as he continued to speak.

"We have to make sure that Naruko and Minami stand together, and we can't risk messing that up. I don't hat Naruto Minato, and neither do you but he could mess their training up even if he doesn't mean to. What if Naruto and Naruko started to get closer than Minami and Naruko, those two are already so much alike you can't tell me it couldn't happen. Or what if Minami and Naruto surpassed Naruko, you know she takes longer to learn things then them. If he is part of the training we risk too much." finished Jiraiya solemnly.

"SO WE THROW HIM OUT IN THE COLD! YOU'RE ASKING ME TO NEGLECT MY SON FOR THE SAKE OF!" began Minato as he his voice rose into an angry cry that was cut short by his sensei's own.

"FOR THE SAKE OF EVERYONE KID INCLUDING HIM!" cut in Jiraiya interrupting Minato and standing up from his seat.

"IF THIS PROFICY PLAYS OUT AND WE LOSE ONE OF YOUR GIRLS WE COULD LOSE THE WHOLE WORLD! WHAT WILL IT MATTER IF YOUR SON DIDN'T FEEL LEFT OUT IF EVERYONE DIES? DAMN IT KID I DON'T LIKE THIS EITHER BUT WE HAVE A CHOICE, THE WORLD OR YOUR SON, AND I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE THE WORLD FOR ONE KID WHO WE WOULD LOSE ANYWAY!" shouted Jiraiya as Minato felt his heart stopping as a flash of a flaming city lite up his mind, the smiling faces of his family now haunted looks and all he loved forever lost to him.

Minato could only look at the face of his sensei and realize what he was saying his fear slowly worming its way into his mind as he felt the fight leaving him. What would it matter in the end if Naruto was happy if it cost them the world. Besides it wasn't like he would abandon his son right, it would just be training; he could always do it later once the girls were closer.

_Ya…no harm in waiting._ _The third left you to protect this village, and sometimes that means making tough decisions. You knew that when you put on that hat…you owe it to everyone in this village to do what is right. _He though his eyes drifting down to photo on his desk…the smiles he swore to protect.

"Ok Jiraiya, your right, we will just have to make it up to Naruto once the girls are strong enough in their training." Replied Minato sadly as he looked back into his sensei's face.

"I'm sorry kid…I know its hard kid, but it will all work out, I'll be stopping by every once in a while to help train the kids with you, you'll see everything will be alright in the end. I promise." Replied the sage as he smiled sadly.

Neither man spoke for the next few minutes the weight of what they had decided resting upon their shoulders. They were starting down a path with the intention of saving everyone they loved. But good intentions have often paved the way to the Shinigami, and this would be no exception.

-Flashback End-

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As the memories of that fateful day flashed before Minato's eyes he steadied himself for the argument he knew was coming, his resolve as solid as stone as he pushed forwards intent on protecting his future.

"Well Kushina I have been giving it some thought recently, and I'm not so sure that Naruto is really ready to start his training with the girls." replied Minato his words catching Kushina off guard as he blinked at him a few times before her eyes narrowed dangerously as the focused on Minato.

"Excuse me?" she whispered in a dangerous tone, as she looked across at Minato who had not looked away from her.

"Would you mind saying that one more time honey, because it sounded like you were asking us to hold off on training our son after he has waited for two years to start? After we promised that he could start this year!" she continued allowing her anger to flood off of her as she spoke.

Despite the fear he felt at the moment Minato steady himself, he had dreaded this…but he would not back down when things got tough. He was the Hokage, and he would not be dissuaded so easily even as a small part of him hoped he might be.

"I'm saying Kushina that we both know that Naruto is still pranking, and causing trouble all the time in class, he isn't showing a real aptitude towards any area of being as shinobi yet. If we start him now it will take both of us looking after him just to make sure that he is properly looked after." answered Minato as Kushina continued to glare up towards him.

"If we were to bring him into the training now all we would be doing is taking all of the attention away from Naruko and Minami and both of them are getting into the advanced levels of their training. Leaving them now is dangerous." he continued even as he felt his own heart slowly hardening.

"Oh you mean like how we have been training them without him for the past two years Minato, or did you forget that little detail! How is it fair to neglect Naruto for them?" shot back Kushina now rising to her feet.

"Be that as it may we can't fix that by damaging Minima's and Naruko's training just so that Naruto doesn't feel left out! Kushina the girls have a burden that Naruto doesn't, we need to make sure that they are looked after." Minato replied holding his ground as Kushina advanced upon him.

"Oh so we just leave him out in the cold, is that your answer oh wise hokage? Not even a clone "cause its dispersal messes up our training!" quoted Kushina throwing Minato's reason for the absence of clones along with one of her fingers that she jabbed into his chest. Swallowing slightly Minato looked down to his wife as he replied.

"Kushina, what happened to you when you were a jinchuuriki of the village?" whispered Minato quietly his tone solemn as he felt as stab of guilt using his wives own past against her.

At his words Kushina stepped back as though she had been slapped her mouth opening and closing as it failed to form words the memories of her near successful kidnaping flashed before her eyes. Seeing her uncertainty Minato pressed his advantage his tone carefully controlled.

"At this moment both Naruko and Minami are in the same kind of danger you were, they are not only jinchuuriki, but also my children. Kumo tried to steal the Byakugan by kidnapping Hitomi's daughter just a few years back, this is a real danger to them, and they need to be ready because we are sending them out into a world with a bull's-eye painted on them." He continued as Kushina began to shake herself back to reality.

"Bu-but." Kushina began to reply only for Minato to press on.

"We can't risk them not being ready for this world we live in, even if that means that Naruto will have to wait a bit longer for training. Kushina we knew they would be in danger for carrying the Kyuubi just like you were, and I don't want to see them every having to suffer like you did." Continued Minato, as he walked forward wrapping his arms around Kushina as he did so feeling her body shiver under his hold.

"But Naruto." whispered Kushina struggling to speak in her shaky voice eyes slowly turning up to Minato.

"He doesn't have the Kyuubi in him Kushina, and the Uzumaki bloodline doesn't show visible signs like in Mito and Minami so he is even less danger. He's our son but he isn't a target like the girls ar." replied Minato in a soothing voice as Kushina's mind continued to swirl the fear seizing hold of her inch by inch.

"Besides it's not like we are going to abandon him, once the girls are ready we can start his training up with Mito, and with both of us it won't take long before he's an amazing shinobi, even Naruko and Minami can help us if we want. He'll have all of us there for him, right." he finished with a small smile offering Kushina the hope she needed to escape her growing fears.

"Promise me." whispered Kushina in a hushed voice as her shaking slowly died away.

"Promise me he will be ok Minato…promise me that we're doing the right thing for him." pleaded the woman, privately praying her husband would stop himself here even as the realization of what she was going to be asking of her son settled down on her.

"I promise Kushina, we will do whatever we have to in order to protect them all. Now let's get ready for them, we have a party to attend after all, and we can't go ruining it for them by being sad." smiled Minato, not knowing that Naruto was just then having his world crumble down around him.

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Outside of the parents room Naruto stood frozen as he finished listening to his parents talking his arms pushing him slightly away from the wall his body moving as if in a trance as he slowly turned to pad slowly down the hall back the way he had come.

_But why, they said I would start this year, sure Naruko and Minami need attention but what about me. They told me if I waited I would get training to, it's not fair why are they asking me to wait even longer, what am I supposed to do now? _Thought Naruto as he slowly made his way down the hall his feet soon crossing into the sitting room as his mind continued to swirl.

"**Seedling…seedling I'm so sorry, I know how much this must be hurting you, but you need to stay strong. The worlds not always fair, but you can't let this beat you." **consoled the Juubi as she watched the boy her own thoughts privately cursing herself for being right about the parents all along.

"_Bu…but he has been waiting for two years, it's not fair! Why are they asking him to wait even longer, ahhh what's wrong with them? Why are Naruko and Minami so important?" _ Yelled the other member of their trio as his mentally raged within their linked minds.

"**I don't know, but the fact is that there isn't anything we can do about it. Well we could show up the girls show them my youngest isn't much compared to his mom."** Added Juubi as the other voice slowly fell into a set of anger mutters.

_Don't blame Minami and Naruko…please its ok. _Came the soft thoughts of Naruto causing both voices to suddenly pause.

"**What**/_What?"_ came both of their replies only receiving silence as an answer.

"**Naruto what do you mean its ok, you can't actually believe that this is ok, they broke their promise to you again, how much longer are you going to defend them. You can't keep letting yourself suffer for them" **called Juubi with a hint and desperation in her voice that finally drew a reply from the boy.

_I'm not Juubi. _This caught the other two speakers attention

_But I can't hate them for wanting to look after my sisters either _he continued as both voices feel silent.

_I know what they are doing isn't fair but it's like you said Juubi, life isn't always fair, and I guess I'm just not as important to them as my sisters are. _Replied the blond allowing small tears to form on the sides of his eyes.

"**Seedling."** Whispered Juubi worriedly as Naruto shook himself forcing his tears back as he spoke next.

_I won't let this beat me though, I will keep training to protect them, and keep my promise, even if I don't have their help. _Continued Naruto as he slowly began to pull himself back together.

"_Maybe you should leave the village to train somewhere else, or hey why not go and join another village! That would show them for treating you like this!" _suggested the other voice as Naruto shook his head in irritation.

_What, are you crazy, if I did that who would look after Mito, and would happen if I did join another village, and had to fight Hinata, or my friends. And besides that where would I go, I don't even know where the other hidden villages are. _Replied Naruto as the other voice feel silent.

"**As much as I hate to say it I have to agree with Naruto on this, if he were to leave no doubt they would send shinobi to find him, and even if he did make it to another hidden village, that old toads spy network would be able to find him and bring him back. That if they didn't just ransom him off back to Konoha." **Agreed Juubi as the other voice let out an angry huff.

"_But he has to do something! They're abandoning him!" _argued the voice.

_I will, _Naruto replied causing his fellows to fall silent.

_I'll keep training with Hinata, and get strong enough to keep my promise, I'll even protect my family whether they like it or not. And when I do get my training from them I'll show them just how strong I can be so that they will have to see they were wrong to leave me behind. _Finished the blond as a small silence greeted his words.

"_Gah you're stubborn! Okay then I won't fall behind either so you better watch out Naruto!" _shouted the voice as Naruto mentally nodded towards its source.

"**Ok seedling, we'll do this your way." **Whispered Juubi even as Naruto blinked back to reality to see Mito seated between Naruko and Minami all three laughing happily as the older pair messed with the tiny redhead.

As his view fell on the three Naruto felt a small smile play across his face despite everything he had learned. He may have been angry at his family at the moment, but it just wasn't in him to hate them. He loved them so dearly, and in a way that is why this most recent betrayal hurt the most.

Ideally his thoughts returned to something Kushina had once told him, of how being an Uzumaki meant protecting your family, even when you may not always want to. Smiling softly to himself nodding as his thoughts turned to those words. He was Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, and from now on and he was going to show the world just what that meant.

-Flashback end-

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Now standing upon the Hokage monument some four years after that decision Naruto Uzumaki stood looking down upon the village, his face with a look of grim determination as he drew in a deep breath of the new day.

"Ok no turning back after this." he said to himself as he felt the small touch of excitement creping over him.

"**I just want you to know seedling, that whatever happens it has been my pleasure to know you, god's speed seedling!" **Spoke Juubi adopting a salute from her seat in the limbs of her tree a firm look upon her face that drew a smile to the boy's lips.

"_Remember all of your training has prepared you for this day, make us proud! And show those Baka's how an Uzumaki does things!" _said Naruto's other confidant in a cheerful tone. As the second speaker finished a small movement announced the presence of the second person upon the cliff face a moment before she spoke.

"Na-Naruto-kun are you sure this isn't going too far?" asked Hinata stepping forward to stand beside him on the head of the third Hokage the wind blowing out her blue hime styled hair as she turned her paled eyes to the blond beside her.

"Trust me Hinata-chan this is going to be the greatest thing we have ever done, just think what Hanabi and Mito will think of it? Besides we spent all night working on it, I can't let all our hard work go to waste." replied Naruto placing a hand on the poor girls shoulder and giving it a light squeeze for comfort.

"Hai, I guess you're right, and I do think they will like it. Kassan will too." smiled Hinata as she looked out into the village where her compound stood.

Both teens stood there for a few more moments looking out on the city as Hinata allowed her thoughts to travel back over the past four years that had led to her standing beside Naruto upon the stone Hokage.

-Flashback-

Naruto and Hinata were sitting together in a special classroom after the academy had let out with a few of their fellow students including Sakura, and Ino waiting for their teacher to arrive the pair ideally chatting away from the rear of the class. After deciding to train together Hinata had been looking for a way to get Naruto's spirits back up after she had heard that his parents had pushed back his training yet again. So when she heard that they were going to start having extra classes on becoming medical ninja, she thought it was the perfect opportunity to get Naruto back to his happy self. Especially after she had explained that neither of his sisters would be able to do it due to their huge chakra supplies.

This seemed to have done the trick and now she sat next to Naruto both watching the door eagerly awaiting the arrival of their instructor as around them the class slowly filled with prospective students of all ages. After a few minutes a women walked in with deep black hair and eyes wearing a matching kimono and holding a small pig between her arms crossing the small wooden floor to stand before the blackboard facing the raised seating of the classroom.

"Hello everyone, I will be your instructor my name is Shizune Kato" Shizune said smiling around at the assembled students her eyes falling on Naruto for a moment.

_That's odd Tsunade says that Naruto is always goofing off, I wonder why he is hear then? _She thought to herself as she turned her eyes away from the blond. True she hadn't really gotten to know the blond boy very much, only knowing the girls due to having to help patch them up after their regular training with Tsunade and overall being only peripherally involved with the family.

"Well let me first say welcome to your first lesson on Medical program training, the Hokage and my master Tsunade have allowed me to start up this little course so we can start preparing future Genin for the field if they chose to enter it after their graduation. If you all study hard, and listen I don't see why we can't have you all learning at least one Jutsu before you graduate but you better be ready to work for it." she finished with a smile as she saw all of the students looking around excitedly.

The lesson went by without too much of an incident, save for one girl who had fainted when Shizune had cut her arm to demonstrate the proper way to bandage a wound the lesson having to pause as she was carted out of class.

When the lesson was over and the majority of the class had departed Shizune noticed that a pair of students hadn't returned their equipment. Looking around for a moment as she spotted the two students still sitting at the back table with one of the test dummies. As she looked she noticed the blue and yellow hair that signified that it was Hinata and Naruto who were apparently still working on the lesson of the day. Deciding to investigate she walked over to see that Naruto was wrapping and rewrapping the dummies arm with Hinata pointing out where he had gone wrong before he set to work again. As she watched Shizune could not help but be surprised as instead of getting angry or annoyed with Hinata's advice, or his own failure Naruto simply smiled and proceeded to try again attempting to follow the girls' instructions.

_Hu he isn't acting at all like Tsunade described to me, he seems like a good little student? _She thought to herself as Naruto finally succeeded in wrapping the arm and celebrated by hugging the poor girl beside him who unfortunately fainted as a direct result.

_I guess I'll ask Tsunade about it when I get to the hospital later? _She thought as she watched Naruto panicking over the unconscious Hinata a small smile crossing her lips as he turned back and forth before finally spotting her.

"Sensei help Hinata's collapsed again, what do I do?" he called looking to the black haired woman for help. Letting out a small sigh at how clueless boys could be Shizune moved up the steps of the classroom to stand before the pair before replying.

"It's ok Naruto she just fainted, but set her head down carefully, she will wake up in a little while, ok." she replied trying to make sure she didn't laugh at the poor boy as he hurried to obey.

"Ok thanks sensei." Replied Naruto he hurried to sit down beside Hinata placing her head on his legs so it wasn't resting on the floor.

Shizune could only giggle at the picture they made as she left, thinking how the poor girl was going likely gong to faint again as soon as she realized where she had been resting.

After that Naruto and Hinata had continued to attend Shizune's lessons becoming two of the top students in the class only being outdone by Sakura. That pink haired girl seemed to have a gift for the area and took to it like a fish to water. Meanwhile Naruto and Hinata tended to have to put in more work but were able to become competent enough so that as they approached their final year both could boost at having some of the best chakra control of their grade. Thought that was not the only thing that both learned thanks to Shizune's instruction.

During their final year as the pair had once again found themselves staying after class Hinata had notice that Naruto was fidgeting slightly in his seat while also glancing at her from time to time before turning back towards the front of the class, with a faint blush on his face. This confused Hinata as it was very out of character for Naruto to not be his usual boasters self, her mind wondering just what was happening with her blond friend. Meanwhile within Naruto's mind another woman was addressing the same point only in her usual subtle manner.

"**Well are you going to tell her or are you going to simply keep acting like an Aburame stuffed your pants with their insects?" **asked Juubi looking at the scene with a huge smile on her face as Naruto continued to squirm.

"_Hay leave him alone, it's not that simple and you know it!" _spoke the Juubi's only other source of communication only succeeding in drawing a larger smile to the woman's lips.

_Ya what he said, I mean how do I even go and do this, she is my best friend? _Asked Naruto his worry showing just how confused he was about the matter he found himself in.

"**You should have thought of that before you read that last chapter in that medical textbook Shizune let you and her borrow. Or at least before you asked me to explain what happens when a Kunoichi and a Shinobi love each other very much." **laughed Juubi remembering how both of her listeners and gone bright red and fainted when it came to the part about male and female relations.

_Hey/"Hey" _shouted two voices still embarrassed about that particular episode.

_How were we suppose to know that she was fainting because she was thinking about us? _Shot Naruto.

"_Ya I mean we always just thought that she was sick or something, or suffered from fainting spells"_ added the other as Juubi gave both a small sigh.

"**And the fact that she only did this whenever you two were close together or accidently said something embarrassing didn't tip either of you off? Seedling you need to pay attention if this slipped by you." **chuckled Juubi with an air of superiority.

At this both the two gave up and opted to continue their little fidgeting game once again as they glanced once more towards the girl sitting beside them. Soon the end of class came and Naruto found himself and Hinata heading off to one of the training fields to do a little more work before heading home for the day.

Even after they arrived Naruto had still not worked up the courage to talk to Hinata, and his nerves were so shot that while practicing with the shuriken throwing he had one sale so far over the target that it flew off into the woods bordering the training field. Finally as they were about to leave Juubi stepped in, and "politely" insisted that he ask her.

"**Naruto either say what you are going to say or I am going to make it so that ramen tastes like the Uchiha's hair gel for the rest of your life!" **shouted the black eyed woman having finally lost patience waiting for the blond to say what he came here to say.

This finally prompted Naruto to speak up.

"Um hay Hinata-chan?" he called out to her as she finished throwing a kunai turning back towards him.

"Yes what it is Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata while a blush began to form on her face.

_He called me chan, Naruto called me chan _Thought the girl smiling happily to herself as Naruto pressed on_._

"Well you see I was wondering if you, what I mean is, I was wanting to know if you might, well." He managed will all the grace and poise of a drowning man.

"**JUST ASK OR I SWEAR I WILL BLOW UP THIS HOLLOW THING YOU CALL A HEAD RIGHT NOW!" **shouted Juubi, knowing that if someone didn't give the kid a kick in the pants he might just blabber on all night and never get to it. Once again she was the kick in the pants that Naruto needed.

"HINATA I WAS WONDERING IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GO OUT WITH ME SOME TIME?" shouted Naruto as his anxiety and fear gave way resulting in him yelling the question at her as though he was auditioning for a place as a human megaphone.

"_Smooth, move baka, now half the village probably heard you." _came a mocking voice from his head as Naruto froze in horror at what he had done.

Meanwhile the Juubi had fallen backwards out of her tree and was now rolling on the ground howling with laughter at the whole situation, not being able to believe that he just shouted it at her like that.

"**Oh my Kami, that was amazing, he ahhahahahaha, you might as well have painted it on the Hokage monument!" **managed Juubi between her laughing. Hinata for her part could only stare wide eyed at Naruto trying to process what the blond had just said.

_Did he just, did Naruto-kun just ask me out on a date, no don't faint don't you dare faint answer him, oh god he's just looking at me, do something you baka or he is going to think you aren't interested, come on girl MOVE! _Hinata screamed inside of her head, which resulted in a very interesting response.

"I'D LOVE TO!" she shouted back at Naruto before clapping both hands over her mouth as she turned the same shade as Mito's hair and desperately tried to stay conscious.

"**AHahahahahha he eh, oh kami I can't breathe this is great!"** cried Juubi in Naruto's head, even as he tried to possess what she had just yelled at him.

"_She said yes…. SHE SAID YES.. WOHO YA THIS IS THE BEST!" _called the other member of this event as Naruto blinked across at his oldest friend.

"Re-really Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto quietly trying to look at the girl as a blush slowly spread across his face.

"Ye-yes Naruto-kun I would really like to go out with you." replied Hinata also trying to meet his gaze despite her burning face.

This would have been enough however, once both their eyes had meat each blushed so heavily that they both fell over, with huge goofy smiles on their bright red faces, giggling to themselves, the stress of the whole event finally taking its toll on them.

Amidst Juubi's continued laughing only a single phrase was audible to no one but Narutos other silent companion.

"**he hehahahaha double kill AHHHahahahahh hehehe *snort*!" **

-Flashback End-

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After their rather embarrassing start the two had gone on their first date, and then a second until half way through their final year they had simply decided that they were officially dating. Each had agreed to keep the matter quiet during their time at school not wanting to be hounded during their lessons, and although neither of them would admit it, both wanted to hide it form their families for a little longer for fear of either trying to separate them. A fear present more so in the blond boy as his family situation slowly deteriorated around him.

During these past four years Naruto's connection to his family had become taxed at the very best. He hadn't really talked much with his father outside of meals, and even there he didn't really have anything to say to the man, after all what was there really to talk about with him now that he didn't seem to concern himself with Naruto's training and work in the academy. When the man wasn't working in the office he was working with his older sisters, and as a result the conversations he had always seemed to be about them and their training. Meanwhile the two sisters had each began to drift apart from their brother for their own reasons.

Naruko had at first simply wanted to get Mito's attention from her brother, and had attempted to do so by showing off. However, when this didn't work she also turned to belittling her brother in an attempt to prove that she was superior to him in every way. Couple this with her naturally competitive nature, and you had a recipe for disaster.

Despite this she had begun to back off slightly after a particular incident where Mito had yelled at her for being talking bad about Naruto the whole thing devolving into a shouting match that neither had completely recovered from. Following that she had simply taken to ignoring her brother and working to make herself stronger, while trying to mend her connection with her little sister. But most of the damage was already done, as after being hostile towards Naruto for so long she could no longer approach the boy without those old feelings pushing to the surface once again, and so as of yet her relationship with her brother was still in the garbage.

Meanwhile Minami also found herself moving away from her brother, but in her case it was more out of a fear of being angry with him. She had long ago gotten it into her head that the only reason that Naruto wasn't allowed to train with them was because of his own behavior, and that he was choosing to slack off and misbehave not taking anything seriously making it his fault that he was left out.

As a result what started as simple annoyance with his actions soon turned to anger, and eventually to sadness. In her mind Naruto was going to get himself hurt and there was nothing she could do to stop him, she assumed that her parents saw this as well and were trying to dis-wage him from becoming a shinobi by not training him so that they could protect him. As a result whenever she found herself with her brother, all she could muster was either annoyance at him, or sadness that he seemed to be ignorant to his family's efforts to protect him from a life he was ill suited for. As a result she wasn't able to see the true reason for any of the events surrounding her brother, and simply moved further and further from him making her blind to the work he was putting into his dream.

The final sister Mito however, had remained Naruto's bright light, giving him constant support, as well as love. The pair had only grew closer as the years went on even as thanks to him she also grew closer to Hanabi who despite what he said did enjoy the time he spent with both her and Naruto, although he would never admit to it. The boy may have been best friends with Mito, but he was still terrified of the red devil as he referred to her.

Then was the final member of his family and assuredly the most complicated for Naruto to sort out his feelings on. His Kassan Kushina had tried to remain a clear part of his life, even with the training yet despite her seeming efforts she too slowly distanced herself from the boy.

At first it was simply just taking him out for ramen, or accompany him with Mito to visit Hitomi while the kids ran around small things but enough to show him just how much he still meant to her. Unfortunately, as time continued to pass those events started to become less and less common the spaces between their trips to the ramen stand or simple visits growing longer and longer with each passing year. The reason sadly was that as Kushina continued to train her daughters she found less and less time for her son. Not helping was that on top of this Naruto and Hinata were working together more, and more in both their medical classes and after. Ignorant to this what times they could have spent were slowly taken over, Kushina's ignorance of her son's life making planning such times impossible for the pair.

However, what was more damaging to their relationship was the lies kushina had begun to believe to help her manage the growing guilt she felt at drifting from her son. Kushina may have been many things, brash at times, headstrong, and stubborn, but no one could call her stupid. Looking back she could see how she had allowed her own fears to damage her relationship with her son.

But she also allowed her fear of facing her failure to build into a wall of denial that cut her off from her guild piling the reason's and false truths as a means to hold back the swirling storm of failure that was her relationship with her eldest.

Recently this had been causing her more and more distress. During his last year she had begun to try and make more time for him, but the issue was that she had been away from his life for so long that that she just had now idea of where to begin with him. Her only saving grace was that thankfully Naruto seemed to be willing to be patience with her though even his willingness to accept accounted for very little as Kushina continued to hold herself back from her son. At the same time Hinata faced her own set of family issues.

It wasn't all bad however, her mother and her had continued to be there for her despite her limitations, and her connection to Hanabi had actually been very nice as he continued to see her as his loving older sister, who protected him form the treat of what he called the red devil sometimes known as Mito.

Where things started to go downhill was with her father. With Hanabi to train he had all but left his daughter to the side of his life leaving a gap in her family where he was concerned. On top of this her cousin Neji had gotten into a competitive nature like his father and her own, and as a result they were less like family and more like rival sports teams always trying to one up each other leaving her closes relative to be a source of constant abuse. Still this was not the same for every one of the pairs age group.

Besides each other, they had also found some company in their classmates. Sakura had been a particular surprise. It seemed once she had found her place in the medical field the girl's confidence had skyrocketed. With this came the avoidance of the dreaded fan girl's symptoms that seemed to be infecting so many of the class's girls. She had also held onto a strong friendship with Ino who found herself in the medical class along with Sakura after a while looking to impress her peers. They had also gotten closer to Kiba who unlike some of the class had really taken a liking to Naruto's jokes, and found himself enjoying his time with the two friends. It also didn't help that both Mito and Hinata found Akamaru to be the greatest fluffy plushy alive.

So that brought the pair to this moment on top of the hokage monument looking down at the village below as the first vestiges of light began to crest the horizon.

"Naruto-kun, are you sure about this" asked a blushing Hinata as she looked nervously behind her to where a massive tarp lay wrapped up.

"Well Hinata-chan a good friend of mine suggested the method, and you did say you wanted to tell everyone about us." smiled back Naruto while pulling out a kunai and walking back towards a rope that was staked to the ground.

"Bu-but Naruto I-I'm not sure this is a good idea." Continued Hinata allowing her stutter to return momentarily in face of this coming event.

"It's ok Hinata-chan no matter what happens we'll be ok, now watch this it's going to be great!" smiled Naruto as he sliced through the rope behind him with a dazzling smile upon his face.

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With a flutter of canvas and a small shifting of robes a banner descended over the hokage's faces rolling half way down the mountain as it went obscuring the stone faces' eyes. The first to notice the movement were the sentries on the outer walls of the village as the flutter of white had grabbed their attention. The reaction from them was different depending on the individual. While several were simply stunned at the message now facing them, along with the idea that it had apparently been so easily slipped pass all of them, left several momentarily stupefied. Others particularly from the female demographic were giggling to themselves thinking how cute the whole event was, while a few of their male coworkers could only nod their heads in approval at the display.

Those who noticed next were the shinobi and Kunoichi along with the students who were about to leave for class as they exited their homes, or spied it from their windows. Most fell into the same groups as their latters, however, there were a few exceptions.

"OH MY GOD!" shouted a pink haired girl as she spotted the banner from her bedroom window before falling into a fit of excited giggles at what the banner spelled out.

"There's no way, how did I not see this coming?" called a blond girl as she exited her front door dropping her lunch as her eyes traveled over the banner allowing her mouth to sound out the words.

From the Hyuuga resident three sets of Byakugan sat above three separate expressions. Hitomi was smiling ear to ear, while she clapped her hands together in front of her mouth trying to stop her excited giggling. Hanabi was torn on what to think, finally settling for a simple smile being happy for his older sister as he traced the message before him.

Hiashi, however, had a look on his face as though he had just seen his entire home burnt down, equal amounts of horror, and anger crossed the man's face as killing intent began to leak off of him.

Over at the Namikaze residence one little red head was excitedly clapping her hands as she looked out her window at her brother's most recent action. Even as behind her the remainder of her family were undergoing very different reactions.

Minato was livid his mind already racing as he glared towards his son's latest prank.

_How could he do that to the hokage monument, didn't he realize that he was desecrating a village monument. On top of that how could he not tell him about what was written up there before telling the whole fucking village? And what did he mean by Uzumaki? _Thought the blond as he continued to glare at the hanging message.

Minami and Naruko were simply in shock their eyes tracing back over the sign as it hung down over the village, not knowing what to think, a part of them was both happy for their brother, but also jealous/angry at him for creating this whole event. But most of all they felt confusion at the one point of the banner _Uzumaki? _they both thought wondering just what their brother meant by the change.

Kushina, however, was where the real reaction was found. She simply stood there as if frozen in place as she read the banner, guilt, happiness, sadness, anger, worry, and a small twinge of fear all fought for possession of the poor women's face as her violet eyes continued to dart back and forth across the banner causing her to look as though she was having a small fit of some kind. As her eyes passed from left to right she found herself reading the words once again as if trying to believe that they were real.

**NARUTO UZUMAKI **

**LUCKYEST GUY IN KONOHA **

**IS DATING **

**HINATA HYUUGA **

**THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD**

The banner read in bright orange letters as it swayed in the morning breeze for all to see. Several questions came to her mind as she read the banner for the second time.

_How did I miss my own son being with Hinata?,_she thought to herself_,_

_Ho…how could I miss something so big as this…wh..why didn't I see it coming? _Thought the woman as her racing mind began at last to slow enough for other thought be begin inching across her consciousness.

_Wait how could he not tell me? Have I really pushed him that far away from me, wait what am I thinking my sochi has his first girlfriend oh and its Hinata, oh kami they will be so cute together. Oh I wonder if Hitomi is seeing this; Uuh I wonder how Hiashi is taking this. _Thought the redhead in rapid succession. Her thoughts finally came to rest on one particular part of the banner that suddenly became the complete focus of her attention.

_Why does it say Naruto Uzumaki instead of Namikaze, is he trying to say something to us, but what would leaving out only the Namikaze part of his name? _wondered Kushina. And with those final thoughts she turned to see her family's reaction to the banner. As she looked around she saw the questioning and in the case of her husband furious reactions to the pronouncement. Mito was still clapping away at the window, and her two daughters were looking between their Kassan and Tousan as if expecting them to explain what was going on.

"Minato…" Kushina began, but before she could get any farther she was interrupted by her husband.

"Kushina take care of the girls I have to go take care of our son." stated Minato in a voice of forced calm as he departed in a familiar yellow flash leaving Kushina to turn towards her daughters who still look slightly dazed.

"Girls did you know about Naruto and Hinata being together?" questioned Kushina to the pair as each meet her violet eyes pausing themselves before replying.

"I didn't Kassan, but I really don't spend much time with Oniichan anymore." Replied Naruko looking a little ashamed as she said it which did not go unnoticed by Kushina.

"No Kassan I don't really have time to worry about Oniichan's stunts, though I know he does stay after class with Hinata to go to that course on Medical Jutsu with aunt Shizune. I guess he just went to spend time with Hinata." answered Minami as she began to answer her own questions in the same manner that had led her to move so far from her brother.

"Wait how long has he been going to these lessons?" asked Kushina, wondering why she hadn't heard about any of this before. Pausing for a moment Minami considered the question before replying.

"Not sure I think it was during our second year some time you would have to ask Shizune." Minami answered back as Kushina nodded slightly to herself.

"Yeah… I guess I should… anyway you girls get ready for school, Mito come on we are going to going to go and visit your godmother for a bit." Called Kushina as she turned to find her youngest still happily clapping at the window.

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Meanwhile across town within the Senju complex Shizune at that very moment was smiling to herself as she looked at the banner hanging above the hokage's faces.

"Well it's about time those two finally told everyone." she chuckled to herself. Being their teacher for the past few years, it was pretty obvious to her that the two were either dating or so close to doing so it hardly mattered.

Meanwhile Tsunade was simply laughing at the whole thing, while banging her fist on the window sill trying to catch her breath as she looked from the banner to Shizune.

"Shizune please tell me does he ever do anything half way?" she managed between laughs as her student paused for a moment before shaking her head slightly.

"Not that I've seen he is all this and more milady, he is also becoming quite prominent at medical work, in fact he is one of the top students in my prep class." Shizune replied still smiling as her sensei slowly caught her breath. Her students words caught Tsunade's attention however, although she had fought to have the basic program installed for her apprentice she hadn't actually had a chance to stop by and find out how the classes had been going. Between her work at the hospital and creating the medical ninja core in the regular forces she hadn't had a lot of free time. What little she had, she had spent with Kushina and the girls she soon realized as she cast her thoughts back.

On that thought she recognized that she had never been very close to Naruto, he had just reminded her to much of her brother at that age, and the pain of that lose was still being too much for her to face. As this occurred to her she realized just how little she actually knew about her only godson, and with that realization came a pang of regret.

_Just how much have I ignored him because of my own fears_? She thought to herself suddenly feeling like a coward at running from the boy for nothing but his appearance. Shaking herself she decided to stop by the Namikaze's later that day and see if she could at least start getting to know the boy she should have been spending time with for years.

"Hey Shizune could you tell me a little bit about the kid?" asked Tsunade turning to find her student blinking towards her looking slightly confused by her question.

"I don't see why not." she replied, privately wondering why her lady was suddenly taking an interest in Naruto, but deciding to ignore it.

Back on the top of the monument, Naruto could not help but feel spikes of killing intent begin to immerge from all over the village as the banner swayed for all to see his smile faltering slightly as he wondered what was going to come of this. Still it had been worth it, and as that thought crossed his mind Naruto once again found himself smiling as his passenger added her own view on the matter.

"**Well my little seedling this has got to be either the single dumbest thing you have ever done or the most romantic…on second thought it's probably both." **Chuckled Juubi smiling as she noticed Hinata turning beat red as the thought of all the people who were now reading the message.

"_Aw who cares this is great!"_ laughed the voice.

_Yep this was perfect. _AgreedNaruto as Juubi let out a sigh.

"**Not to interrupt but I can feel some chakra signatures approaching, and they seem to belong to your fathers Anbu." **Spoke the woman with a note of concern in her voice.

"_So shall we run for our lives?"_asked the voice

_Oh yes lets._Responded Naruto as he turned towards Hinata.

"Hinata-chan I'll see you later at the finals, I have to go for now!" said Naruto giving Hinata a quick hug before grabbing one of the ropes and shimmying down it towards the town below.

Just as he leaped Hinata found herself surrounded by several Anbu who were looking around for the orange clad boy.

"Hey Neko go ahead and take the girl to school we'll track down the kid!" called a wolf masked Anbu towards his female companion. Meanwhile the other three Anbu began to run down the side of the mountain after the boy attempting to catch him before he could reach the city and give them a real chase. Hinata in the mean-time looked over at Neko as her fellows departed.

"Um Neko-san what are they going to do with Naruto-kun when they catch him?" asked Hinata not able to keep a bit of worry out of her voice. Neko only looked down at the girl silently for a moment before responding.

"Our orders are to escort him and his accomplices to the academy finals for now, after that, however you both will be brought before the hokage." she finished without a hint of emotion in her voice.

This caused Hinata's head to drop slightly, she knew she would probably be ok, but she couldn't help but worry about Naruto, he had not been on good terms with his father for the last few years, and this incident was sure to push things between the two. Spying this Neko decided to offer some comfort to the girl.

"I'm sure the hokage will be gentle with you kids." she said in an attempt at a comforting voice.

"I'm not worried about myself Neko-san." replied Hinata in a firmer voice "I don't want to see Naruto-kun to get in to much trouble is all." she said looking up at the Anbu with a look that make the women giggle a little despite herself.

_Well I guess we know who is in charge of this relationship _thought Neko, as she and Hinata disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Later at the academy Hinata and the rest of the class sat waiting for Iruka to arrive. Hinata in the meantime was subject to more than a few stares on account of the morning events. Kiba, Sakura, and Ino had already bombarded her with questions at her arrival, everything from why they hadn't been told to whose idea the banner had been and for more details of the pairs relationship. The girls could only giggle about how cute it was, while Kiba just kept telling her how awesome the whole thing banner had been, and how we wanted Naruto to make one for him when he got himself a girl.

Meanwhile two figures of the class were keeping quiet during the morning. Naruko and Minami sat in silence during the early lessons still not knowing quite what to think about the whole morning's events.

_I wonder what else I've missed about Oniisan? _Naruko asked to herself as she waited for her brother's arrival glancing now and then out the classroom window.

_How did I miss this I'm supposed to be his Oneesan for the love of kami, what have I been doing? If I can miss this then what's next? _ Thought Minami beating herself up mentally at having been so afraid of her own emotions to have driven a wedge so great between her and her brother.

Before either had time to think more on the matter the door to the classroom opened and in walked Iruka followed by a blond boy in step with two Anbu that stood flanking him.

"Well everyone it's time to get these exams underway." Called Iruka giving one final glance back to Naruto and his escorts as he did so.

"**Well you gave them a good run while you could." **said the Juubi with a cheer up tone to her voice.

"_Yeah who would have thought they would have been able to clear that fruit cart, but you still made them work for it." _chuckled the voice in agreement.

"**Hey who said you could stop practicing, you still haven't mastered number six yet, till then you won't get to have free time on my watch solider, now back to work, or we start all over again!" **spoke the woman in a firm tone directed at the other voice.

_Ha sucks to be you. _chuckled Naruto mentally as his other confidant let out his own chuckle before fading.

"_Oh ya well you have to deal with Kassan later so who's it suck to be now?" replied the voice._

_Oh crap, _thought Naruto as he paused for a moment his eyes widening.

"**Oh crap is right but one thing at a time, for now just concentrate on passing this exam, I'm not having you mess up after all the work you've done to get here." **cut in the Juubi before the two could go at it again.

"Ya your right I have an exam to pass!" spoke Naruto aloud by accident in his enthusiasm drawing all of the classroom occupant's attention.

"**And now everyone thinks you're crazy way to get off to a great start as usual seedling." **sighed Juubi with an exasperated shake of her head as the blond moved forwards towards his examination.

**Well that's number three, thank you once again for all the reviews/favorites/follows and Pm's your reviews keep the story going. So please review if you can, or send a PM with how you would like the story to go. Also the identity of the other voice will be discovered in the next chapter, so if you want to try and guess who/what it might be sent a PM and I'll list the names of those who get it right.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

I would like to give a shout out to those who have reviewed, followed and favorite my story in the short time it has been out.

Now I know I said that I would have the voice reveal itself in this chapter, but funny thing the writing kind of got away from me. So I decided to let the events of this chapter stand on their own, while just writing another chapter for the big reveal, so I didn't diminish either of the points of the chapter and this one. Sorry if this is a disappointment to you, but I felt that if I tried to cram the two together neither would play out very well. So I will have to push back the revealing until next time. This does however; give you a little more time to guess. Remember those who get it right get to have their names announced in the coming chapter. Also might include a sneak peek at a future relationship for the story, to those few as well, so have fun with that.

It has been brought to my attention that some people think Minato doesn't love his son, this is a little misleading, as he does love all of his family. What I have tried to show is that Minato and Jiraiya are both still holding onto the idea of the greater good, and justifying what they do accordingly, while they love Naruto their first love is to the village, and as a result it is placed in higher importance than Naruto. Does this make his actions any better, not really but to think they are the villain of the story would also be a bit much.

**Chapter 4**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_ (decided to change font so it is easier to tell let me know it helps)

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-A not so easy fix-**

Soon Naruto was escorted towards the rear of the class where the Anbu leading him gestured towards an empty seat separated from the rest of the students. This however caused Naruto to look up at the porcelain masked face of his escort for a moment as though he were insane before he marched purposefully towards the empty seat beside Hinata a few of the class watching his determined progress as short as it might have been. Naruto managed to get a whole two feet from his escort before the man's hand darted out to seize him by the shoulder causing the boy to jerk to a halt.

"Namikaze you are to follow my instructions, now take your seat." Stated the Anbu plainly as he once again gestured to the separated seat causing the blond to glance back at him his eyes narrowing towards the man.

"Don't think so, you can sit there, I'm sitting by Hinata-chan!" replied Naruto glaring defiantly up into the porcelain mask as the Anbu's fellows glanced at the exchange shaking their heads slightly before sifting into the shadows around the room waiting for their colleague to finish with the blond.

"You will sit where I tell you to gaki or I will make you." Stated the Anbu in a tone that dared Naruto to disobey him as his hand tightened ever so slightly upon the boys shoulder drawing Naruto's eyes down to it before moving back to the two black whole of the man's mask as a wicked smile crossed his lips.

"**Oh I would not have done that if I were you!" ** Chuckled Juubi leaning forward on one of the branches of her tree as she prepared for the show to start.

_Oh crap, he's got that look in his eye!_ Thought the majority of the class, the scared Iruka included, as they all began to move slightly back from the pair a few pulling out books or shifting as if ready to fling themselves under desks. Looking around in confusion at the sudden change in the class the Anbu was forced to wonder what it was he was apparently missing….a moment later they got their answer.

No one could quite explain how or what happened next, but by the end of their "disagreement" as the students and teacher reemerged from their cover, Naruto was left for the rest of the class with being escorted by a rainbow colored Anbu his whole body caped in a mix of neon colors that could likely be seen from orbit.

At the same time his fellows who had taken positions at the door and window respectively could only chuckled silently at the fate of their comrade while making a mental note to not start a tiff with the hokage's son, orders or no. The resulting scuffle had also left a large amount of paint dripping from the ceiling, as well as one unlucky rainbow colored Nara, who had yet again not been prepared to duck.

_I hope the Hokage gives him D ranks for a month after this, _thought the now multicolored Anbu as he glared down at his now ruined uniform before glancing back to his blond charge.

But _where was he keeping all of that paint? _

Meanwhile Naruto had settled himself happily beside Hinata who was trying and failing to keep a small blush off of her face as she felt Naruto's hand close around her own, as they turned towards the head of the class.

"Well." called Iruka as he emerging from behind his desk, dragging his aid Mizuki to stand alongside him, "now that we are all present, I will go ahead and explain the exam."

Across the rows of desks and up the staggered seating where the students sat Naruto watched as Iruka settled into his speech allowing himself to fall back into his mindscape until the actual exam had begun having heard enough speeches from the man to know what was coming. And just like that with a slight tug to the back of his mind he was off.

As he opened his eyes upon the familiar grassy field of his mindscape, he could not help but lament the lack of one of its particular features that no longer cast itself into the wide blue skies. Pushing himself up from the soft carpet of grass Naruto's eyes turned to the central hilltop that was now barren, of the beautiful tree he had seen all those years ago when he had first meet the Juubi. The hill now appeared somehow naked without the tree, and with a few steps Naruto found himself standing at the edge of the hill slowly making his way up its slope.

At reaching the crest of the hill a simple pool of water was there to meet him sitting just where the tree had once stood as still as glass and somehow darker than night itself as it refused to reflect the blue skies above. The midnight blackness of it let out a faint familiar glow as if it were a doorway opened from a long way off spilling light into a quite night, yet the light did nothing to illuminate its countenance. At reaching the summit of the hill Naruto found himself gazing down into it the still water before he brought his hands up cupping them around his mouth.

"Hey Juubi, can I talk to you for a minute?" Called the boy into the pool the seemed to shiver slightly at his words before going still once more. After a few moments of continued silence a purpled spot slowly began to rise from the still water. Slowly the object continued to swell till a woman's face emerged her waves of purple hair falling about her shoulders as they to emerged, her black eyes trailing over towards the boy a look of slightly annoyance upon her brow.

As she slowly rose to stand upon the now still pool her slender arms reached up to cross before her bosom as she let out a sigh as she examined the boy before her.

"**Seedling….how many times do I have to tell you, you don't have to scream in your own head….or in my ear for that matter." **Came the lecturing tone of Juubi as Naruto gave her a wide grin that slowly caused Juubi to drop her own annoyed expression.

"**And then he just smiles at me….I'm such a pushover."**

"**Okay seedling I'll let you off the hook this time, but don't take too long, you're shouting caused your friend to lose focus and knock himself out while trying to manage number six." **smiled the Juubi Naruto letting out a small chuckle at the mental image of someone managing to knock themselves out with their own technique.

"Thanks Juubi-chan, I just wanted to talk to you about what I should say to my Tousan…you know after the exam?" asked Naruto as his voice slowly shifted to show the obvious concern he had on the subject a point that did not go unnoticed to Juubi.

"**What to do?..*sigh* honestly seedling I don't know. Never really had a Tousan... I guess all we can do is wait and see…really waiting is the worst part for now." **replied the Juubi as she tilting her head to the side, a habit she had picked up form Naruto whenever she was thinking.

"Righ…right…thanks Juubi." replied Naruto allowing his head to drop slightly so as to try and hide the worry now moving across his face.

Juubi watch the blondes head drop feeling a small rush of self-loathing for being so helpless to alleviate the boys suffering. She could not help but think how much easier it would be if he was more like some other kids his age, who would have allow him to simply break from his family after so much silent suffering on his part. But that wasn't her little seedling, he was just to caring about people to callously cast them aside, and what was worse he absolutely hated disappointing them, even if they excelled in doing the same to him.

_**Still I suppose that's what makes him the perfect host for me…just a couple of baka's always trying to handle everything ourselves. **_Sighted Juubi as she shook herself, putting her mind back to work for the problem at hand.

"**Well seedling we may not know what to do with the Hokage, but try and remember that you did what you did for you and Hinata-chan. It was about making you two happy, so don't let him or anyone else take that away from you…alright." **she finished smiling hopefully down at the blond who slowly raised his eyes to meet her own.

After a moment Juubi's words seemed to have the desired effect as Naruto brightened up and even cracked a small smile moving forwards to huge the woman as she reached down to run one hand gently through his blond locks. After their small embrace Naruto finally stepped back still smiling slightly up at the woman.

"Thanks Juubi," called the boy as he glanced around the deserted mindscape for a moment, "So I guess I better get back to class before anyone sees that I'm acting funny." Chuckled Naruto as Juubi's own face turned up in an amused expression.

"**A little late for that seedling, you did rainbow paint your guard." **Chuckled Juubi as Naruto paused for a moment before nodding, one hand rising up to scratch idly at the back of his head.

"Oh yeah….hehe….Hey wait! Juubi I have an idea!" called the boy just as Juubi was starting to sink slowly back into the pool, her eyes shifting back to the boy as her slow decent stopped.

"**Well now I should be worried, so what is it seedling?" **asked Juubi noticing the wide smile now upon the boys lips.

"With the exam we do the henge right! Well what if I *whisper* *whisper* *whisper*" he finished attempting to be silent ignoring the oddity of whispering within his own mind. Despite this the blond almost ecstatic look to flood across his face as Juubi paused before letting out a small giggle reaching up one hand to cover her mouth.

"**hehe he, oh I like it, you have my permission, oh I wish I could see the looks on my sons face when you do that. Just make sure you do it right, I'd hate to have you mess it up." **Replied the Juubi wistfully as she finally allowed herself to descend back into the poll leaving not a trace upon that early smooth surface. After giving the somehow empty mindscape one finally look Naruto allowed himself to be pulled back into reality as the bright blue and green faded into darkness.

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Soon enough the blond found himself dropping back into his own body as the feeling of the seat below him, and the soft drown of Iruka's speech washed over him; the man's voice slowly winding down as the class seemed to be stirring from their own slumber. As Naruto blinked a few times, as he finished coming back from his mind-scape just as Iruka finished the last of his speech.

"Alright everyone, good luck on the examination and remember what I told you." Called Iruka as he moved forwards his hands full of the written examination.

_Just in time, now to get this thing done. _Smiled Naruto to himself as he reached out to take a text for himself before passing the pile over to Hinata as the two set to work.

The written test passed without incident, Naruto finding himself pleasantly surprised at how well he had done making a note to thank both Hinata, and Sakura in helping him to prepare on the subject.

_Hm hard to think just a few years ago I would have probably failed that test. _Thought the blond smiling at the proof of his hard work that he was now passing towards Iruka. After the exams were fully collected and stored Iruka led the class out into the yard where a series of stationary and moving targets had been set up for the examination.

Once the class had fully filed in Iruka called up the first student directing them towards a line beside which a table stood covered in kunai and shuriken awaiting use. For a time the only sound was the whistle of steel through the air accompanied now and then by the satisfying thunk as it found its target, and the dull chatter of those watching spiking now and then in support of a friend.

"Sasuke Uchiha." called Iruka watching as the raven haired boy approached the weapons table his expression slightly sullen as his eyes fell across the weapons and targets. With a bored air about him Sasuke bent to begin selecting kunai and shrunken ignoring the calls of support from behind him.

Sadly this was what the young Uchiha had become. The boy that now stood at the weapons table, had changed greatly from who he had been only two short years ago. On that day Sasuke had born witness to his brother…Itachi slaughtering every shinobi and kunoichi of the once great Uchiha clan, watching as the brother he idolized struck down their own father, then turning his blade upon every clan member that could hold a kunai. By the end Sasuke was left alone beside his unconscious mother as the blood of his family slowly cooled upon his cheeks, his eyes distant as they traced across the faces of his dead clan.

Only those either not affiliated with the shinobi world or below the rank of Genie had been spared his wrath. The rest having meet their bloody end that night, and with them died too the once happy boy who had been Sasuke Uchiha. In his place came the new boy, who despite the surviving members of his clan, had shut himself off form the rest of the world concentration only on gaining the power to kill his brother…to kill the man who had murdered the boy he had been.

Exasperating this issue was the fact that he was to be the first of the next generation of Uchiha for Konoha, and as a result he garnered a bit of a fan club in both school as well as some elements of the civilian populace who saw this as an opportunity to gain favor with a future clan head. So a boy hurt, alone, and angry, separated himself form anyone who could truly help him, instead choosing to allow people to praise him and offer him encouragements towards his goal of killing his brother. So by the time Sasuke had bent down to pick out his weapons for this portion of the exam, almost all of the boy he had once been was lost.

There was one person, however, who had somehow managed help the boy hold onto some vestiges of himself. That person just happened to be Naruko Namikaze who had become something like a rival to the Uchiha the two constantly butting heads over every little thing and oddly forming an attachment thanks to the actions. While Sasuke had the natural talent on his side Naruko's special training and constant striving to grow had her neck and neck with the Uchiha in almost every area of the academy causing the continued growth of their competition. The two had managed through this to form a bit of a friendship at least when they weren't trying to pound the other into the ground.

"Ok Sasuke just attempt to hit as many targets as possible, you need at least a score of six to pass." stated Iruka as we watched the boy gather up his weapons and turn towards the target.

"Hn." Sasuke replied as he flicked his hands forwards in an almost lazy fashion letting a small wave of kunai and shuriken fly out as a single wave of steel that speed downrange.

With a satisfying series of trunks, all ten of the kunai and shuriken buried themselves into the wooden targets across the field nearly simultaneously. At this display a few of the fan girls could not help but cheer for the raven haired teen even as Naruko's voice called out a challenge to the boy drawing small smirk to his face as he moved back towards the class.

Naruto's attention, however, was drawn up towards the Hokage Monument where he could barely see figures moving back and forth across the cliff side likely attempting to dismantle his sign.

_Ha like I would make it that easy for you. _Thought Naruto a moment before he saw a distant series of colored eruptions going off on top of the monument. Followed shortly thereafter by what sounded like a mixture of angry shouts and death threats, but maybe that was just his imagination. Chuckling to himself at his small victory Naruto turned back towards the front of the class where he saw a young man steeping back as Iruka's eyes found the titular blond.

"Naruto Namikaze." Called Iruka patently waiting for Naruto to respond as his eyes dropped to his clipboard. After a few moments Iruka noted that no one had moved causing him to turn his attention back to where he saw Naruto standing blinking innocently towards him. Meanwhile a great deal of the class were also looking towards the blond, a few unable to keep from glancing at the rainbow colored Anbu that still stood stoically behind him as even he was now looking towards the boy.

"Naruto, what are you doing get up there!" Iruka repeated with a hint of annoyance in his voice as he saw a small mischievous smile crossing the blond's lips.

"But Iruka sensei you didn't call my name." called Naruto as he raised a hand to point towards the monument, "if you need help it's right up there." Continued the blond apparently amused as he watched a few of the class looking up towards the banner still waving gently before the Hokage monument. After a quick glance towards the banner, Iruka sighed marking his clipboard as he turned back to Naruto.

"Fine Naruto Uzumaki will you just get up her and start your test before I have to dock you points?" called Iruka rubbing his forehead wondering what he did to deserve this even as a few of the class saw the distant poofs of a few more multicolored eruptions from the cliff. Two of the class, however, had shifted their attention back to Naruto as he approached the weapons table wondering what exactly was happening with their Niisan.

_Why does Naruto keep using Kansan's old last name I mean why not use Tousan's too….agh I just don't get it! _Through Naruko a little annoyed as she tried and failed to figure out what her sibling was up to. After all what would be the point of only dropping half a name, after all there weren't any simple Uzumaki's in the elemental nations anymore.

_Wait could that be it, is he trying to do this for Kassan? But why…I mean Kaasan's not just an Uzumaki anymore…man what is going on with him? _Thought the blond girl her blue eyes closing in concentration as she continued trying and failing to piece together what she was apparently blind to. A few feet away from her the final member of the sibling trio was also attempting to decipher her sibling's message.

_Uzumaki…well that was Mom's clan name; hum is he doing this to try and get her attention? Baka if he wants attention then all he has to do is work harder and Kassan and Tousan would let him train with us. All these kind of stunt are showing is how unprepared he is. If he keeps trying to take shortcuts he's going to get himself in trouble._ Thought the redhead her annoyance with her Niisan only surpassed by her confidence that the boy's actions were to blame for his lack of training. Meanwhile as the sisters continued to debate the boy's action Naruto had reached the testing table.

Taking it slowly Naruto pulled up a pair of projectiles at a time to throw towards the targets smiling with each dull thwack that echoed back to him. Although not as impressive as Sasuke his throws were mostly on target only missing two out of the ten possible targets. As the last Kunai found its mark sticking into the moving dummy's head, even as his last shuriken glanced off of its arm, Naruto found himself smiling at his score. It wasn't perfect, but it was his, and after all the hours working with Hinata over the years those eight hits were his and no one else's.

"Nicely done Naruto, it's good to see you've improved so much." offered Iruka marking down his score and motioning for the next student to approach as the blond made his way back across the field.

"Good job Naruto-kun." Called Hinata as he stepped up beside her, the girl's soft words of praise causing Naruto to break out into a wider smile as he turned to her.

"Thanks Hinata-chan, I'm sure you'll even better dattebayo." He replied with so much enthusiasm the poor girl found herself blushing as Ino and Sakura leaned slightly out of line to case wide smiles towards the pair, flashing thumbs up towards the girl.

Soon enough the rest of the class stepped up for their attempts most passing the exam with varying scores. Hinata managing to score an impressive nine which prompted Naruto to throw away all subtlety deciding to give tight huge that took her off of her feet causing her to blush furiously even as a wide smile decorated her face.

Despite Naruto's happiness with his own score, he could not fight off a pang of sadness as he turned from Hinata to watch both of his siblings score perfect tens each of them throwing in the same manner that Sasuke showing the fruits of their training. Watching the gap in skill between himself and his siblings the blond boy found himself deflating slightly even as beside him Hinata reached out her hand to give his own a gentle squeeze causing him to smile softly at her in thanks. As he turned from Hinata the pair saw as Sakura took her turn, his momentary sadness being pushed back as he set himself to cheer for his friend. At the same time another pair were having less success in wrestling with their own emotions as they shot small glances towards the blond.

_Well Naruto did alright, I mean he's still not as good as me, but he still did ok… I guess I should congratulate him…that would be ok... yeah then I can ask him about that Uzumaki thing with the banner. _Thought Naruko as she turned taking a few steps towards Naruto his mixed eyes turning up to meet her azure ones as she neared him.

"Hey Niisan; you…well you did pretty good with the throwing weapons, so congratulations." Called Naruko attempting to keep a happy tone in her voice as she spoke to her fellow blonde. Idly she noticed how odd if felt to be talking to him like that…just being happy to talk with him… it had been a long time. Across from her Naruto could not have looked more shocked if he had tried at his sisters' words.

_Um Juubi is Naruto congratulating me…as in actually praising me it's been years since she did that? _Said Naruto in his head.

"**Um seedling, she hasn't really talked to you much since Mito-chan screamed at her that one time. Really, I think this is the most she's said to you in months." **Responded Juubi, while privately wondering if Naruko had some kind of ulterior motive.

_Well she's being nice…that's good, maybe things are look up. _He thought.

"Thanks Naruko, but your still way better than me, bet you have been working yourself into the ground like always." smiled Naruto his words catching Naruko slightly off guard.

_Hu…but he doesn't train with use how does he know that?...I mean he use to watch with Mito but that was years ago. _She thought with a twinge of sadness as the though crossed her mind as a small flash of a younger blond boy and a little red haired bundle cheered for her across a grassy training field.

_How could he have remembered that for so long...and why? _Thought Naruko allowing herself to simply step back and watch Minami's attempt as she tried to get her thoughts in order.

Following her own perfect score Miami's thoughts turned towards her Nissan as well as she slowly moved across the school yard towards the class.

_Niisan did ok…well really he did great, I mean he was better than most of the class, but how? He was always just playing prank's wasn't he…I mean I didn't always see him but that's why Tousan and Kaasan wouldn't train him right? I mean what else could it be…it had to be that, maybe he just got help from Hinata…but that would mean training…wa…was I wrong? _Thought Minami as she walked up to her Niisan slowly growing nervous as she approached him.

"Um hey niisan, I guess you've been working hard on your throwing…I mean it shows." Minami said softly with a hint of embarrassment. It wasn't very easy for her to be faced with proof that she might have been very wrong about her brother, and could have been destroying her time with him for nothing. And if that was the case then what had it been for…and why had her parents done the same.

_But why did Kassan and Tousan not train Niisan then? I mean we were busy with training but they should have noticed shouldn't they, or did they, no they couldn't have missed it. _Minami thought more than a little scared of the answer she might receive.

_Now Minami too, did Kassan put something in the food this morning or something. _Naruto thought to himself.

"**Hmm maybe it has to do with you banner, but something seems off with them, maybe it's about you and Hinata, or maybe it's about the whole Uzumaki thing?" **Suggested Juubi as she mulled over what she was seeing, trying and failing to understand the sudden shift in the sister's behavior.

_I guess that could be it, but why would that make them want to be nice to me? _Wondered the puzzled boy as he turned to face Minami.

"Thanks Minami, I guess all my work paid off, but you're still the best at weapons out of us." Naruto replied to his sister giving her a warm smile.

This did little for Minami's mental dilemma, and the mounting worry that she had been helping to destroy what connection she shared with her brother.

With such thoughts still plaguing the two sisters the class made their way back into the school building for the final part of the exam the Jutsu section. Instead of heading back into their normal class room, which was still dripping with paint, they all headed into the auditorium were the exam was to take place. At reaching the room they were instructed to stand against the back wall and wait to step forward to be examined. Before beginning they were instructed that they would be monitored during the entire event.

To most of the students this point passed them by as little important. A few simply thought it was so that they would not be interfering with other participants, but this was actually a final part of the exam designed to see if they could take the first step towards acting as soldiers, over a group of kids. Planted in the class were several chunnin who were there particularly to fail the exam, to increase tension between the other students. Along with this the professionalism of the students was also being observed throughout this test to see how they would behave when witnessing the actions of their fellows. It had been suggested by Ibiki of the interrogation department to set up this particular part so as to see how the students acted under pressure, as well as a way to weed out those who allowed their base emotions to dictate their actions without thought.

As a result their reaction to the passes and failures of their fellow class members were also being heaped on the students in order to monitor their competence in their shinobi mentality. A few of the students had been able to pick up on the meaning behind their predicament, while others remained blissfully unaware.

_But why would they have us all be able to see each other, that would only make it worse to fail, and make everyone lo…. That's it their trying to psych us out. _ Thought Sakura as she looking around at her classmates.

_Hn like a trick like that would work on me _thought a raven haired boy.

_Yes time to show off for Sasuke-kun _though a blond completely missing the point.

_Troublesome, _was the only thought from Shikimaru.

_I hope I do ok, munch munch, _said Choji to himself.

_Oh man this is great Juubi it's like they set it up for us! _Thought Naruto even as a smile spread across his face, which incidentally caused his Anbu escort to back away slowly from the boy worried for his sanity.

_Ok Hinata just remember what Naruto-kun and Kaasan told you. You've worked hard for this and you are going to become Genie together with Naruto-kun. _ Hinata said to herself setting her face into a look of determination.

_Oh ya just watch me this is going to be easy! _Thought Naruko as she rolled her shoulders slightly as if removing a crick from her neck.

_Come on uncle Jiraiya taught us all about intimidation this is nothing. _Thought Minami, sparing a glance towards Naruto and hoping that he would be ok as she remembered he hadn't been given the same training. The thought bringing another stab of worry into her mind.

_What was that Akamaru, two of the students aren't from our class, then why would they be her, unless there's something else going on, keep your eyes peeled buddy. _Whispered Kiba to Akamaru.

_Buzzzz….buzzz….Buzzz…. no-one is even looking at me, I'm starting to wonder if my clan can become invisible and no-one told me. _Thought Shino to himself.

Soon enough the students stepped forwards one by one to take their examination, each attempt allowing the tension mount upon those remaining as they saw their fellows celebrating in success or marching away sadly in failure. A few of the weaker students were unable to keep from panicking and in one case simply crumpling to the floor in a dead faint.

Not long into the exam Hinata stepped back with a leaf headband wrapped around her neck and a bright smile on her face that Naruto returned. She could hardly resist jumping up and down in happiness at the idea of proving herself in front of everyone and even to herself. As she reached her position once again she glanced over to Naruto noting the smile upon his face and privately wondering what he had planned.

Soon enough Naruto was stepping forwards to stand before Iruka in the center of the gym his confident smile still in place upon his lips as he gazed at his sensei.

"Ok Naruto I need you to do the henge, kawarimi, and finally the clone jutsu." Listed off Iruka as he looked up from his clipboard and settled his eyes on the approaching blond.

"Um sensei would it be a problem if I did my Henge last?" Asked Naruto fighting back the need for break into an even wider smile, something that did not go unnoticed to the Anbu still stationed around the gym.

"Hmm I guess that won't be an issue." replied Iruka after a moment of wondering how this could possibly be turned against him.

"Right!" Said Naruto as he positioned his hands and called up his chakra, "clone jutsu!" At his call a few clouds of smoke appeared around the blond dispersing a moment later to reveal four clones standing around the boy all blinking and smiling just like the original.

"Very nice Naruto." called Iruka marking down on his clipboard, while thinking how far he had come over the last few years.

Iruka then raised his hand up with a practice Kunai ready taking aim at Naruto.

"Ready Naruto?"

"Ready Sensei." Replied Naruto confidently as he prepared himself to dodge the oncoming blow.

With that Iruka flicked the kunai forwards into the orange clad boy where it struck, sticking directly into his chest. Naruto's eyes bulged slightly as the Kunai entered his body the force pushing him back till with a flash of smoke a chair and the Kunai tumbled to the gym floor with a dull clatter. Iruka at the same time was forced to push himself forwards as the chair he had been occupying disappeared from under him. Turning his head he found Naruto standing where his chair had once been grinning up at the man.

"Nicely done Naruto, now would you mind going and getting my chair for me?" said Iruka with no hint of real anger in his voice. In reply to his sensei's chiding Naruto raised his hand and rubbed the back of his head as he rushed to drag the chair back to Iruka before once again taking his position in front of the examiners.

"Alright Naruto the Henge is all that's left." Called Iruka as he resettled himself into his seat turning black eyes upon his blond student as he spoke. Naruto nodded excitedly in reply as a small pulse of chakra began to build around him.

_Ok Juubi here we go!.. Man I wish I had a camera. _Thought the blond as he prepared his henge.

"**You and me both Seedling, oh I wish I could see my sons faces when you pull this off." **Juubi thought as she settled down on the grassy hill the smile on her face somehow stiff, as though she was pushing something down as she mentioned her sons, but if there was something there it was for her alone to know as she turned to look out through Naruto's eyes an invisible observer to the world.

As soon as Juubi's words had left her mouth the grinning boy was obscured in another billowing cloud of smoke. After a moment the summoned smoke began to dissipate allowing all of those within the gym to see a new where the orange clad prankster had been before. The newest appearance garnered quite the response.

There in the middle of the gymnasium stood a woman dressed in a beautiful grey and silver battle kimono adorned with the pattern of falling leaves. Standing just an inch under six feet, with both her arms and feet were bear so that her pale skin shown out like ivory. As she turned towards Iruka her hair that cascaded down her back in a deep rich purple swayed slightly so that it seemed to give off a faint glow in the dull gymnasium. One lock of that purple river falling forward over her front accenting her generous bosom as it concaved to her figure; that supported a heart shaped face from where a pair of brilliant eyes shown out. Black eyes, like twin pools of midnight captured so that they seemed to draw in the light around them as the drifted over the class, pausing for a moment upon each before shifting back to Iruka.

Most of the onlookers could only gaze at the creature before them in awe, wondering what exactly they were seeing. A few however, were able to keep their wits, and start asking themselves some suddenly very important questions.

_Wow where did Naruto see someone like that, and those eyes? _Thought Sakura as she looked at the henged boy.

_Naruto-kun_ was all Hinata was able to manage, trying and failing to allow some of the more inappropriate ideas to enter into her head about her boyfriend.

_Naruto buddy you have got to tell me where you saw this women I think I'm in love, _shouted Kiba in his head allowing a smile to play across his face.

_Damn it man that is not a women it's a boy, now get your head back in the game. _Thought Naruto's Anbu guard, giving his head a little shake as he did so.

The most amusing reactions, however, came from Naruto's sisters who at the moment had more than one voice bouncing around in their respective heads.

"**WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING DOING HERE!? SHE'S SUPOSE TO BE SEALLED!"** Shouted the yang part of Kyuubi as it banged against its cage inside of Naruko's mind.

_What Hell fuzbutt, what are you yelling about? _Naruko yelled back as she placed her hand over her seal as if trying to hold back the voice.

"**Shut up, Naruko this isn't time for you stupidity, you have no idea what you're even seeing do you!" ** The Kyuubi replied with a growl.

_So Oniisan henged into some odd looking women, what's the big deal? _Replied Naruko adopting a questioning look as she took the words of the Kyuubi in.

"**Just shut up kid, something is going on here and it has something to do with my Kaasan."** replied the Kyuubi relaxing slightly against his cage trying to think of what was happening in front of him.

_Wait Kyuubi!...and he ignores me, crude, I wonder what he meant by Kassan, and what is going on with Oniisan? _Wondered Naruko as she glanced once more at Naruto's Henge.

Meanwhile Minami was having a bit more trouble calming her part of the Kyuubi down.

"**MAMA, MAMA'S BACK! Hey Kassan over here, hey over here, hey Minami-chan hurry go say hi! Hurry hurry hurry! MAMA over hear." **Yipped the Kyuubi's yin chakra excitedly bouncing around its cage. For some reason that Minami could never quite figure out the Yin part of the Kyuubi had always been more like a child than a great beast of destruction for some reason. She assumed it had to do with there being less of a good side to the Kyuubi, but she was never able to really get a straight answer out of it….or any straight answer for that matter.

_Kyuubi what are you saying, you don't have a Kassan, I thought you were one of the great tailed beasts and will you please try and calm down. _Called Minami trying to calm the exited fox down before she got a larger headache than what she was already having thanks to the excited creature.

"**Baka Minami-chan, everyone has a Kassan, she was just gone for a while." **replied the Kyuubi as if lecturing a child.

_But you're not just anyone, your Kyuubi the nine tailed fox the most powerful demon, your Kaasan would be a demon too not some woman, and how would Naruto have seen her anyway? _Minami tried to reason with the Kyuubi.

"**Don't care that's my Kassan!" **The Kyuubi replied folding it's arms in front of its chest as it turned away from the cage's door, signifying and end to the conversation.

_Great now Kyuubi is pouting again, seriously why did I get the one that acted like a child? _Minami thought to herself, before again turning to face her brother just as the henge fell.

As the image of the purple haired woman dissolved the reappearance of Naruto was greeted by a few moments of silence as everyone in the room shook themselves slightly to get over the memories of the figure they had just seen. Naruto's two sisters were now looking at him with equal suspicion and curiosity, having finished their conversations with their tenant's only moments ago. In the mean time Iruka was the first to snap back awake from the whole ordeal focusing back on the blond before tallying up his overall results and smiling as what he saw.

"Well done Naruto, with this you pass, and are now an official shinobi of Konoha." said Iruka proudly as he held out a headband for the blond.

Naruto rushed forward grabbing the headband and affixing it to his head with a huge grin plastered across his face. Nothing could spoil his mood at that moment as he turned back to see Hinata smiling with small tears in her eyes, so happy to see Naruto pass.

Just as Naruto was about to walk back into place a hand fell on his shoulder alerting him to the presence of a figure just behind him. As he turned the sight of the rainbow colored Anbu that had been escorting him the whole morning came into view. At the sight of the multi colored man Naruto's smile faltered a little even as he noticed another Anbu place a hand on Hinata's shoulder before there was a swirl of leaves, and the two were shunshined away towards the Hokage's office to answer for their actions with the monument that morning.

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Meanwhile across the village, within the Senju compound, Kushina and Mito were just being let in the front door by a smiling Shizune the little redhead throwing herself into the black haired woman's dark kimono in her usual happy embrace of greeting.

"Aunty Shizune!"

"Well hello to you to Mito-chan." Smiled the black haired woman as she looked down into the smiling child's face, before shifting her gaze up to Kushina offering a smile as well before leading the two in to the compound. As the three moved past the entryway the kitchen and living area came into view along with the other occupant of the home.

"Kushina, Mito-chan, what a nice surprise." called Tsunade looking up from the kitchen table at the pairs arrival. "What brings you to over today?" asked the blond as she turned in time to receive her own impact of greeting from Mito, before turning to face Kushina.

"Sorry for just showing up like this," replied Kushina given the women a quick hug "we just wanted to stop by for a few minutes; I had something I wanted to ask Shizune." Kushina finished as she moved to sit down on the chair Tsunade gestured her towards. She was soon joined Shizune at the table even as Mito let free to chase after the small pig Tonton her happy giggles serving as background to the older women.

"So what did you need to talk about me with?" ask Shizune as she looked up from the where Tonton was leading the youngest Namikaze on a chase through the living room.

"Well… you see I heard that my sochi was taking lessons from you after school, and was wondering if you could tell me how they were going?" asked Kushina trying to keep her tone steady as she spoke the awkwardness of the question, however, pushing through despite her efforts. At her words both Shizune and Tsunade exchanged a small glance prompting Kushina to continue her thinly vailed worry becoming more pronounced.

"I mean I hope he isn't causing too much trouble in your class, he tends to be a little too much like me when I was a kid." continued Kushina even as Shizune turned back to her a small frown tugging at the corners of her face as the redhead continued.

"I'm just worried his disturbing the rest of you class, if he is I'll have a talk with him. We can even wait for him to be ready before he starts coming back if you think its best. I just hope he hasn't been causing your trouble." Finished Kushina her tone oddly distant as though she was reading from a script, lines she knew and had spoken well enough, but knew in her heart to be nothing but ink on parchment.

The same tired excuses she had been repeating for years, lines that had slowly become all she had to know her son by. However, before the truth of this act could dominate her the comfort of that lie settled in again upon her. After all it was because of his lack of focus, and pranking ways that she had held off her son's training these last few years. It wasn't that she didn't know her son…It wasn't that she was afraid to look at him in the eyes anymore…it wasn't that she was scared of what she had become.

As Kushina finished a few moments of silence greeted her in which Shizune could only look at the women a mixture of barely concealed anger fighting for dominance beside an equal force of fear at what the woman's words eluded to. Meanwhile Tsunade had dropped her head slightly as she remembered the talk she had shared with Shizune that morning, recognizing the fear in Kushina's words…and knowing what they meant for the woman…and for Naruto.

-Flashback-

"So Shizune, what can you tell me about the gaki?" asked Tsunade as she sipped her tea across from her apprentice the blond having only just managed to stop laughing at the sign still visible from the open windows of the compound.

"Well I can't say I'm an expert or anything, but I guess I'll tell you what I've seen of him in class over the years." replied Shizune tapping her chin lightly casting her thoughts to the titular blond.

"He isn't a genius or anything and can be a bit loud when he gets excited, no real shortage of enthusiasm though. He never seems to know when to give up but he's always happy to get advice from me or the other students. Really aside from being a bit excitable I would say he is the perfect kind of student." Finished Shizune as she blinked across at her sensei who nodded slowly at her words prompting her to continue.

"He really isn't like what you would expect from most his age. You would think a boy might be embarrassed by being slower than some of the girls, but he never seemed to mind, he even stays after class some days with Hinata and myself just to get that days lesson down." Shizune continued her mind flashing back to her years now spent teaching the boy.

"Besides that he seemed really eager to learn, I was surprised as I had heard of some of his pranks at the academy, but he never misbehaved in my class."

"Did he ever say why he didn't prank you?" asked Tsunade as her apprentice paused before nodding slightly.

"One day I decided to ask him why." Replied the black haired woman pausing to take a sip of her own tea.

"And, what did he say?" asked Tsunade a small twinge of guilt building with every work spoken about the boy.

"Well he said he only did that when they were learning about something boring like history, or the civilian side of the village." replied Shizune setting down her cup.

"I think he said something like "if it can't help me survive as a shinobi what's the point dattebayo!"." replied Shizune smiling at the memory.

At hearing this Tsunade could only lean back in her chair thinking about what she had just been told.

_Sounds like the kid wants to learn and does behave whenever he is given the chance, damn it, he sounds just like Nawaki. And I didn't see it because I was so scared for myself. _Thought the blond woman as she let her eyes drop slightly even as her mind continued forwards.

_Wait I might have missed it but what about Kushina and Minato; they always said he wasn't ready, but they couldn't have missed it as well could they? No…no it couldn't be…besides I have enough mistakes without worrying about new ones... I wonder if maybe I could offer him some hands on training, ya that might work I can even offer some to his new girlfriend…it's at least a start. _Finished the blond as her thoughts drew to a close along with the conversation.

-Flashback End-

"Kushina." said Shizune finally breaking the silence and drawing the red heads violet eyes around to her.

"I'm sorry to have to ask this but just how much do you know about your son?" asked Shizune her eyes hardening slightly as she watched Kushina's face take a pained expression seeing in that one look all the answers she needed.

"W-what do you mean?" replied Kushina a mounting feeling of dread filling the whole women, as she stared back into the black eyes of her friend her hands moving to cup the glass of tea before her in an attempt to hide the trembling they had undertaken.

"Kushina, I'm asking you how much you know about Naruto, because I'm sorry to say what you just said doesn't reflect upon the boy that has been in my class these past few years." continued Shizune staring back at the women across from her with a hint of coldness leaking into her voice. She could understand Tsunade's reason for not having gotten to know Naruto, but there was at least no real duty for her to do so. But this was Naruto's mother for Kami's sake and she was acting like she didn't even know her own son.

And worse she felt as though she was also to blame having been blind to the horrible truth that was now opening up before her. Being faced with the possibility of this brought forth both anger, and sadness that she was struggling to hold back.

Upon Shizune's comment Kushina flinched back as thought she had been struck. However, Shizune did not let up as her tone darkened pressing the woman before her with her words.

"If you have to ask me if he has been behaving in my class, then I have to assume you haven't spoken to him about it, and he has been in my class for the last four years." continued Shizune. "And I haven't seen you once in those years there to pick him up from class Kushina, not once in four years…So I'll ask again Kushina how much do you know about your son?"

_Oh kami, please tell me it hasn't been that bad, _thought Kushina her mind reeling from what Shizune had said. _ I know I have been distant with him but surly I haven't allowed the gap to grow that large right...Right? _She asked herself trying to assure her rapidly crumbling assurance as those words she had spoken now rung so hollow before her. As Kushina's mind began to shiver her body followed suit as a small sweet began to break out over her, even as her hands still holding her glass of tea began to shake slightly despite her attempt to keep herself steady.

Tsunade seeing Kushinas plight decided to try and help the poor women catch her breath so tried to steer the conversation towards another topic. Luckily for her Mito came to her rescue as the little redhead sprouted a sing golden chain from her back in order to help catch the fleeing Tonton. Mito had only a month ago discovered that she had the same kind of special chakra like her mother.

Unluckily for Hanabi they day she had gotten the hang of it had been when the poor boy was trying to hide from her in a tree. The result had been Mito wrapping the chain around the boy's leg and trying to pull him down while he clung to the branch for dear life. He had been rescued from the event by Hinata and Naruto who had intervened in order to make sure no one was hurt. Though the poor boy had turned around to see Mito smiling at him with a single chain waving behind her like a tail only reinforcing the idea that she and all other girls except for his Neesan were devils in disguise.

"So Kushina when are you going to get to training Mito on the use of her chains, after all she is the only one of your kids who has your chakra right." said Tsunade trying to save the poor women in front of her.

"y-Yes, we were thinking of starting her training next week, after the others all got their own sensei's." replied Kushina silently thanking Tsunade for saving her from falling apart. The question pushing her thoughts away from the crumbling walls of her mind, even as her hands began to relax an air of calm moving over her. The mother's happiness was short lived however, as Mito overhearing her last words ran up to her a wide smile upon her lips.

"REALLY KAASAN THAT'S SO COOL, can Aniki help to, I want to be big and strong just like him!" chattered away the excited redhead ignorant to the look of abject horror that was playing across Kushinas face as her momentarily repaired defenses where hit with a fresh wave of images…images of a boy no older than Mito asking the same kind of question so many years ago…and what her words had done to that innocent smile he had once worn.

"N-naruto." said Kushina her voice cracking slightly as the realization of what was happening fell upon her even as her hands tightened around the tea in her grasp so that the cup shattered. And just like that the dam broke, and everything was suddenly so clear to her for the first time in years, the lies she had begun to believe, her strings holding her determination together…now broken, cut…leaving her alone with the naked truth…her truth. She had abandoned her son…her maelstrom.

Ho…how, how she had let her own fears allow Minato to convince her to leave him to the side. How she had started to simply take everyone's word on Naruto's behavior without a second thought, and how she had let the babe she had once held so close her heart now slip so far…how she had slipped so far from who she once was.

Struggling to see some reassurance she tried to recalled how in the past year she had begun to try and get closer only to realize how feeble those attempts had been. She had started conversation only to back out once it became awkward for her, she had offered to spend time with him, but only when she was free, never seeing when she could set aside other things for him. Every time he had stepped up smiling at her happy to see her, and every time she had left him to walk away with a smaller smile upon his face.

_What…what am…who…who am I…Oh Kami no…please no… Sochi…my little maelstrom… I'm sorry. _Manager her crumbling mind as a wave of pure despair began to move over her even out outside Tsunade moved forwards to help her hands that now had small cuts from her broken cup, even as the dull mutter of voices rang out around her, somehow distant to the woman.

Just as Kushina felt that she must surly drowned in this horror of her making a tugging at her dress drew her vacant eyes down to where Mito was look up at her. The little redhead's eyes wide with worry as her mouth moved quickly the sounds slowly pushing through the numb shell around Kushina.

"Kaasan! Kaasan what's wrong? Kaasan what's wrong?" called Mito worriedly as she watch her grandmother tending her Kushina's hand giving the redhead worried glances. Something in Mito's worry seemed to reach Kushina as sudden smack came to her, as if her own mind was forcing itself back into action.

_No no this isn't you, STOP HURTING THEM! _Screamed a part of Kushina as she found herself dulling responding to the stronger voice.

_Ri…right I won't….I fix this…no I have to fix this. It's time to act like the Kassan you're supposed to be for a change…you have to, you can't let this be about you…never again. _She thought as dully the pain in her hand came to her along with her the other senses which she ignored as she reached down to whip a stray tear from Mito's eye causing her youngest to blink up at her.

"Nothing's wrong Mito-chan…I promise…don't worry and I'm sure your Aniki will be there with you…after all we're can't have an Uzumaki training without all of us." managed Kushina as she saw her daughters face light up in a smile before she pulling her daughter into a tight embrace looking sadly past the girls red hair to the pair of women watching her.

_And by Kami nothing is going to stop me from making it up to you Sochi, _she thought to herself as she tried to fight back her own tears.

Tsunade and Shizune only looked down on the crying mother watching the emotions in her face changing slowly to one of determination. With a small breath Tsunade turned her gaze to her student who was now looked at her as well, the same uneasy look upon both of their faces. This was not something they had been prepared to find…but it was before them now…and all that was left was to choose how they would face it.

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Meanwhile across the village Naruto and Hinata shivered into view just outside the Hokage office their Anbu guards releasing their shoulders as they turned to see their final member nodding a porcelain cat mask towards them.

"Ok boar I can take it from here, now go get yourself cleaned up you look ridiculous." Stated Neko as she steered Naruto and Hinata towards the hokage's office leaving the painted Anbu to vanish a moment later in another shiver of leaves.

As the teens were steered forward the doors to the office swung open revealing Minato sitting behind his desk with several shadow clones, going about filling out forms, while the original sat with his back to them his eyes facing out across the village through the open window before him.

"Thank you Neko that will be all." called Minato in a crisp voice as Neko bowed slightly shunshining away a moment later.

As Naruto and Hinata watched Minato dismissed the clones gathered about him with a simple flick of his hand before turning to face them. Despite the anger he felt towards his son at that moment he could not suppress a small twinge of pride as he saw the leaf headband sitting upon his blond brown, even as he set his hands before him figures interlocking above which his impassive gaze sat. Pushing that to the back of his mind, however, his focus turned back to why his eldest was currently sitting before him.

"So Naruto would you mind explaining to me why you and Hinata there decided it would be a good idea to vandalize the Hokage monument for your own amusement?" began minato with a tone of disapproval as he tracked his sapphire eyes between the two newly minted shinobi. At the man's words both teens felt themselves straightening slightly as if on instinct as they gave each other small worried glances before Naruto swallows stepping forwards to speak but finding the words somehow lost to him.

"Well, I'm waiting." Minato continued as he looked into his son's blinded sunset eyes. Knowing of having his father angry with him and actually facing it becoming two very different things as he now stood before the man's intimidating gaze.

For all his determination at his father's words Naruto found himself all but paralyzed, his mind racing in a circle desperate to gain ground but finding nothing that could help it in this current situation. Thankfully Naruto's mind contained a guiding hand for just such circumstances.

"**Seedling snap out of it!" **Called Juubi causing Naruto's mind to quiet slightly at her words.

_Juubi? _Managed the teen before the woman's voice rung out again.

"**Good, no be quite and listen to me don't worry just say what I tell you to and it will work out understand?" **called Juubi kick starting the boys mind back into life. Still a little dazed Naruto mentally nodded at this hoping Juubi could help him with this somehow.

"Um…Well you see Hokage-sama I simply wanted to announce the good news to the village in a place where it could be seen by everyone, and the monument wouldn't really interrupt anyone's work or endanger the village so it seemed the only place." replied Naruto repeating exactly what Juubi was saying to him.

"And pray tell what complications were those that you were avoiding?" questioned Minato with an air that made it clear he was not buying his sons defense.

"Well Hokage-sama if I put it up inside the city it could have obscured business, as well as gotten in the way of civilians, and possibly shinobi activities. The city walls also would not have worked at it would have inconvenienced the guards stationed there, possibly putting the village in danger." replied the boy.

This caught Minato slightly off guard, something about how his son was speaking was off to him. However, even as he considered this the boy's argument took his attention. _He does have a point about the wall and the town, but that still doesn't explain the banner itself_ Minato thought looking back to Naruto.

"Yes that is all fine and good but that is assuming that you needed a banner to declare it to the town in the first place. So mind explaining why you needed that to tell everyone that you two were dating?" asked Minato letting a little bit of anger leak into his voice as he tracked his eyes between the pair, quickly growing tired of debating this with his son.

"Well I can only say that I wanted the whole village to know about it without it having to go through the rumor mill. If it did it could have come out as something else and tarnish the Hyuuga clan's and the Namikaze's name, I mean rumors can start about anything now a days. Now everyone knows that we are together, so rumors won't be able to fester." replied Naruto with the same calm responses as before still seeming slightly off as the words tumbled from his lips.

"Rumors are nothing compared to the Hokage monument which you disgraced. It is a distinguished part of this village, and your stunt was little more than vandalism, disrespecting that mountain is disrespecting Konoha." replied Minato rising from his chair and resting his hands on his desk as he looked down at his son.

"If that is the case Hokage-sama why was it left completely unguarded?" asked Naruto his question momentarily catching Minato unprepared. Before Minato could pull his anger back together Naruto pushed his advantage.

"If it is as you so such a distinguished part of the village, then shouldn't it be under some kind of protection so that I without even being a ninja could set something like that up. I assumed it wasn't all that disgraceful considering how easy it was to string up the banner, I mean not even one person came to ask what I was doing and I was there all morning." continued Naruto his words snapping together for slowly form a perfectly reasonable excuse for his actions.

From beside Naruto the pale eyed Hinata could only stare open mouthed at her boyfriend as he continued to debate with his father over the banner and wonder how Naruto was managing to come up with such a good explanation. He had just said to her that he wanted to let everyone know how much he liked her, when she had asked him. Now he sounded like a Nara explaining his answer as if playing out a larger chess game.

"Besides." Naruto continued, her putting one arm around Hinata so that her thoughts were suddenly smothered as a rose tinted blush worked its way up her cheeks, "I wanted the whole village to know I had the most beautiful girl in the village as my girlfriend dattebayo!" he finished, causing the Juubi to face palm slightly from within in mind.

"**And he goes off script…and he was doing so well."** Sighed Juubi as he gazed out a second later to see Minato pulling himself back together, a sense of dread accompanying that shift.

"I see." Minato said sitting back down in his chair and looking between the two as he thought drew in a deep breath, his tone a small smoldering thing that spoke of the anger he was containing.

"So you have time to spend all morning setting up this prank. You have time to practice an excuse, and you do this all without taking the time to think what this would mean to the village and to your family." stated the Hokage each word dripping with obvious anger.

"Naruto this is the reason that you haven't been being trained like your sisters, you're still not thinking things through. You're behaving like a child and I'm not even sure I shouldn't take those headbands from the both of you right now until you have proven that you are mature enough to be shinobi of this village. Why can't you act like a member of the Namikaze family is suppose too?" finished Minato in the same voice heavy with disapproval, his own lies being read like a script just as Kushina had only hours before.

The reaction to his words was immediate; Naruto stiffened for a moment as twin flashes of sadness and anger swelled up inside him as he gazed at the blond before him. At the same time from within his mind another figure snapped as well his pure rage pouring out in such a flood that Juubi was forced to focus upon it leaving Naruto alone for the moment. So the sadness closed in, the cold reality of what his father's words meant, and with that the flash of anger at him, not just for his calluses words but that he would dare threaten his hinata-chan like that.

From beside him Hinata felt more than she saw the sudden shift in the boy beside her, his emotions as bare to her as chakra was to the Byakugan. With that clarity came a sudden fear that if they weren't careful the two might lose more than they could believe. Shaking herself Hinata turned to prevent this even as one hand moved to gently cup that of the boys.

"Um Hokage-sama." She said softly drawing Minato's attention, "we put up the banner and set it off before we graduated so the two aren't really related. And we both managed to pass the academy tests in front of the class and your Anbu, if we weren't fit for duty, then wouldn't we have failed then?" she finished falling silent and while looking back to Naruto seeing that he was now looking silently at the ground below him. At Hinata's words Minato let out a heavy sigh allowing his anger to cool slightly as he cast his thoughts over what she had said.

_Well I guess she is right about that, they did both pass the exam and what would I tell the Hyuugas if I sent her back after a whole class saw her pass, leave it to Hitomi's daughter to be able to talk a Hokage down. Not that I need much talking down, I don't want to punish them too much, but they need to learn what is and isn't acceptable in this village. _Here his eyes fell across naruto. _Especially Naruto, why does he keep acting like this, I don't have time to deal with his stunts, and he doesn't even realize that every second I spend cleaning up after him is one I can't spend doing things to protect our home?_ Thought Minato as he turned his focus back to the pale eyes girl before him.

"While that is the case young Hyuuga the matter still stands that both of you have defaced a part of our village's heritage." replied Minato pausing as he saw Hinata moving slightly closer to his son, noticing as she did that the boy was no longer looking at him, a small feeling of shame touching him as he saw this.

"However, you are correct that at the time you were not shinobi of Konoha, so I will be lenient this once. You are each five D-rank missions to be completed without pay upon your team assignments." He finished raising a hand to let them know they were dismissed.

Hinata could not help but breathe a sigh of relief at this, thinking how all things considered they had gotten off easy, now her attention turned back to the blond who had not moved since his father's comment.

"May we go Hokage-sama?" asked Hinata looking to get Naruto out of the office as soon as possible.

"Yes you may go." Replied Minato as his eyes dropped down to his desk as he began to look around at the scrolls strewn out before him not watching as Hinata slowly lead Naruto out of the office. As they reached the door, however, a thought occurred to him. _Wait I didn't find out what that whole Uzumaki thing was about. _

"Wait." he called towards the two retreating figures just as they reached the door drawing their steppes to a halt.

"Naruto I need to ask you something." said Minato prompting Naruto to turn slowly to face him with his face still bowed either unable or simply unwilling to look the man in his face, hiding the small tears that had formed after his father's comment about his place in their family.

"Why did you have your name up on that banner say Naruto Uzumaki instead of Namikaze?" asked Minato with some genuine curiosity in his voice. The response he received was not what he had expected.

A soft and sad little chuckle exited Naruto's lips as he bought his face up to look at his father in the eyes. Minato noted the formation of tears in Naruto's eyes but dismissed them as nothing thinking he was simply sad at getting punished.

"Well Hokage-sama like you said I've never been very good at being a Namikaze, so I decided I'd try and see if I could do better as Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said looking into his father's eyes, before turning back to exit the room hand in hand with Hinata.

Silence followed his words, a silence Minato sat in stunned at what his son had just said, replaying the words over and over in his head trying to understand what they boy had meant. Then just as his iron resolve began to crack and doubt began to creep in there was a knock at his door, and in walked in his secretary with some more files to be handled. With the prospect of more work ahead, His emotions found themselves once more second to his duty. After all he was the Hokage, and his first duty was to the Village. Words he would someday damn himself for believing in.

**Ok chapter done, so again thank you for the favorites, comments, and reviews. I hope you like this chapter, and are looking forward to how things play out inside.**

**Remember the question is still on for who the voice is in Naruto's head. Winners get their names posted on the next chapter, as well as a sneak peek at one of the relationships that happens later in the story. So feel free to guess away. Till next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

I would like to give a shout out to those who have reviewed, followed and favorite my story in the short time it has been out. I can't believe I have over a hundred followers, and favorites, I'm blown away really thank you all.

Ok massive responses for the last chapter so thank you to all that did so. I felt I should address a few of the issues that people have brought up first before getting onto the contest announcements. First no, you are right in cannon Tsunade is not his godmother, however, in the words of buzz lightyear "but were not on my planet anymore" this is a new world so just go with it.

Second ya naruto that we know here isn't that strong, he is cannon strength if you take away the Kyuubi, and the shadow clones. Sorry but that leaves him on the level of a standard Genin just like anyone else, and yes that includes Sakura forget the hate that get lumps on her and consider her actions in the forest and after that is a genin, they are Sasuke "hi I can beat up a chunnin with ease" because honestly that doesn't make since, for the cannon yes it had to happen, but in a larger world it doesn't and that is the world we are in. He isn't supposed to be ready for the chunnin exams in a month, he needs time to grown and learn. Think how weak lee was when he first exited the academy and I think you can see what I'm going for, was he awesome, yes but not at first it took time and effort to get there.

Small point Hanabi roughly translates to firework, or a type of Japanese, and interestingly enough French food dish. So the name at least to me doesn't seem that tied down to gender. Now I do not speak Japanese so I could be wrong about this, but I decided to keep it the same, so people could picture the character easier, than an oc name I attached to a new character. Also lets be fair little Hanabi kind of looks like a mini Hiashi anyway. Also lets me fair most Anime names are ridiculous, just look at DBZ for proof of that, it's like looking in a refrigerator.

For those of you who keep asking for naruto to not forgive his family right away and for those who want him to get back together with them I can only say that you will both get what you want, and at the same time not get what you want in this chapter. Confusing isn't it, all I ask is you stick it out till the end, and I think it will be made clear where I am going with this. Now onto the winners.

Now it occurred to me that asking you to get the exact thing that the voice was, was a little unfair with that in mind, I have decided to post those who got it the closest first, while those who just got the general idea second. The first group will receive the full prize of a small preview of the relationship mentioned, while those that were a bit more off, will get a simple namexname, sorry for those who think this is unfair, but if you win you win, and if you lose you lose. Anyway onto our winners.

First place goes to Kedo and X559X congratulations your guess was the closest. You will be getting the grand prize.

Runners up are in no particular order New to Naruto, Coduss, 00phantom, Somethingreallystupid, 100 Wat warlock, Reborn 123, Ncpfan, and Skeek622 you will be reviving the second place prize

Thank you all for your guesses, and support. Also to all of those trolls and those who have told be to stop writing you can think of this chapter as my rebuttal. Enjoy!

**Chapter five**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

-**What goes up must come down**-

As Naruto and Hinata descended the stairs of the Hokage tower neither could work up the strength to talk to one another. The happiness that had been with them when they had unveiled their banner before the village and even their pride at becoming shinobi was now slowly slipping away; to be replaced by only the harsh words of the Hokage. As the pair made their way down the winding stares, the pail eyed Hyuuga felt as though she had to guide the numb Naruto down each step, his movements somehow stiff…empty. Hinata slowly turned her eyes upon the boy as they reached the lobby and began approaching the main doors. What she saw was the destroyed face of the boy she cared so much for, his eyes closed tight along with his lips as he allowed small pools of tears to form in silence as he moved slowly across the entrance hall his expression pained at trying to hold back his sorrow.

_Oh Naruto-kun… NO, NO Hinata don't you dare start feeling bad, Naruto-kun needs you to be strong for him, get it into your head girl and get your boyfriend to smile again._ Thought the Hyuuga girl as she the two stepped out into the village.

"Hey, Naruto-kun what do you say we go and see Shizune-sensei and tell her the good news?" asked Hinata trying to get a response out of him, her tone hopeful even as Naruto continued to remain silent.

Meanwhile inside of the boys mind Juubi had reemerged from her pool and was passing back and forth desperately trying to think of what she could do to snap the boy out of it even as black thunderclouds began to gather across the usually blue sky, the normally still pool behind her bubbling with the rage of the other occupant to the blonds mind.

"**Damn that, man what was he thinking saying something like that to my seedling, if I wasn't bound to these two, I would tear him limb from limb! And he's so out of it it's all I can do to stop him charging off to Konoha, GAH WHY ARE ALL MEN IDIOTS!" **shouted Juubi inside the mindscape unable to communicate with Naruto as his minds slowly grew darker with every passing second.

"**No," **whispered Juubi as her black eyes swiveled up to see the storm clouds slowly moving across the mindscape her lips pressing together in worry as she glanced back to the bubbling pool behind her.

"**The boy is nearly comatose, darn it think Juubi, THINK for the love of Kami!" **she yelled as she grabbed large clumps of her hair in both her hands.

As she became more and more infuriated her thoughts turned to the only other person she could count on to be trying to snap her two seedlings out of their current dilemma before either did something rash.

"**Come on Hinata-chan, you need to do something I can't help me if he won't let me in! You need to snap him out of it!" **called Juubi in a desperate cry hoping that in some way her words could reach the girl as she looked up into the darkening sky of the mindscape.

Outside of the blonds mind Hinata had been waging her own mental conflict trying to think of what to do for the boy as he continued to remain unresponsive. _Come on Hinata think what can you do, you need to help him! _ She thought with a mix of concern and panic. As she cast her eyes around for something to help she found her eyes drawn to the banner that was still gently flapping in the afternoon breeze, her eyes tracing across the words upon it…and what they had done once it had been finished.

_That's it! _She shouted to herself, spinning Naruto around so that he was now face to face with her. As Naruto came around Hinata's hands came up cupping his face a moment before the pairs lips met, their soft embrace even as Naruto's eyes shot open with surprise, as Hinata's closed with a silent prayer that this could help. For what seemed like forever the two stood in that embrace before with a gently pressure their lips parted the sudden absence carrying a note of longing with it.

At that feeling Naruto's eyes slowly went wide, while his face held a look not unlike those found on the faces of people who had recently been too close to a faulty explosive tag. Before he could recover or even begin to gather a thought, Hinata had spun him around once again this time to face the monument, his eyes drawn to the banner waving gently in the breeze.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" called Hinata in a commanding voice as she turned Naruto to face the sign, "You are a shinobi of Konoha, You are the kindest boy I know, A-AND YOU ARE DATING THE MOST BEAUTIFUL G-GIRL IN KONOHA HINATA HYUUGA, NOW START ACTING LIKE THE BOY I LOVE AND ANSWER ME!" finished Hinata her words slowly rising into a shout as she forced herself to continue through her nerves, desperate to see them given voice. Then as the words ended Naruto felt a small pressure upon his back as Hinata slumped slightly into his back her smaller frame pressed against his as her next words came out in a soft, almost pleading tone.

"So let's go to Shizune-sensei's and thank her for teaching us, Naruto-kun…please?" whispered the pale eyed girl as her hand found his their figures intertwining as Naruto blinked up at the sign his mind a buzz with sudden activity.

_H-hinata-chan, wait what, where, what's going on? _Managed the boys mind as with a start Naruto found himself standing in a familiar open field as what looked like the wisps of storm clouds retreated from a blue sky. Before Naruto could figure out what had happened a sudden impact caught his attention.

"**YOU BAKA DON'T YOU EVERY SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!"** called Juubi as she pulled Naruto into a cross between a headlock and a hug her voice a mix of elation and anger as the blond struggled to free himself.

_JUUBI wha? What happened? _Called Naruto as with a final squeeze Juubi released him so that he thumped to the grassy ground turning to see her shaking her head a few flecks of moisture being flung aside.

"**Well do you want the long or short version seedling?" **asked the purple haired woman as she calmed herself looking down at the boy.

_I was leaving the office, and everything just kind of collapsed in on me. What was that? _Replied Naruto as Juubi gave a small glance back towards the pool that had died down to a gentle rippling.

"**You shut down and he got upset, you went catatonic after your run in with your dad, I guess it was a little too much all at once and he didn't take it much better. With him so worked up I couldn't reach you, and neither could Hinata-chan. So well she took matters into her own hands." **finished Juubi, allowing a small look of happiness to adorn her face for the first time as Naruto blinked up at her before glancing back towards the pool.

_Wait? He? _Started Naruto only to be cut off as a voice echoed from the pool.

"_He is really FUCKING PISSED!" _roared the voice as both turned to face it even as a heavy sigh escaped it following its words.

"_But yeah….I lost my head… good thing Hinata-chan was there…make sure you thank her for me ok." _called the voice a moment before it faded the pool once more going silent.

_Is he? _Started Naruto before Juubi cut him off.

"**I'll handle it Naruto now get out there." **Called Juubi before giving the boy a shove so that he found himself falling back into consciousness leaving Juubi seemingly alone in the mindscape once more.

"**He better hurry before she has to get his attention again." **Sighed the woman as she turned back towards the pool letting out a silent thank you to the girl as she did.

"_That wouldn't be so bad would it?" _spoke up the voice just as she reached the pools edge causing her to look down with an annoyed expression.

"**Quiet you, for that little stunt we're drilling you all day, you anger is worse than my sons." **Called Juubi as the pool remained silent for a moment before rippling once again in response.

"_Someone's has to be…besides what did you expect after you looking after me?"_ replied the voice the barest ghost of a smile lingering on its words as Juubi felt herself shaking her head even as she sunk into the pool once more.

"**Just don't think you have to do it alone, we're both here for you, even Hinata-chan and Mito-chan are so don't think you're alone anymore."** Whispered Juubi as a calm fell across the pool a moment before she vanished beneath its surface.

At the same time Naruto was coming back into reality turning his head from side to side to get back his bearings. However, before his eyes had even fully adjusted her felt the small pressure of Hinata at his back, the gently touch of her hand in his, and slowly her turned to look down at her, the girls face moving so that it was now buried into his chest her face obscured by long lavender locks of hair. What Naruto didn't know as he looked down at Hinata's form was that at the moment the poor Hyuuga was blush so brightly it was likely she was visible from the moon, and had pulled he own version of Naruto's episode retreating into her own thoughts even as her mouth let out soft mutters that Naruto couldn't make out.

_Why did I yell that? What was I thinking forcing a kiss in the middle of town, and I called everyone's attention to it like that. What was I thinking! Ok this is fine, it ok I just have to be calm, I'll just run away, ya that and change my name dye my hair, I wonder how I would look as a blond, maybe start over as a priestess somewhere. Wait what am I thinking that's crazy….I would start a bakery yep that's it a bakery and hid away with all my cinnamon buns so no one can every find me!_ The poor girls thought growing more imaginative by the second.

However, before the girl could keep up her derailed train of thought any longer, Naruto interrupted her. Just as Hinata was about to start figuring out names for her secret bakery life she felt a hand place itself under her chin a small pressure slowly lifting her face so that it looked up into a welcoming smile.

"Sorry for worrying you Hinata, and thank you." Naruto whispered softly before leaning down to capture Hinata's lips in his own, their embrace somehow more joyance than the one moments before, as if the lips themselves were elated at their meeting, and Hinata's thoughts? Well they weren't so complicated any longer.

_Ok new plan, shut up and go with it girl! _Was all they managed as she allowed herself to sink into the kiss her fears of the past few moment washing away in the warmth of the two's embrace.

After a few moments the two broke apart with large smiles plastered across each of their faces, the afterglow of their kiss lingering upon them.

"Your right Hinata, we should go tell Shizune we passed." spoke Naruto smiling down at her as she gave him a small nod her figures tightening around his own.

"Hai!" she replied as both of them turned beginning to make their way towards the Senju compound leaving their worries behind, at least for a time.

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Meanwhile across the village within the Senju residence a group of women sat silently around a small kitchen table two watching the third as she slowly steadied herself. After a few more deep breaths Kushina managed to steady herself, her attention turning to the pair seated across from her who offered nothing but patience for the redhead who felt a fresh stab of guild that she managed to push down even as the blond of the pair spoke.

"Are you ok now Kushina, if you need some more time?" Tsunade began, but she was cut off a moment later by Kushina who shook her head raising her violet eyes to the woman.

"NO" she began her voice coming out slightly cracked as though afraid to let that silence close in upon her once again leaving the watching pair to blink slightly worried at her. "… I mean no I think I have waited more than enough don't you." she finished looking over at Tsunade and Shizune who both gave a small nod in agreeance with her words.

"Ok then I guess we should start at the beginning shouldn't we." sighted Tsunade trying to keep the conversation moving, and avoid another pause that could lead Kushina to collapse in on herself again, they had been forced to send Mito out to play with Tonton only a short while ago due to Kushina suddenly breaking down in fresh sobs at her own memories.

"Kushina I want to know, why you are not as close to your Sochi as you are with your daughters, and when it started." began Shizune her voice firm but lacking the overt anger present hours before, it was little comfort to be angry at a woman who looked so broken as Kushina currently did. After gathering her thoughts for a moment Kushina moved to answer.

"I…well it started when they were five, on their birthday. You see Minato and I decided to train the girls first so that we could gauge the Kyuubi influence on them, we were worried if we weren't careful they could get out of hand. We didn't want Naruto to get caught up in it if something were to happen. I was still carrying Mito at the time so there was a chance I could be undependable if the Kyuubi acted up." Kushina began her voice soft as the shame she now felt became etched upon each word she spoke.

"But Minato is a seal master, and I know for a fact that Jiraiya was making regular visits, why did you alone have to be responsible?" asked Tsunade being confused by Kushinas response.

"We didn't want to risk it, even if Jiraiya did visit sometimes, he wasn't always there. Even if Minato could be counted to hold off one jinchuuriki without hurting them two could have been dangerous, and if naruto was beside one of them, we couldn't guarantee his or their safety." Kushina replied her words causing Tsunade to pause for a moment before leaning back in her chair in apparent contemplation of Kushina's words.

"But once they were able to control their chakra, we planned to include Naruto." added Kushina weakly her words sounding somehow broken compared to her earlier speech.

"Kushina whatever you had planned to do isn't important the fact is you didn't ever start training him did you?" Stated Shizune calmly her eyes watching as Kushina looked away from her a pained expression upon her face, and still Shizune pushed her, the anger she felt for having been blind to Naruto's life forcing her to find the truth of these shadowed events.

"Why didn't Naruto join them a year later Kushina? If it was just for a year then why is it that your Sochi was left by the side till now?" continued Shizune her voice growing slightly more hostile with every word. Just as Shizune looked ready to continue Tsunade moved a hand over to her student cutting her off before she could begin again her own eyes trailing to Kushina as her own lips parted.

"Shizune getting angry isn't helping her." stated Tsunade drawing her student's eyes to her for a moment before she let her head drop in a not as her master took up the questioning.

"I'm sorry Kushina but she is right, I can agree with not training him during the first year hack but Shizune is right there is no good reason that he was left without guidance for so long. So Kushina what happened?" ask Tsunade trying to keep her student's anger from taking hold of the situation even as she was attempting to balance Kushina's own fragile state. At her words Kushina looked up to her before beginning anew.

"We were going to…until…. Until Minato and I had a talk the night before the triplets sixth birthday." Kushina started weakly feeling as though she would have liked nothing more than to sink through the floor as both woman watched her for a moment their faces impassive.

"And what happened during this talk that made you change your mind?" Tsunade asked in a tone of forced calm.

"Well…a lot of things. I had been wanting to train with the girls more now that I was able." Kushina started weakly before she was cut off once again.

"That had better have not been your only reason Kushina." cut in Tsunade her brown eye narrowing upon the redhead. Immediately Kushina began to shake her head as her lips parted once more.

"NO!" she shouted her voice holding an edge of panic to it, "NO it wasn't like that. We were worried because of what happened to me when I was younger. The girls had the same targets painted on their heads that I did and we were scared what would happened if they were left alone!" Kushina all but shouted a few tears brimming in her eyes as she looked between the pair Tsunade looking momentarily pained even as her student appeared lost.

"What is she talking about?" asked Shizune looking around to her sensei who let out a heavy sigh as she turned to answer her.

"Shizune before you ever meet Kushina, back when she was just a genin she was abducted by the hidden cloud for her chakra and being a jinchuuriki. It was only thanks to Minato that she didn't end up in Kumo being used for Kami only knows what…they almost got away with her…and I'm guessing that is what you were worried about happening to them?" Finished Tsunade as she looked towards Kushina who nodded silently at her words.

"What, why didn't I ever know?" Shizune questioned glancing to Kushina feeling a small pang of guilt at not knowing about such an event.

"It's not something I care to talk about." whispered Kushina softly as she glanced across at the black haired woman.

"Still that doesn't really answer the question Kushina." Stated Tsunade drawing the pair's eyes to her once more as she continued. "Why didn't this apply to Naruto, he may not be a jinchuuriki but he is still your and Minato's son, if you want to talk about targets he is still in danger." Pointed out Tsunade as Kushina looked momentarily shaken before struggling to speak.

"We….Minato said." Kushina started but was interrupted by both women. Tsunade slamming his hand down onto the table bringing Kushina's words to a halt as Shizune began to question the redhead once again.

"Damn it Kushina we are not asking what Minato might or might not have said, we're asking you! So tell us why you left your Sochi alone, give us a straight answer!" called Shizune as the mother turned to face her, what was left of her mind shaking with the effort of answering the simple question.

"I….we were just…I had." She spluttered before Tsunade cut her off her voice coming out in an almost subsonic growl.

"Kushina what are you running from?" stated Tsunade as Kushina spun to face her as the walls of her control fell once more, the naked truth once more exposed.

"I…..I….I WAS SCARED ALRIGHT!" shouted Kushina her words causing both women to look slightly shocked at the normally strong willed woman looking so vulnerable as she brought her arm to wrap around her as if trying to shelter her from the world as her words continued to tumble from her lips in a broken mix of sobs as she began to visibly shake.

"I WAS SCARED, I didn't know what to do, and I listened to Minato. We were trying to do what was right but nothing turned out like it was supposed to. We just kept pushing back his training, over and over and over again damn it I DON'T KNOW WHY I DID IT! I just kept running away from it every time, every time I just kept running. Every time he would ask or another year would pass I would make up some excuse to put it off further. By the time I realized what I had done, I was too afraid to know what to do. If he knows what I did he'll hate me, kami I don't know what to do... I just keep running away from him…I'm still running." Finished Kushina the tears and sobs intermingled throughout her words finally overtaking her leaving her to slump over the table her red hair falling over her face as her muffled sobs rang out through the home once again. Neither Tsunade nor Shizune could move for a solid moment as they watched the woman collapsing in on herself, the raw guilt and sadness laid bare as a woman they knew would stand before the devil himself without flinching broke at the mere memory of what she had become. As her strangled sobs continued Shizune slowly rose to move around to the woman putting one of her arms around the quivering figure of Kushina as she began to make quieting sounds glancing across to Tsunade whose head was now bowed into her folded hands, apparently in deep thought.

For what seemed like an eternity the three stayed like that Kushina's sobs slowly dying down into a small series of wet hiccups as Shizune worked to clean her up, and Tsunade continued to run what she had learned through her mind over and over till one point was all that was left to learn.

"Kushina who brought up the idea those two times." asked Tsunade in a calm voice finally glancing up from her hands towards the redhead who was just managing to draw a few calming breaths.

"W….we both." she began, but was cut off by Tsunade before she could continue.

"No Kushina no half answers was it you or Minato that had the idea to hold of Naruto's training both times. One of you, or both brought it up you may have had the same worries but one of you brought it up and I want to know who?" Finished Tsunade already suspecting she knew the answer.

"…I…it… m-Minato, was the one. He brought it up on their sixth birthday…after we talked we decided to hold off his training….that was where it started." whispered Kushina softly, her voice heavy as though to exhausted to even muster the guilt necessary to start another round of sobs.

"I see." Tsunade replied softly standing from the table and moving towards the window to look out towards the hokage monument as she drew in a few calming breaths.

"I think it's time you stopped running away Kushina, and a good place to start may be talking to your Sochi and his girlfriend." Tsunade said after a few moments turning her head to glance back to the redhead a small pained smile touching her lips as she saw the redhead unable to meet her gaze.

"I….I don't even know where he is." Kushina murmured softly fighting to hold herself together. "Kami I wouldn't know where to start looking."

"You don't need to worry about that Kushina," called Tsunade drawing the redheads eyes to her, "he and his new girlfriend are walking up the front lawn as we speak." Finished the blond as the kitchen went suddenly silent as Kushina's face suddenly shifted to a look of abject horror.

Swinging her head to face the front door Kushina felt herself trembling, before her eyes began darting around hastily as if looking for a place to escape to, even as something inside the woman finally snapped… and the little redhead that had once declared she would become Hokage forced her way back into the driver's seat of the Uzumaki woman.

_NO DAMN YOU! NOT AGAIN YOU ARENT RUNNING FROM HIM AGAIN, NOW GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR OR SO HELP ME I'LL BRAIN YOU! _She yelled at herself even as a knock came at the front door. Glancing up Kushina saw Tsunade give her a small nod before moving out into the hall as Shizune moved to remove what redness she could from Kushina's face trying to hide what she had just been through, and privately hoping that the redhead was ready to face her son.

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Meanwhile on the other side of the bright green door of the compound Naruto and Hinata stood glancing around at the estate their hands still intertwined, never having parted since they left the hokage's building.

"Hey Hinata-chan, what do you think Shizune-sensei will think of the banner?" asked Naruto as he looked from the door he had just knocked on.

"I'm sure she'll like it Naruto-kun." replied Hinata smiling as she glance back to the banner a warmth in her voice as she looked at it the words now holding a stronger meaning after the events of that day.

"Yeah you're right Hinata-chan." Nodded Naruto as a movement before them drew their conversation to a close as the door in front of the two teens slowly opened to reveal the smiling face of Tsunade her arms cross beneath her impressive bosom as her green and white outfit waved gently in the afternoon breeze.

"Well if it isn't the town's two lovebirds, what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Or is this step two and you're going door to door with the news?" asked Tsunade smirking as the tow looked up at her, taking a moment to look Naruto up and down as she did so, wanting to start getting a feel for her godson as soon as possible.

"Hello Tsunade-san. We're here to see Shizune-sensei and tell her the good news." replied Hinata pointing to the headband that now hung around her neck speaking comfortably with the sage having meet Tsunade a few times when she had come by her home to give her mother's checkups.

Naruto on the other hand while having seen Tsunade on several occasions had never actually talked to the women for any extended period of time outside of a simple greeting and was slightly lost as what to say to her. He had a vague recollection that she had some kind of a relation with his twin sisters, and Mito had mentioned something about a blond baa-chan but outside of that he had nothing to judge the woman before him on except for her title as a sage. So in typical Naruto fashion he simply did what came naturally.

"Hi baa-chan." he said with a small wave and a smile ignorant of the landmine he had just stepped on.

Of all the things Tsunade might have been expecting the boy to say this particular phrase was not one of them. Now usually Tsunade was a reasonable enough individual, but there were a few exceptions…. Ok so there were a lot of exceptions, but the point is that on top of that particular list were perverts closely followed by those who commented on her age. As a result if she had not just recently sworn to herself that she was going to get to know her godson better naruto would have likely been approaching suna airspace about then complements of the woman's fist. As it stood she simply looked at the boy with a slightly annoyed expression for a moment before letting out a sigh as she stepped back to allow them entrance into her home.

"Well come on in gaki's Shizune is in the kitchen at the moment, oh and Naruto your Kaasan is in there as well so hurry and tell them the good news." She finished gesturing them inside the two moving to follow her down a small hall towards the kitchen ahead.

Ahead Shizune and Kushina sat at the table, the latter looking tired but at least not bearing any sign of the anguish still tearing at her insides as the footsteps rounded the corner bringing the three figures into the room. With a sad little smile Kushina saw her Sochi enter into the room, the metallic glint of his headband drawing a small bud of pride a moment before it was strangled by the guilt that let her know that he had earned it despite her efforts and not thanks to them. Then came the mental assaults once again.

_Wa….wait, Wait, WAIT, Damn it Kushina what were YOU WAITING FOR!? He's a shinobi now, he's becoming an adult and a soldier… what were you waiting for all this time? _She thought sadly to herself as that growing part of her suddenly cut off that train of thought with an angry growl. _SHUT UP THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU NOW GET READY TO CONGRADULATE HIM! _Came that voice so much like the person she had once been, and for the first time in what felt like forever she listened to that voice even as the pair of teens turned smiling to Shizune.

"Hey Shizune-sensei look we passed were shinobi of Konoha!" called Naruto excitedly as his eyes found her in the room, raising the hand still holding Hinata's so that both now held a hand in the air as if the victors in some kind of sporting event.

Shizune for her part let out a small chuckle, the gloom of the room vanishing with just the pair's happiness as she rose from her chair to walk over kneel down to embrace the two in a light hug.

"Never, a doubt in my mind you two would, I'm so proud to have had you as my students." Shizune replied as she sat back slightly so that she could look at their grinning faces. "Now, what's all this about you two dating?" she added in a slightly mocking tone, even as a large smile spread across her face at the blush now touching Hinata's cheeks.

"Well uh, you see, we..." Naruto tried to say, while a blush moved across his own face even as he cast small glances over at his Kaasan, a little worried about what he was supposed to say in front of her.

"**Seeding calm down we both know your mom isn't going to be that mad, worst case she…. Ok so maybe you should be scared seedling." **Finished Juubi sounding slightly worried as Naruto shot her a mental glare.

_Not helping Juubi, not helping! _

Luckily for both of them Hinata was able to step in to help the situation.

"Well Shizune-sensei we have been together for about a year, but w-we didn't want it be known, so we kept it secret till we passed the academy….sorry we didn't tell you." finished Hinata trying to keep her voice steady as she answered. In reply Shizune brought a hand to rest upon the girls head rubbing gently at her hair as she grinned at the pair rising to her feet as she did so.

"Well it's not like I didn't figure it out about the second week of class," she smiled mentally chuckling at the shocked looks now upon each of the teens faces as she continued, "just make sure you two look after yourselves, I can't have my students giving me a bad reputation." Shizune finished walking back into the kitchen to prepare some more tea for their guests.

"Oh course we will, just watch we'll be so famous that everyone will want you as a sensei dattebayo!" responded Naruto while pulling Hinata closer to him resulting in a small eep from the girl, while raising his other hand over his head in a fist.

From the door way Tsunade could only give a small chuckle and shake of her head as she looked at her apprentice's students. Soon enough Shizune stepped back across the kitchen a serving tray in her hands as the group moved back towards the kitchen table where Kushina still sat in silence. As they moved Tsunade glanced to Shizune before giving the two teens another glance and nodding to herself as she came to decision that had been on her mind for a time. After all it seemed that today was becoming a day for change…might as well not fight it.

"So gaki Shizune tells me that you two are aspiring new medical shinobi, care to tell me what she has been able to teach you?" asked the blonde stepping around the two as they pulled out their seats; Tsunade noticing as they did that Naruto had chosen the seat directly beside his mother's without a moment's hesitation. The simple gesture bringing a small bit of hope to her as she glanced to Kushina seeing her eyes now focused on the boy seemingly shocked at his choice of seats as well.

_I guess he isn't as far from you as you think Kushina, for your sake I hope you're done running. _The blonde sage thought before continuing with her conversation as she dropped into her seat.

"How about you go first Naruto." prompted Tsunade as Naruto nodded.

"Well I'm not as good as Hinata-chan or Sakura-chan but I'm pretty good at the basic mystical palm technique, but I can only do it about half the time, the other times I end up blasting myself away from the dummy" smiled Naruto as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly as Tsunade let out a small snort having seen the same thing happen whenever someone pumped a little too much chakra into the technique.

"But I'm really good at bandaging and resetting bones and stuff, Hinata and Sakura drilled me till I can stall till someone like them gets there to fix the person up so no problem dattebayo!" he finished smiling across the table as Tsunade gave an approving nod.

_So not bad chakra control for a Genin, and smart enough to know not to endanger the patient but do what he can to wait for those who can handle it. I have to say Shizune the boy does strike me as a fine shinobi in the making. _Thought Tsunade letting her eyes trace over to the girl seated beside the blond.

"And how about you Hinata?" prompted the slug sannin as Hinata nodded back to her.

"Well I've made it up to using the next stages of the mystical palm technique, although I'm still working on it." the quiet girl began.

"But I was able to take the medicinal part of the lessons and apply it to healing salves and some small chakra pills that help with minor injuries. Sakura-chan is still better than me at the chakra techniques but I'm the best in the class at elixir work." Finished Hinata with a bit of pride in her voice as she thought back to her best area of the training.

Tsunade smiled at this noting privately the similarities between the young woman and her own student when she had just started her training. She also couldn't help noticing that now both of the pair had mentioned the Sakura girl.

_Hmm might have to look into this Sakura-chan, she mentioned. After all Shizune might have her own apprentice soon enough. _Thought the blonde sage, glancing from the pair to her own student for a moment before replying to the two.

"Well that sounds very impressive for fresh genin, especially you Hinata, in fact you remind me of Shizune when she was just getting started in the Medical field." The sannin said looking form the smiling teens, to Shizune who smiled faintly at her sensei's words towards both her students and herself.

"In fact if you ask her, I bet that Shizune wouldn't mind having you as her first apprentice." Finished the blonde taking a sip of the tea Shizune had set before her.

Both Shizune and Hinata froze at these words looking at Tsunade as she continued to sip her tea with a small smile playing across her lips as she did so.

"B-but lady Tsunade I'm still just an apprentice I can't have one of my own, until….until, my lady do you mean?" spoke Shizune in a rush, her face going form confusion to a look of anticipation and joy.

"Unless I had recognized you as a full-fledged master of the medical field, is that what you were thinking Shizune?" questioned Tsunade setting her cup down and facing the woman with a smile. Shizune could only nod silently in reply.

"Yes, Shizune that is exactly what I mean, I've been considering it for some time now, but seeing your students' progress makes me confident to announce you as having completed you training under me, I have no doubt you will go on to surpass me as the next queen of elixirs in no time. Later today we can finalize it by having you sign the slug contract but as of now you are..." Tsunade started but was interrupted by Shizune throwing herself into her arms nearly knocking the blonde sannin over her chair.

Tsunade caught slightly off guard simply held the girl who had been like a daughter to her as she let her thanks out the pair the center of a few warm smiles as a the members of the kitchen let out small calls of congratulation at the news.

After a few moments the noise died down as Shizune released the blonde and once again took her seat her face along with Tsunade's moving towards the final member of the trio whose time had finally come to act. And act she did.

"Umm sochi." she began in a quiet voice, getting Naruto to turn to face her.

"I wanted you to know how proud I am of you for becoming a Genin, Shizune's been telling me about your classwork…and...well I wanted to ask you if you would like me to help you with your training?...if you want me to I mean." Kushina finished quietly with a hint of fear in her voice.

As she spoke Kushina looked down into the swirling purple and blue eyes of his own now fixed upon her own violet orbs as his mind went momentarily into shock at hearing the words he had long given up every hearing from her. A myriad of thoughts swam through the boy's mind as he tried to process what she had just said to him. Only an small time ago his Tou… no…the Hokage had been telling him that he wasn't ready to be trained like his sisters, but now here sat his Kaasan in defiance of his words. As this fell upon him a small fear gripped him as he saw the Hokage forbidding her from training him snuffing out the small life she was bringing to his old dream.

_W-what should I do, she doesn't know about what the Hokage said, there's no way he will allow her to train me. And why now, what's changed, is it because she saw the banner, or because I became a shinobi. She…she agreed with him back then…even if she didn't leave me all alone… but can she even mean it? What should I say? _Naruto wondered as another voice cut into his inner debate.

"**Stop confusing yourself Naruto." **called Juubi momentarily bringing the boy's thoughts to a halt as she continued.

"**The choice is simple either say yes and deal with the hokage later, or tell her no and stay as you are now, either way seedling this is your choice to make. Over the past year she has seemed to take more and more notice of you, but this is the first time she's made this big a step. For what it's worth I think this offer is genuine." **Offered the woman wondering herself just what was happening with this day's events? _**It's like Kami's working overtime on the boys prayers….or doing backlog more like it.**_ Privately thought Juubi even as the final member of the mental trio spoke up.

"_**Just do it baka, this is what we wanted so don't you dare let it slip away from you again. Forget that idiot Hokage, you're an Uzumaki now and even if she's not much better than him your Kassan is Kushina Uzumaki so learn your heritage already."**_called the voice in an annoyed tone before he fell silent waiting for Naruto to act.

_Don't say that about her…she….she's not like him. _Whispered the blond as he mentally shook himself.

_Right I'll do it, but I think she should know about the hokage so she doesn't get in trouble, I don't want to lose this for hiding it from him. _Naruto thought as he turned his attention back to reality even as his partner let out a small huff.

"Bought time….let's just hope she _isn't spying on us for the Hokage or something like that." _Added the voice leaving the blond with that uncomfortable thought as he focused back onto the redhead before him.

"Um…Kaasan there is something you should know first?" started Naruto looking up at his mother who visibly stiffened.

_Oh Kami please tell me it isn't too late, please don't let me have destroyed any chance I had to have my Sochi in my life…please._ Kushina pleaded as she forced herself to speak cutting Naruto off midsentence.

"Sochi please, I know I don't have a right to be asking you this after having put it off for so long but please I want to be there for you…if you'll have me." She said softly looking down at Naruto with naked longing playing across her eyes…a look another mother knew all too well.

"**Seedling," **whispered Juubi catching Naruto's attention once again as she continued. "**I know you may not fully trust your Kaasan yet, but as a one Kaasan looking at another, please give her a chance….not all of us get a chance to be with their children, and it's not always clear why." **whispered the purple haired woman looking off into the blue and green expanse of her home silently casting her thoughts onto her own children as she did so. After a moment Naruto made his choice.

"Ok Kaasan if you think I'm ready…" He replied softly still a little off-guard by the sudden offer.

"Sochi." whispered Kushina as she softly reaching out to capture her son in a hug "oh my little maelstrom, I know you're ready, I'm just sorry it took me so long to notice it, but I'll make it up to you I promise." She continued while holding the boy close to her.

_Kaasan… she still cares about me, she doesn't think I'm an embarrassment to the family, she really does love me. _Thought the blond while allowing himself to relax in the woman's grip as the other observers watched.

"**Good for you seedling, good for you." **whispered Juubi even as the other voice simply went back to work, though Juubi noticed tears leaking down his own eyes as he left her gaze. Meanwhile, after a moment Naruto remembered what he had been about to say a moment before.

"Umm, Kaasan." said Naruto pulling himself back from Kushina to look up into her eyes once again.

"Yes Naruto-kun" replied Kushina her voice still a little unsteady as she looked down at her son.

"Well um, I really want to train with you, but I don't know if the hokage will allow it." replied the blond in a quieter voice, his words bringing a sudden chill to the warm moment that had begun to set in upon the scene.

His words caught Kushina more than anyone off guard, her mind rushing to understand what Naruto could be talking about, _oh God did he know about everything, no, no, that couldn't be, if he had he would have said something earlier. So what was he talking about now, did it have something to do with graduation, I heard he did just fine, so what then? _Thought the woman rushing to find an answer to her fears.

"What do you mean Naruto-kun, what would make you think your Tousan wouldn't let me train you?" asked Kushina inwardly dreading the answer.

_Pfft I can think of a few reasons _thought both of Naruto's mental occupants at the same time even as across from the boy Tsunade and Shizune were thinking along similar lines. Meanwhile Hinata was forcibly holding herself back from explaining what the Hokage had recently said to Naruto to everyone, but holding herself back as she glanced to the blond boy beside her, knowing that this was something that Naruto had to do himself.

"Well, he was upset with me and Hinata-chan about the banner this morning, and well, I don't think he will want you training me is all." Replied the blond not meeting his Kaasan's eyes as he spoke. This did not go un-noticed by Kushina as she listened to her Sochi's explanation her eyes tracing from him to Hinata who was looking as though she wanted to speak but remained stubbornly silent even so.

_He's not telling my something….he doesn't trust me….but why would he….never mind that what could it be, even Hinata looks angry about something…maybe she will tell me what's going on. But that doesn't matter now. _Realized Kushina as she focused back on her son.

"Well I don't care what he thinks Naruto-kun, I'm going to make my sochi the best shinobi he can be, and Mito-chan's going to be there to help," she said mustering a small smile as she said so "Oh and speaking of Mito she is out back with Tonton, and I bet she really wants to hear the good news so why don't you go tell her." Kushina finished watching Naruto as she finished.

At hearing her words Naruto visibly brightened a small smile touching his lips as he nodded to Kushina before getting up to go and tell his imoto the good news. Just as Hinata was getting up to follow him, however, Kushina called out to her drawing her movement to a halt.

"Um Hinata-chan could I ask you something quickly?" asked the red head hoping to find her answer whatever it might be.

Hearing this Naruto turned as he reached the homes rear door looking back towards Kushina and Hinata in turn with a questioning look. Hinata however, waved him on.

"It's ok Naruto-kun I'll be right behind you just don't let Mito get to excited." smiled Hinata privately thinking she knew just what Kushina wanted to know and intent upon giving her just what she wanted. Her words seemed to reassure Naruto as with a small smile departed out the back door, where a cry of greeting followed by a muffled thump came drifting through the door a moment before it swung shut.

Even as the sound of Naruto no doubt bring drug to the ground by his enthusiastic sister reached insides Hinata turned to walk back to the table where Tsunade and Shizune and retaken their seats taking her own so that she sat directly across from Kushina.

"Hinata-chan…before we start I wanted to say thank you." Spoke Kushina in a somber tone.

Her words caught Hinata momentarily off guard. Out of everything she had been expecting to hear from the redhead a thank you was not among them. For a moment Hinata just stared blankly at the redhead until she was finally able to form some kind of response.

"Um Kushina-san why are you thanking me?" asked the genuinely puzzled girl. Kushina in turn adopted a sad little smile at she saw the young woman's confusion.

"What I'm thanking you for Hinata is being there for my Sochi, I….he needed someone like you," Kushina replied slowly watching as Hinata's, eyes widened slightly at this, "after how little I have been there for him I'm just thankful that someone was there for him. I'm starting to make amends but I first wanted to thank you first." Continued Kushina still with that sad smile across her face. Hinata looked back at the sad face of Kushina and could only feel a small pang of sadness of her own, sure Kushina had wronged Naruto, but it seemed that he was willing to put his trust in her at least one more time, so she supposed she would as well.

"It's ok Kushina-san, Naruto was there for me when I felt like I was all alone, I'm happy to do the same for him." Hinata replied, seeing Kushinas face drop slightly. After a moment's pause the new Genin spoke again seeking to offer some small comfort to the poor women before her.

"He still loves you, you know, I don't think he ever really stopped. It's just….you're going to have to take it slow if you really want to make it up to him….he's been without you for a long time." Finish Hinata seeing her words cause Kushina to visibly flinch before steeling herself as she turned back to the pale eyed girl nodding slightly.

"Thank you Hinata-chan, I hope that I can start to repair some of the damage I've been doing over the years." Kushina replied before focusing back on why she had asked the girl to stay behind with her.

"There something else I would like to know," continued Kushina as Hinata nodded for her to continue, "What really happened between Naruto and Minato at the office?" Kushina asked sitting firmly as if bracing for the worst, but even then she was ill prepared for what came next.

With a heavy sigh Hinata looked around at the three women for a moment before recounting what had happened in the office including the conversations between the Hokage and Naruto, leaving nothing out. As she spoke Shizune and Tsunade's faces slowly contorted into looks of anger and disappointment, but even they paled in comparison to Kushina. As Hinata had begun hot anger flooded through every fiber of her suddenly tense, but before it could run rampant a darker thought touched her as she remembered that only a few short hours ago she was doing the same thing to Naruto. With that realization her anger sputtered as it found itself turned inwards as a fresh wave of guilt threatened to overtake her even as her mind sputtered to understand what she was hearing.

_Minato what the hell were you thinking saying that to our Sochi.. bu-but am I any different, I was saying the same thing to Shizune earlier today. But to say it to his face like that, it's like you don't even care if Naruto is hurt, but that's crazy right…oh please kami tell me that isn't it. _Thought Kushina as Hinata's tale progressed.

Once the story had finished the four sat in silence for a few moments, no-one speaking before Hinata rose from her seat and with a small bow excused herself to go and join Naruto in the back leaving the three women to sit in silence thinking on what they had just been told.

"So what are you going to do now Kushina, because it sounds to me like your husband has damn near driven your son out of the family?" asked Tsunade her voice tinged with her still pulsing anger as she looked around at the redhead who appeared to be in almost a state of shock.

"I…I wasn't there for him either bu…but it's like Minato is purposefully trying to push him away… but that can't be right can it?" asked Kushina in an almost begging voice as she looked around to the pair.

"Kushina I don't have any idea what Minato is thinking, and right now it doesn't matter what you need to worry about is what you are going to do now, because if what Hinata said was true then you're looking at your last chance." replied Tsunade as beside her Shizune nodded in agreement with her lady.

"She is right Kushina, you need to worry about Naruto at the moment, he needs you to be there for him, and I'm afraid that if you don't hold onto him this time it's over." Said Shizune looking upon her friend.

"Ri…right…but, I mean what do I do? Training is a start but he'll have a sensei soon for that, and a team I don't know what time I have left?" Kushina replied solemnly.

"Hm how about becoming the kids Jonin Sensei." Suggested Tsunade after some thought. Causing the other two women to look at her for a moment. Kushina paused as the idea washed over her, it would allow her to start spending more time with Naruto and even allow her to supervise his training hands on. Mito could come along, and be trained while Naruto and his team were, heck if Hinata was on the team they might have Shizune there as well. It sounded like it just might work.

_Yes that's perfect this is just what I need to do for Naruto, and Minato better go along with it if he knows what's good for him._ She thought even as she pushed herself up from the table a determined look upon her brow that had been absent for far too long.

"You're both right, this is my chance and I'm not letting it slip by me." she said while making her way to the back door, to tell her children and Hinata that she had to go and see the Hokage about something, asking them to look after Mito for a moment. Before she left however, she made a point to hug both of her children, even pulling Hinata into a quick hug before whispering to her a something that caused the girl to blush heavily before departing.

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Meanwhile across the village inside the Hokage's Hokage office Minato was busy filing through his paperwork, trying to decide why exactly the things seemed to multiply whenever he looked away from them. He had just finished with the last sheet when his secretary once again entered his office much to his displeasure.

"Let me guess more requests form the civilian council, or is it something to do with the treaty between Suna and Konoha that was supposed to be arriving today?" asked Minato while looking up from his desk and silently cursing his lack of a break as the woman approached shaking her head slightly as she passed him a tightly packed file.

"No sir, it's the results from the academy's test, as well as those who have submitted their names for Jonin instructors." Replied the secretary quickly before turning to leave the office leave the office letting the door swing shut behind her with a dull click.

_Finally something that is actually shinobi related, I swear that this job is becoming more and more of a paper-pusher the longer I stay here. _Sighed Minato as he opened the file taking the first stack of papers and starting to skim the names arranged before him.

_Hm seems that Tsume's pup needs a little more work on his theory work, might mention it to her next time I see her. Oh the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio all passed, well that's at least one team I don't have to worry about. Now let's see, quite a few civilian ninja have made it through this year, oh and even a few from Shizune's class, could always use a few new medical shinobi. _Thought the man as he continued to slowly flip through the file till he came across the names of his daughters a smile touching his lips as she read their information.

_Hum top of the class, good marks in every area, well of course we've had Naruko and Minami working since they were six of course they would be amazing… Let's see they were tied for the top of the class with the next being Sasuke Uchiha… well I guess that is to be expected, the boy only lives for training nowadays. Hmmm maybe those three would make a good team, all three of the best students put together…it might seem unfair but at least they wouldn't slow each other down at all. Heck if they keep up this pace they might even be the next coming of the sannin in a few years. Now who to have as their instructor? _Thought Minato as he sank back in his chair his eyes closed as the faces of those who had volunteered passed through his mind one by one.

_Hum Kurenai won't do, she already had her apprentice….Asuma could I suppose…Kakashi's always available….now who else do we have? _Pondered the blond as he sat in silence allowing his mind to wonder around this dilemma.

Before too much time had passed a knock came at the door, followed moments later by several faster louder knocks that forced the Hokage's eyes open as he glanced to the door letting out an annoyed sigh as he leaned forward onto his desk.

"Not right now, I'm in the middle of something very important, come back in a bit." called Minato dismissively trying to get back to his train of thought as the nocking quieted. However, just as he was starting to get his thoughts back on track a bright golden chain erupted from the center of the office door sending the bronze lock clattering to the office floor where it spun to a stop just before his desk. As one four white masked figures shivered into view before Minato as each turned to face the door, their hands trailing to the hilts of their blades as the doors before them swung effortlessly open to reveal the figure behind them.

Instead of an assassin the Anbu and Minato found a familiar red headed Kushina still draped in the simple blue dress she had been wearing that morning when Minato had departed for the office. As one the Anbu gave the redhead a glance before turning to Minato who shook himself slightly as he nodded for them to depart which they did a moment later leaving the blond to face his wife who currently had an expression on her face that promised pain to anyone who dared to get in her way. As the blond watched Kushina strode confidently into the room till she stood before her husband's desk looking down at the man with a determined expression that likely accounted for the enthusiasm the Anbu had executed in leaving the office a moment before.

"I think, that you can make time, right Minato." Kushina said looking down at her husband who felt a dull since of foreboding in her words.

"Kushina, what are you doing here, and why did you blow down my door?" asked Minato as he looked back to the broken door before glancing up to his wife still feeling some uneasiness with the intensity she seemed to be watching him with.

"I blew open your door because you didn't open it Minato, and I'm here to tell you that I am putting in my name to be a Jonin sensei for this upcoming group of Genin." she replied simply, with a note of authority in her voice as if daring Minato to try and question either of her statements. She had expected some kind of protest from Minato at her words, some kind of appeal to her like those that kept threatening to pull her back into her own guilt ridden past, held only in check by the anger currently fueling her defiance. What she had not anticipated was for Minato to burst into a large smile before her as he let out a small bark of laughter.

"That's perfect Kushina, I was just looking through the list of Jonin senseis, for someone for Minami and Naruko's team, but you would be perfect. You already know their training schemes and would be able to work with Jiraiya and me just like we have been doing it perfect, why didn't I think of it. You scared me for a moment but leave it to you to fix everything." Minato smiled continuing to speak as he missed the look of anger growing upon his wife's face. He didn't remain ignorant for long.

Minato's rambling was cut short as a golden chain suddenly whipped out before him stabbing down through the list of students and into the solid oak of his desk with an audible crack that caused Minato jump slightly as he gazed up into the face of his angry wife. Then his survival instincts had their say as they kicked into high gear at the sight of his wife's intimidating form. The dangers signs all fully on display her beautiful red hair was waving slightly having already separated itself in nine locks; her arms folded under her chest while above that her face was fixed into an angry gaze that she currently had leveled straight at him. If that was not enough aside from the chain currently stuck in his desk there were several more of the golden machinations that were currently waving dangerously behind her glinting slightly in the light from the window behind him.

"Ku-kushina, what's wrong?" asked Minato with a clear hint of fear in his voice as he took in her angered form.

"What's wrong Minato is that you interrupted me, now you're not going to do that again are you?" she asked as her chains drew slightly closer to the desk an ominous clinking reinforcing her words. Minato could only shake his head slightly in reply wondering what was happening as Kushina continued.

"Now as I was saying I wish to be a Jonin sensei for my Sochi!" she finished pointedly her tone leaving little doubt that this was anything like a request…no this was a demand and Minato knew it.

For his part Minato looked as though he had just been struck across the face. He had never even considered the possibility that Kushina would wish to be Jonin sensei for Naruto. Why would she, with Minami and Naruko being the top of the class why would she want to be teaching Naruto? She hadn't mentioned him outside of his pranks in months? What had changed? It just didn't add up in his Mind.

_Naruto, why him Kushina, where is this coming from, what about Naruko and Minami, what's wrong with them. I have to make her see reason. _Minato thought to himself.

"Kushina I don't think that Naruto would fit well with Naruko and Minima's teamwork, they are the top of the class, and they need someone of their skill in order for them to reach their full potential. Naruto just isn't up to…" Started Minato only for a second chain to slam forwards embedding itself into the desk with another sharp crack only a few inches from where Minato's hand was resting causing him to fall silent instantly.

"Maybe I need to say it again, but slower this time." Whispered Kushina as the pairs eyes meet once again. "I *crack* WANT *crack* TO BE *crack* A JONIN SENSEI *crack* FOR MY SOCHI *crack* NOT MY DAUGHTERS *crack* NOT THE TOP OF THE CLASS *crack* NOT THE FOR THE REINCARNATION OF THE FIRST THREE HOKAGES *crack* BUT FOR *crack* MY *crack* SOCHI*crack*! AM I MAKING MYSELF CLEAR?" she finished punctuation every few words with another of her chains spearing the desk before her so that it had effectively splintered under her assault.

"Kus…Kushina, be reasonable, you're talking about leaving the girls alone during their most vulnerable time as Kunoichi what about the other villages, what about them?" called Minato a hint of desperation in his voice as he saw just how serious Kushina was being hopping his appeal would be enough to change her mind, or at least calm her down….it did neither.

"I have given the last six years to my girls don't you dare question my love for them." spat Kushina glaring at Minato who recoiled slightly at her words. "But I have been failing my sochi for just as long and I refuse to do so any longer, so you will let me be his Jonin sensei or I will beat you within an inch of your life, at which point you will make me his Jonin sensei anyway." finished Kushina with a dangerous intensity that seemed to transform the housewife into a being more terrifying than the beast she had once held captive.

"Kushina you're being irrational just calm down and we can talk about this, you'll see." started Minato softly trying to talk down the enraged redhead.

"Please we can work this out…I promise let's just take a little time and..." continued Minato his tone soft almost pleading…a tone she had been hearing to much that day.

From the hallowed halls of her memory the memories threatened to overcome her once more…memories Minato would regret bringing up. Memories of a small boy with sun kissed blond hair looking up at her, with a pleading look in his voice asking to go out for Raman with his parents, before being turned down by that voice. The same boy sitting on his bed looking sadly at his parents that voice assuring him everything would be fine… denying him training …assuring him of their lies…her lies. The tone that now haunted her…the one that even now was trying to convince her to leave that boy alone once more…that voice that now drove her to act.

"Ok minato." Whispered Kushina softly as Minato seemed to relax slightly as the words came from her mouth thinking he had won her over somehow.

"I guess we'll have to do it the hard way." She finished as with a sudden blast of movement the golden chains still speared into his desk went taught before the great oaken desk threw itself up scattering bits of paper and quills everywhere as Kushina proceeded to hurl the desk bodily towards him. Minato had only a second to react, but being the yellow flash, this was all the time he needed, as he avoided the desk in a flash of light before he was beside his wife another flash exploding out before both he and kushina were suddenly gone from the hokage's office even as the desk shattered through the top floor window and hurtled down towards the street below where it splintered loud enough to draw several figures attention.

With another flash of yellow light both Minato and Kushina found themselves landing in a deserted training field Minato forced to jump back as Kushina swung an arm around in a vicious back handed strike aimed for his head. As Minato danced out of her reach he found himself landing a small distance from his wife looking back to see her focused upon him as her chairs began to shift ominously behind her.

"Minato, I am going to say this only one more time I am going to train our sochi with or without your approval, I won't fail him again, and if you were half the father I know you can be you wouldn't be standing in my way." Called Kushina settling herself in to beat some sense into her husband if necessary. Across from her Minato watched as his wives chains began to move into place even as she herself sank into a familiar stance apparently intent on keeping her word on the matter if he declined her.

_Damn it why is this happening, why is she suddenly so adamant about Naruto? I know I promised we would eventually get to teaching him, but this is just crazy, what is going on? Gah what am I going to do if this keeps up it could tear the family apart. NO, no I won't let that happen I won't lose them. I can't let everything fall apart now, I can't. _Thought Minato to himself, as he looked towards across to his wife seeing her intent to fight him in earnest if he didn't respond.

_GET MOVING YOU IDIOT! Just let her train Naruto, Jiraiya and I can still work with the girls, and I'll just have someone I trust be their Sensei, fighting like this isn't helping anyone, besides with my hummingbird style as well as the toad style they will be fine. _He finished still ignorant to the true cause of his wife's rage but knowing enough to recognize when to fight…and when not to. With a breath Minato relaxed as he looked across to Kushina his lips parting as he gave his reply.

"Ok Kushina if that's what you want, you can have Naruto as your student…I'll get you the list of students to put in your request…I'll bring them home tonight, now I have an office to put back together." replied Minato as he started to move towards her only to stop as she shook her head towards him.

"I'll walk back." Whispered Kushina as she turned from him physically at his words but no longer able to look him in the eyes as he slowly began to make her way across the field back towards the village leaving Minato to look after her a bone deep pain now permeating him.

As she disappeared into the tree line Minato found himself looking after her for a few moments before with a silent yellow flash, Minato set off to return to his office just as across the village the trio of Hinata, Naruto and Mito were making their way out of the Senju compound each sharing a parting goodbye with the occupants before heading into the earthen streets of the village.

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Soon enough the three were off Naruto and Hinata taking turns to answer the excited question that Mito fired off about the exam, and if they were going to rescue a kingdom now, or maybe fight some evil magician like in her princess gale movies. As they traveled down towards the Hyuga complex their path happened to run across a familiar pair that had only just being let out of the academy for the day both lost in their own thoughts so that it took them a moment to notice who they were walking towards.

As they stepped away from the academy their new headbands worn on full display Minami could just not shake the events as the exam out of her head, or more specifically she was too busy discussing those events with the other voice that resided there.

_Ok Kyuubi, _**"I thought I asked you to call me Kyu Minami-chan" **spoke up the Yin half of the Kyuubi interrupting the girl's train of thought for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

_Right, right, ok Kyu, now what was that about Naruto Niisan and your Kaasan? _Questioned Minami trying once more to get some kind of a straight answer about what had caused her passenger to go into the equivalent of a sugar high since the exam.

"**What do you mean? Minami-chan?" **asked Kyu tilting its head to the side slightly in a questioning glance as it practically wiggled with excitement.

_What I mean Kyu is that you said your mom was gone, and that she was like you, meaning she's a demon. So how would my Niisan have ever seen her? Kyu I'm thinking you made a mistake. _Replied Minami trying to remain patent as she drilled the fox for answers. At her suggestion, however, the massive kitsune let out a huff turning its head up and away as if he was talking face to face with the redhead instead of the mental conversation they were sharing.

"**I didn't make a mistake that was my Kaasan." **Huffed the beast as Minami found herself mentally sighing at the Kitsune's attitude before giving up the point.

_Ok Kyu you win you didn't make a mistake, but that still doesn't answer how he saw her. _Replied Minami as the kitsune let out a pleased sounding noise as it turned its attention back to her original question.

"**Hmmm, don't know Minami-chan but he did somehow, maybe he saw her when he was busy training, I saw him in the test and you said he did well so he must have been working hard. Maybe he saw her then." **Replied the Kitsune as his words bit into Minami worse than in the beasts own fangs had done so. For a moment the redhead went silent her red eyes traveling down to the dirt street her sandaled feet were padding against, watching as the small puffs of dust traveled up to brush against the black leggings that accented her yellow battle kimono. As her eyes drifted her thoughts found themselves once again swirling with doubt about her Niisan…and the actions she had so firmly held to…actions she no longer held blind faith in.

_That's right Naruto niisan was out training, he wasn't just goofing off the whole time…but then what do I know about him…I mean…no just calm down don't start second guessing yourself before you have any answers. _Minami reassured herself as within her mind Kyu seemed to come to come to some kind of conclusion of his own.

"**Wait! I know! Minami-chan how about you ask your Niisan where he saw Mama! He'll know!" **called Kyu excitedly a since of pride in his voice as though he had just solved the most difficult of problems with his idea. At his words Minami felt a sudden fear touch her as the consequences of that possibility unfolded before her.

_Can I even do that, _thought Minami to herself, _I haven't been close to Naruto Niisan for years thinking he was being lazy, now that it's clear he wasn't, do I have any right to even ask him? What if he won't want to talk to me….what if he won't listen to me? _She thought to herself. Meanwhile Kyu picking up on these last few thoughts decided to add his own two cents in.

"**Come on Minami-chan I'm sure he will, you're the nicest person I know. Besides if he doesn't want to talk to you I'll ask him then he's bound to say yes." **Smiled Kyu wagging his tails as he cheered his container on a small smile touching the girl's lips despite her worries.

_I'm the only person you know Kyu-kun, but thanks for the encouragement, I'll just have to see if Naruto-niisan will be willing to give me a chance._ Finished the girl as her eyes traveled up from the dirt road to see the trio approaching them.

During Minami's mental fretting beside her Naruko had been undergoing her own less civil mental discussion.

_I GETTING TIRED OF THIS FURBALL NOW TELL ME WHAT WAS WITH NIISAN AND THAT WEIRD HENGE! _Shouted Naruko her yells reverberating within the sewer like proportions of her mindscape as the towering kitsune behind its kage let out an annoyed growl at her words.

"**By Kami, will you shut up for two seconds you miserable little meat bag, I'm trying to think and your constant whining is distracting me." **spat the yang side of the Kyuubi, even as he rubbed his forehead trying to get rid of the headache slowly growing since he had spied that blasted image earlier that day.

_Well then think up a way to answer me! What was with Naruto's hedge and why were you freaking out about it! Darn it Kyuubi tell me what's going on! _Continued Naruko her voice issuing from every corner of the Kitsune's cage as it slammed its paws over its rabbit like ears.

"**WILL YOU SHUT UP! I don't know what's going on, if you want to know so bad ask that niisan of yours to tell you and leave me alone!" **shouted the Kyuubi as a wave of chakra billowed out from the beast forcing Naruko out of his presence as the mindscape became blissfully silent for the kitsune.

_KYUUBI! HEY! Gah that Stupid furball I hate it when he does that, my ears pop every time. _Thought Naruko shaking her head slightly so that her waist length blond hair waved behind her brushing against the dull red of her cut off battle kimono touching just where the red gave way to her blackened Anbu style pants.

_Baka kitsune….still I guess I should just ask Naruto, I mean it's better than just sitting around and waiting. _Finished Naruko with an annoyed sigh.

"_But will he want to tell us" _whispered a little voice in her head as she turned her attention back to her and Minima's progress through the village spotting just as her sister had a moment earlier the trio moving ahead of them.

The two groups paused for a moment as they seemed to notice one another the pair of sister focusing immediately upon the titular blond along with his recently announced girlfriend, and their youngest sibling Mito as the three across from them shifted between the two girls in turn. The mutual staring contest lasted all of a few seconds as with Mito's enthusiastic cheers she speed off towards her sisters soon throwing herself into her usual flying tackle of greeting.

"Neesan!" cheered Mito a moment before she crashed into Minami nearly bringing the larger redhead to the ground with her. As the little missile impacted she felt a small metal plate resting against her front turning her eyes down to see the leaf headband that was wrapped around her waist like a belt. It took all of a second for this to dominate the young girls attention as she swung her smiling face back up to her sister eyes shining above an earsplitting smile.

"NEESAN YOU'RE A KUNOICHI! You're just like Kaasan now that's so awesome! HEY! Are you going to go and save princesses now, Naruto niisan said that would take time, but I think he just doesn't want me to know about it. Is it a secret you can tell me? I won't tell anyone really! PLEASE!" Called Mito in a forced childlike tone that would have melted lesser mortal's hearts on the spot. Minami, however, had grown up with the little red terror and knew that look all too well simply smiling down at her imoto wondering how the girl managed to be so excited all the time.

"Sorry imoto no big secret, we won't be starting missions till we get our sensei's in a few days, so you will just have to wait till we start missions." Replied Minami as she returned Mito's hug giggling as the little redheads face turned up in a childish pout that didn't quite hide the smile still on her lips.

"Ok Neesan but you have to tell me as soon as you get a mission, promise." Mito finally replied in a slightly whining tone as she directed her bright eyes up to look at her Neesan. Minami in turn let out a small sigh before nodding down to Mito who seemed pleased with that response as she turned towards her other sibling.

Naruko in the meantime stood off to the side slightly looking longingly at the interaction between Mito and Minami her lips shifting slightly as her teeth found themselves chewing on them slightly. It had been a long time since she and Mito had been that close… a long time since she could remember being that comfortable around her imoto…even if it was all she ever wanted.

Ever since that time years ago when she had tried to embarrass Naruto in an attempt to impress the little redhead she had lost that happiness. Instead of impressing Mito she had only driven a wedge between the two the little girls tear filled shouts still as clear to her now as they had been back then, froze bits of her life that never failed to bring a shameful shiver to her spine. Even since she had done everything she could to mend her mistake…anything to mend their relationship, but it still hadn't returned to how it once was, and privately she feared it never would.

At that moment Mito turned her attention to Naruko her eyes focusing on the headband that like Naruto's was tied around her forehead the little girls violet eyes focusing on it as her smile grew larger if possible her voice calling out to the blond.

"Yay Naruko Neesan is a Kunoichi too, now you all are going to be going on adventures, you have to promise to tell me all about it to, ok Neesan!" called the little redhead giving her sister an enthusiastic smile even as she remained holding Minami, seemingly making no effort to embrace the blond in turn….something Naruko felt like a physical blow as her lips parted in an effort to reply.

"Yeah Imoto, just watch we are going to be the greatest Kunoichi of all time! When you get to the academy they'll have to have books just about use." replied Naruko smiling as she saw Mito's excited look as she turned back to Mito to start asking if that was true.

At the same time Naruto and Hinata had finally caught up with the little redhead her little running start having covered quite a bit of ground so that the four teens were only just now standing across from one another.

"Hello Minami, Naruko congratulations on passing." greeted Hinata with a kind smile nodding to both who gave her smiles of their own. As Hinata turned to see Naruto not having spoken she moved slightly closer to him her arm moving to elbow him a little prompting him to speak up.

_Hey…jess Ok Hinata-chan, _"What Hinata said congratulations you two, I just knew you two would pass no problem." Smiled the blond, while idly rubbing his side where Hinata's impact had landed.

"Thanks Naruto." replied Naruko a little dismissively as she glanced to her brother before looking back to where Mito was finally releasing Minami from her grasp. As the youngest sibling touched the road Minami looked over to Naruto her mind set as she addressed him.

"You did really well to Niisan," she called trying to sound genuine as she wondered how to actually talk about what was still running ramped through her mind, "and thanks we got rookies of the year." she continued raising a hand to brush lightly against her headband as she decided to at least try for a first step along that path.

"But it means a lot to know you were cheering for us." she finished offering a hopeful smile towards the blond as she did.

For his part Naruto could not say that this run in was very welcome after the roller-coaster his day had been. Heck, he was still wrestling with what had happened between his Kassan and him, adding the complication with his twin sisters on top of that was pushing even his impressive mental reserves…that and it didn't help that a certain someone was not helping to keep his more unpleasant emotions in check.

With a small force of will, however, he forced himself to bit back those feelings as she looked from the apparently uninterested Naruko to where Minami stood looking hopefully towards him.

_Well…huff what am I thinking if I just ignore them I'm not much better than the Hokage…and Minami imoto kind of looks like Kaasan did?...oh well. _Thought the boy coming to decision as he focused back on his redheaded sister.

"Always Imoto." Smiled Naruto noticing as he spoke a small smile touch Minami's face even as across from her Naruko's eyes tracked to Naruto for a fraction of a second before looking away as if ashamed to look at him.

"Um well we better get going, we still need to tell Kassan and Tousan the good news." called Naruko looking down at Mito and then to Minami as she glanced across that the other two looking to get moving as soon as possible.

"I better get home too, I need to let my parents know that I passed as well. And…and explain about the sign." mumbled Hinata as Naruto gave her an encouraging kiss on the cheek causing her to blush heavily as she gave a final wave to the group before heading off towards the compound. As Naruto looked at her retreating form he found a small blush touching his own cheeks as he noticed Minami and Mito giggle at him from a few feet away before he shook himself preparing to head home now that he was alone with his siblings. However, just as he was about to turn towards home Minami's voice caught him off guard.

"Hey Naruko why don't you tell Mito all about the exams ending Naruto wasn't there for that, besides I have something I want to ask Naruto really fast?" asked Minami looking down at Mito who nodded excitedly as across from her Naruko smiled at the chance to be with her little sister for a bit, privately remembering to thank Minami later for the suggestion.

"Yeah ok, come on squirt I'll tell you all about it, besides we need to tell Kaasan the good news." said Naruko as Mito nodded moving up beside her as the pair stepped forwards soon a ways down the street as Naruto turned to Minami who stood silent still where she had been a moment before as the afternoon wind rustled her yellow garb just as it did for his own orange jacket.

Once the two had gone a small distance Minami drew in a heavy breath steeling herself as she turned to face her brother noticing as she faced him that Naruto seemed just as uncomfortable as she was, the thought causing a small trickle of fear to break through her calm. But, before that trickle could grow Minami forced herself to act.

"Um hey Niisan, um that was a cool henge you did during the exam." she said inwardly berating herself for sounding so timid and unsure. At her words Naruto found himself relaxing slightly at least having something to explain what was happening with one of his family today.

_Oh so that's it…I guess you were right about the henge catching their attention Juubi. _He smiled to himself as from within the grassy field that made up his mind the familiar purple haired woman emerged from that glassy pool smirking slightly at his words.

"**Well what could you expect, I'm guessing that my youngest has been giving her a field day after that." **giggled Juubi privately praying that her child was just excited at having seen her.

_Yeah…but there is something we kind of overlooked. _He replied quietly as Juubi quirked an eyebrow up at his remark.

"**Oh and what is that seedling?" **asked Juubi with a hint of interest.

_What are we supposed to tell her about that henge? I mean I don't trust her to keep quite if I tell her about you. _He added as Juubi took a moment to mull that over.

"**Well….You know that somehow completely slipped my mind, look just tell her you saw it in a book or something. If she proves herself later we could meet; kami only knows I'd like to see my son again." **She finished in a whisper that Naruto could tell held more longing that she had wanted to let on.

_Don't worry Juubi, I'm sure you'll see them soon...I'm just sorry you have to wait, I know you're only waiting because you want to keep me safe._ He replied in a softer tone as the woman shook her head slightly at his words.

"**No seedling, there is no need to worry, it was at my insistence that we waited till you were ready before revealing it anyone, after all what use is people knowing if the result is painting a target on my little seedling." **Finished Juubi with a kind smile giving the boy a mental nudge as her felt his worry vanishing in her comforting words.

_Thanks Juubi. _Replied Naruto as he turned his focus back to reality where the girl before him had only seconds before finish breaking the silence between the two.

"Thanks Minami, it took forever to get it just right. I had to work really hard after I found a description of it in an old story about the court of Kami, but man was it worth it." Smiled Naruto as one of his hands rose to scratch idly at the back of his head.

"A book? I don't remember us having one like that?" asked Minami curious about how she could have missed one like that in their home having always liked reading more than her siblings. At her words Naruto silently cursed as he tried to figure out a way out of this.

"Um, yeah we don't, it was at Hinata-chan's one day when we were looking after Mito and Hanabi." Chuckled Naruto nervously as Minami nodded slowly at this.

_I guess that makes sense, it sounds like something that Hyuugas would have… and, well at least he is willing to talk to me about it, that's a good sign I guess. _Thought the redhead drawing some small comfort from the thought that she pushed ahead with.

"Oh…well maybe I'll have to borrow it sometime that Henge was something else…Even Kyu was excited about it." Replied Minami gently resting a hand over her stomach where the spiral seal held her partner. Her words unknowingly drawing a hopeful smile to a mothers lips.

"Anyway… I just wanted to say it was really something and I was really impressed." Continued Minami with a small smile on her face. As she saw Naruto smiling widely at her praise she felt a sharp stab guilt at how long it had been since she had been the cause of such a smile. How long it had been since she just said something nice about the boy in front of her, the thought sparking something deep within her.

_Ok Minami you have to start somewhere might as well be now._ Decided the redhead steeling her courage for what came next.

"Umm Niisan I wanted… what I mean is…" she began her stumbling words causing a puzzled look upon the boy's brow as she swallowed forcing herself to stay calm.

"Look what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry for how I've been acting…I…I was being a baka and, I…I'm sorry. I'd like to start over….if…if we can." she finished looking hopefully up to her Nissan's eyes for some time waiting with baited breath for how he would respond to her.

"**Well I can't say I expected that. First Kushina and now her this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder." **muttered Juubi shaking her head at how long it had taken his family to finally start inquiring about her seedling. For his part Naruto was now facing the same thing twice in one day, Kushina had at least been there for him, but his sister…well she hadn't been really hostile to him, but she hadn't been exactly supportive either. And now she was just apologizing to him.

_Umm Juubi little help here! _Asked Naruto with a hint of worry in his voice as his other passenger added their two cents worth.

"_And now she starts up….gah what is that admit you screwed up day…course Minami would be the next to notice….whatever, it's up to you what to say but I wouldn't trust her yet." _Added the voice as it faded leaving Juubi to let out a sigh as she addressed the blond.

"**Sorry seedling but I'm with him on this one it's up to you how to respond. You can give her a chance, or you can shut yourself off from her." **started Juubi.

"**You can choose to live with those that wish to change, or you can chose to hate them for what they have done, and many wouldn't blame you for that, they're your family seedling, what comes next is up to you." **Finished the Juubi as Naruto mentally nodded at her words.

_Right…ok Juubi it's up to me and I don't want to not have a family anymore! I've lost them for so long I don't want to lose that chance to have them again. _He said returning his attention once again to Minami who stood silently waiting for her siblings answer.

"Um Minami… well thanks that means a lot to me." Started the blond, Minami blighting at his words for a moment before he continued.

"But you're going to have to give me some time ok, it has been." Here he paused a slight look of pain crossing his face "it's been a long time for me." he finished with a small smile as he watched Minami seemingly deflate before him.

"Oh…ok Niisan…I'll wait." replied Minami looking down as a bit of moisture touched her eyes, her own guilt now washing over her in earnest at her brothers words. However, before it could overwhelm her a small pressure caused her to look up as Naruto moved over to give her a brief hug before stepping back that same hopeful smile upon his lips.

"But we can start now." offered the blond as Minami found herself smiling as she reached up to whip away the tears that had touched her cheeks nodding towards her Nissan.

"Ha…hai." replied Minami as the pair turned to follow after their siblings Minami's thoughts allowing themselves to hope that things would turn out for the best. While she was saddened at her brother's response she could not hold it against him for wanting to take things slowly. Looking back at her own actions she could not help but see it as a testament to her brother's heart that he was even giving her a chance, and she swore to herself that it wouldn't be going to waist.

**Ok see you next time in chapter 5.5 split for your viewing pleasure :P.**


	6. Chapter 5-5

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

I would like to give a shout out to those who have reviewed, followed and favorite my story in the short time it has been out. I can't believe I have over a hundred followers, and favorites, I'm blown away really thank you all.

Yep I split chapter five into two parts because with the revision I made it went from 20,000 to nearly 40,000 words…so ya that would have been crazy so enjoy the second half of chapter five now with the refreshing taste of mint.

Oh and for new readers…ahem…

Kushina in the manga and anime was never shown in a fight and all official information is limited on her abilities and fighting style so please don't yell because of how she fights.

Ok shinobi in effect are like Pokémon, let me explain, they match up differently, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Someone like Itachi for example could have lost to Sasori… yep no eyes or genjutsu's and all Sasori has to do it one hit, as Itachi wouldn't have a cure. ( just an example please don't start yelling about it) Unless they fight directly in the show we don't honestly have a clear idea with how a fight would turn out. Now can we guess in most cases yes? But even then the sake of the plot makes even that information rather limited. So if you don't like my view or fight, fine but recognize that in reality any fight is conjecture as the S and A rank stuff is arbitrary as if it was just a number then Hidan was equal to Orochimaru, or Itachi because they were all S rank. So please check these ideas of presumed powers at the door.

**Chapter five. Five**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

-**What it means to be a Shinobi**-

A week following their graduation the day of team assignments arrived, the eager students piling back into the familiar classroom their newly awarded headbands worn proudly from their dress as they chatted with their friends excited for their team assignments. Among these prospective students a familiar blond sat chatting happily with his newly announced girlfriend as the two found themselves the subjects of many questions from the pink and blond pair from their medical classes.

After the day of the exams things had been changing slowly for Naruto along with the rest of the Namikaze family in turn. The night of their graduation the triplets had returned to find both parents and godparents waiting to congratulate them on their success in passing into Genin the three barely surviving the bear hug Kushina set upon all three at once. After their initial greeting the group had broken up to chat with each of the children Minato and Jiraiya focusing primarily on Minami and Naruko, as Kushina Tsunade and Shizune made a point to include Naruto in all of their revelries making a point to not allow themselves to slip back into old bad habits.

This, however, was only the start of the changes occurring within the family. Minato and Kushina had become more distant with one another since their confrontation in the office, and in the days following it things did not look to be changing. Only a day after the graduation another fight had broken out between the two, although this one at least hadn't come to blows. It occurred when the following morning Kushina had demanded that Minato apologize to Naruto for what he had said to him in the office, as well as demanding to know why he had dared to say it in the first place. Minato's had remained silent on both points a decision that had only served to further damage their newly straining relationship, and at the moment tensions were high between the two.

So far the pair had kept from breaking into conflict in front of their children, but tensions were high enough that the two still remained oddly stiff around one another. Mito had thankfully been spared any confrontation, but the triplets could tell something was going on with their parents though even they were unsure of just what was occurring between the two.

At the same time during the past few days both Minami and Kushina had been making efforts to follow through in getting to know Naruto better. Progress was slow at first the parties just not sure how to go about any kind of bonding, but even these little steps were enough to keep them hopeful that in time things would indeed change for the better.

Kushina for her part had begun to give Naruto personal training in the past few days, and was both proud and saddened by where her son's abilities were. It wasn't that he was a failure by any means, his abilities were promising for a basic academy graduate…and that was the point…he shouldn't have been left as just another academy student.

His sister's level was already mid to high chunnin thanks to the opportunities granted them…opportunities that he had been denied, and the result was now looking her in the face as the boy eagerly set about any instruction she gave him. If anything this made it even harder as the boy's enthusiasm only served to show that the failing all along had been theirs, he had always been ready…they just had chosen to ignore that fact. But succumbing to her own shame would not help him now, so she pushed on working every moment she could to repair the damage her ignorance had caused.

After observing his skills she had decided to teach him her own fighting style that she had learned back before she had left whirlpool as a child. Unlike the more ridged of stance orientated taijutsu of Konoha her own was more primal, focusing on a set of reactionary movements meant to be interchangeable with one another so that the entire style was harder to predict. It seemed this style favored his energetic personality as he took to the training like a fish to water excited to be learning a style that no-one else was trained in, not even his sisters.

Well not quite no-one, Mito was also learning the same style along with her Aniki her open happiness being a bright patch of light that helped Kushina and Naruto in their efforts to bond, always seeming to bring out a happy giggle or youthful joy to any awkward situation they found themselves in.

Meanwhile Minami had taken a different approach to getting to know the blond once more. Instead of training or work she instead spent what free time she had in joining Naruto in his trips to the Hyuuga residence, or offering to help him surprise Hinata with lunch dates and the like. More often than not the two simply found themselves walking around town one or both of them just chatting away about something they had seen or done, Minami even agreeing to help Naruto set up a paint trap for a particular Anbu who seemed to have gained a black mark in his book after their time during graduation. The pair's laughs as they watched the Anbu breaking down into tears as his entire wardrobe became a rainbow colors assortment slowly mending the bonds that had been so nearly severed forever.

And so the redheaded pair continued their work confident that someday they would be able to put that darker part of their lives behind them at last.

So as the days ticked by the time for team assignments finally arrived and now the titular blond sat smiling beside Hinata glancing excitedly towards the door where in only a short while their Jonin sensei's would be arriving through.

"Hey Hinata-chan do you think we'll get to be on the same team, I bet we will Kaasan said that she heard we might be." smiled Naruto, as beside him Hinata nodded in turn smiling brightly at the boy's words.

"Hai, Shizune sensei said we might to, I really hope we are." Replied the pale eyed girl as she thought about her own week following graduation.

When she had arrived back at the Hyuuga compound it was to find Hanabi and Hitomi with open arms both congratulating her on the news about her and Naruto, her mother soon giggling away at how cute the two would be now they didn't have to try and hid it around her anymore. The remarks drew a bright blush to the girl's cheeks that did not fade as more than a few of the compounds women congratulated her as she followed her mother and brother into the compound. Only one of the compound seemed uninterested in the happiness of his fellows.

Hiashi Hyuuga had appeared not long after Hinata's arrival to begin questioning his daughter at just what she had been thinking…however, he only ever managed his first word before the look of pure rage that Hitomi leveled upon him rendered him suddenly mute for the remainder of the night. The reaction to her new relationship, however, was not the only events over the past week for the girl.

Her new progress as Shizune's unofficial apprentice was fast becoming a source of pride for the young Hyuuga as she found her skill growing by the hour. True Shizune couldn't take a Genin as an apprentice until they had received at least a year of experience, but that didn't mean that she couldn't get some pointers, pointers that Hinata was eager to receive. At the same time a pink haired friend of Hinata had found her own small surprise when Tsunade had arrived at her doorstep to request a meeting. Now both were being drilled daily by their respective senseis.

As Hinata and Naruto returned to their discussion and the dull chatter of the class continued around the room the door to the class finally opened their usual scarred instructor stepping in smiling as he looked around at the students as he moved to take his position before them.

As he looked around he could not stop himself from feeling a bit of pride at this particular class. He was certain that they would likely to become some of the largest names in the Shinobi world in a few years, and all he could think was how those lives had received their start here. Before the man could travel further down this trail of thought he was brought back to reality as a knock came at the door signaling the arrival of the Jonin sensei.

"Ok class it's time for team announcements, so," began Iruka noticing as he spoke that the general din of the room was droning him out. With a small familiar smile Iruka shook his head as he thought he might miss this next part most of all.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" shouted Iruka utilizing his patented big head jutsu as the class suddenly jerked to a halt in their discussion as they turned, straight backed, towards their sensei.

"Good now let's get started then team one…" started Iruka as he read down his list. As he did so students in sets of three would rise as a sensei would enter to collect them leaving a moment later as the next team was called up.

"Next team seven will be Naruko Namikaze, Minami Namikaze, and Sasuke Uchiha, your Jonin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." he continued as the sisters turned smiling to one another as beside them the single Uchiha let out a small huff of acknowledgement. The three teen turned as one to look towards the door as with a small click it swung open. A moment later with a small *whoosh*a grey haired figure was thrown bodily into the room headfirst where he proceeded to skid to a halt just before Iruka's desk as a voice that several recognized issued from the doorway.

"GET IN THERE NOW YOU PERVERT!" shouted a well-known redhead as more than one student looked up from the slowly rising Kakashi to the hall where they suspected the Hokage's wife stood.

"Was that really necessary?" asked Kakashi rising slowly from the floor rubbing his head where he had landed on the classroom floor glancing back towards the doorway. With a small sigh the gray-haired man turned to face his future students an eye smile upon his face as he looked across each in turn.

_Well at least I got the cream of the crop, less work for me, and more time with my little orange friend hehehe._ Thought with a perverted little giggle as he brushed himself off before nodding towards the three.

"Right team seven meet me on the room in ten." He called disappearing a moment later in a shiver of movement leaving only a swirl of leaves in his wake.

As team seven filed out Iruka smiled slightly as he dropped his eyes back to his list.

"Next team eight, Shino Aburame, Sakura Haruno, your sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi, and final team member will be her private student Yakumo Kurama." Called the sensei as the two looked round as the door once more opened.

Into the classroom walked a talk women with black hair and shining red eyes followed by a girl in a simple kimono with waist length brown hair, both smiling at the forms of their new teammates even if the younger Yakumo seemed a bit nervous pointedly keeping herself slightly behind her sensei as the other approached. Once the four were joined they departed together as the next team was called up to depart.

Soon enough teams nine and ten had taken their senseis and left as Iruka continued down his list.

"Ok team eleven will be Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka. Your Jonin sensei will be Kushina Namikaze." Finished Iruka looking up to see the shocked looks on all three of the teen's faces as they looked to one another, their minds already flooded with what they had just been told.

_Yes! I'm on an awesome team, Hinata, Naruto and I are going to kick ass. I heard from mom and sis that Kushina is an awesome kunoichi with her I'll be great in no time. _Thought the feral boy with a large grin on his face as he looked at his new team mates the pup nestled on top of his head letting out a small happy bark at his partner's obvious excitement.

_Naruto-kun and I are on the same team…..YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES! _Cheered Hinata within her mind as a chibi version of herself did a little happy dance all around her mind even as her thoughts also took in what else she had heard. _Oh and Kiba too, he has always gotten together with us great, this is going to be amazing! _Smiled Hinata looking between her team mates as another thought popped into her mind as the final point dropped into place in her mind. _I hope Naruto will be ok with having his Kaasan as his sensei, I know they have been getting better, but I hope this won't be too much. _

Meanwhile Naruto had also found himself pausing on the final point of the announcement his happiness at his teammates slightly muted at the newest information that he had just learned.

…_.Kassan, is this what she meant when she said she had a surprise for my training. _Thought the blond as from within in mind another voice echoed his surprise.

"_I…I know she's been helping you out but…sensei….I….I guess she really does want to help us…she….she really does care." _Added the voice before he to fell as silent as Naruto's, along with his teammates turned towards the door as the redhead stepped into view.

As Kushina stepped forward into the room her appearance made quite the impression as she stood before the class decked out in her full shinobi gear for the first time in years.

Her brow was now decorated by a familiar metal plate like those of her students set just under a few hanging strands of her long red hair which was in turn drawn back in a long pony tail that fell down her back leaving only a pair of bang to frame her heart shaped face.

In contrast to her bright hair she wore a form fitting black ninja long sleeved shirt and leggings under an intimidating set of blood red armor that covered her chest and shoulders, the same smile as those given to the first two hokage's by her clan so many years ago so that it appeared as if a warrior from the first shinobi war now stood before the class. Both her arms and legs also sported the same red greaves the metal carved with a series of intricate symbols that wrapped around the entire ensemble, the small shadows they cast upon the red iron drawings one's eyes to them so that they become lost in the sea that decorated her form. Aside from her armor a set of standard Shuriken and Kunai holsters hung from her waist along with a small set of scrolls that sat just at the rear of her armor.

As she looked at her new team a large smile spread across her face at the looks she was receiving privately chuckling as a little voice inside her mind laughed about how "she'd still got it". As her eyes passed over her students she found herself falling upon her Sochi a small touch of fear as she watched him hoping that he would accept her as his sensei….she didn't have to wait long as Naruto broke into a wide smile that banished that worry from her even as she forced herself to keep back a few tears that threatened to fall from her eyes.

_Thank you Sochi, thank you_. She thought before shaking herself as her focus returned to why she was standing there.

"Ok team follow me to training field 50 as fast as you can cause I won't have any slowpokes on my team dattebane!" she called as with a small swirl of water she vanished leaving the other three members of team eleven to look at one another before as one they scrambled up to follow after her Naruto and Kiba throwing caution to the wind as they dove out the window after her even as Hinata rushed out the door and soon rushing out of the schools doors passing her team who was just pulling themselves from the bushes they had managed to land in.

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Across the village out past where the villages could be seen sat training ground 50; a wide open space sparkly covered by patches of grass and bordered by a smattering of trees that only parted for a single river which ran down its center. It was upon that slowly flowing river that Kushina stood awaiting her team's arrival while running over her plans for their training as

_Ok well Sochi is still working on the next step of his taijutsu style so he's taken care of. After that I can work on testing his affinity, Naruko got her dad's wind, and Minami go both my water as well as fire…hum guess that would be her grandmother in her…Hum I wonder what Naruto's might be? Well I'll find out in due time I suppose. _Concluded the woman as she turned her attention to her next student.

_Now as for Hinata, Shizune said that she was working well with her medical studies at the moment. Beside that Hitomi said that she was progressing well in her use of the gentle fist so that's covered. I guess all that's left is weapons and elemental training, hum maybe I should bring in Hitomi to work with us…she can help instruct Hinata a little more…I'm sure she'd like that. _Smiled the redhead as she turned her attention to the final of the trio.

_And lastly Kiba, if what Tsume tells me is anything to go by he is doing well with his clan style so I guess I can work with him on expanding his use of weapons and work on his fundamentals. If he's doing well enough on that I can start him with Hinata on elemental work as well, but we'll just have to see how that works out._

As she finished her thoughts on her final student a small stab of guilt nestled itself in her chest, sadly a familiar companion ever since a week previously when her eyes had been opened for her. These events had been happening from time to time once she had started teaching her Sochi, whenever she noticed where Naruto's stood in comparison to his fellows. Naruto may have been good for a civilian or clan-less shinobi, but he was clearly behind most of the other clan heirs his age and she knew the only one not to blame was the boy himself.

Whenever these common buds of guild would blossom within her every part of her wanted nothing more than to curl up and cry for all the harm she had done her Sochi. All that kept her from following this instinct was that sad truth that it would only be self-serving on her part…a way to try and push away her guilt which was something she was determined to avoid…selfishness had long since had its day in her life, and it was long past time she left it behind. As she forced her concentration back to reality a small rustling drew her eyes up as her team rushed from the bordering forest spying her a moment later.

The first out of the tree line was Kiba his grey coat with a furry color pulled up over his head, and his black shinobi pants adorned with shuriken and kunai holsters covered with a small bit of leaves and twigs from his encounter with eh bush not long before. Beside him stood his small pup Akamaru who was wagging his tail as he barked excitedly at the figures who had landed a few moments after Kiba.

The second to arrive was Hinata dressed in standard shinobi pants that also held her kunai and shrunken pouches. She also wore a black long-sleeved shirt that allowed the sleeves to drape over her hands in the same style as her master Shizune's uniform over which a less baggy version of her usual tan coat lay her clan symbol on both of its sleeves that ended at her elbows allowing for the undershirt to cover the rest. Hinata smiled as she looked down at the excited face before bending down to pat the happy pup as the final member came shooting out of the tree line to join his team.

As Naruto landed beside his fellows kushina noted the same mismatch of leaves and twigs that had adorned Kiba upon her Sochi idly wondering how the two had managed that particular addition to their wardrobe. Naruto's clothing incidentally had changed very little over the years. His love of all things orange still persisted in his jumpsuit only now thanks to Hinatas insistence he at least left the jacket unzipped with the sleeves cut off just below the elbows not making the outfit a bit more manageable; at least in the shinobi sense.

Smiling as towards the three's arrival Kushina slowly made her way across the stream her feel padding effortlessly across the top of the water before touching on the dusky ground before her team smiling slightly at the impressed looks she was receiving for her efforts.

"Nice time making it here team, now I'd like us to start off with a quick introduction so we can get a feel for one another. I know you all have been in class, and" her she paused to smile towards her son and Hinata," other relationships but now that we're a team we will need to work as one so let's start with our goals and something about yourself." Began Kushina as she looked around at the three who nodded towards her.

"I'll start us off so you can get an idea. My name is Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze I'm a Jonin Kunoichi, my skills include my clan fighting style, seals and my chakra chains." Here she paused to allow a small golden chain to form from her palm before continuing.

"My likes are my family, and Ramen, my dislikes are a certain blond idiot who needs to figure out where his priorities lie." Here she looked up to the Hokage monument for a moment with a look of annoyance on her brow before she let it fall as she turned back to the three before her. "Anyway my goals are to see this team become the greatest shinobi they can be, and make up for a mistake I made with someone precious to me." she finished towards Naruto at the end to emphasize just what mistake she was referring to.

"**Well at least she had her priorities straight…..Hmm and she seems to be unhappy with the hokage. Well join the club red." **Sighed Juubi failing to hide the hint of happiness in her voice at this prospect even as behind her the small pool that still resided where her tree once had rippled slightly.

"_Ya well it's about time…still nice to see she's back and all…we missed her!" _added the other voice as Juubi turned to smile softly towards its source as she moved to sink back into the water.

"**Just keep trying for the tough guy act seedling you'll get to see her sometime, now let's get back to work Naruto's got his own to deal with for now." **whispered Juubi as the water swallowed her leaving the mindscape empty once more as outside of it Kushina turned towards Hinata.

"Ok so how about ladies first."

"Right I'm Hinata Hyuuga; I like my family and my boyfriend Naruto-kun" here she still found a blush touch her cheeks as Kushina gave her a wide grin before she continued. "An…and spending time with my friends. My dislikes are some of my clan customs that I want to change, and the competitiveness of some of my family. My goal is to be a splendid kunoichi like my Kaasan and help those I care about reach their goals. I also hope to have a family someday." She finished her last words coming out in a bit of a whisper as she shot a quick glance to Naruto causing Kushina to let out a small giggle within her mind.

"Ok." Said Kushina with a final mental giggle as the girls ending before she turned to her next student, "how about you next Kiba."

"Hai my name is Kiba Inuzuka, and this here is Akamaru." Called the boy enthusiastically as his partner let out a bark of greeting. "I like spending time with my friends, and working with my best friend on our clan style. I dislike those who hurt animals unnecessarily, and people who think that someone like my Kaasan can't be a great leader just because she is a kunoichi. My goal is to become the greatest tag team pair with Akamaru here and maybe find someone that my Kaasan and Neesan will approve of." He finished with a smile as he scratched the puppy behind the ears.

"Giggle, if I know your Kaasan you have your work cut out for you with that last one Kiba. But, with Akamaru and you I can promise we'll make you the greatest tag team of all time." Smiled the redhead as Kiba gave his own fanged grin at her words.

"And last we have Naruto, go ahead Sochi." She said gesturing towards him.

"OK dattebayo! My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like spending time with friends, and training to become the best shinobi I can be. I also want to make a certain someone proud of me, and keep a promise to that person." he said with a smile, that none the less had the others wondering just who he was referring to with his statements.

"My dislikes are people who judge people without knowing them people who sacrifice others for their own reasons, and a man who hurt someone close to me and separated her from her children." He continued. Here the group once again looked at one another wondering who Naruto could be talking about Kushina privately fearing that he was referring to a particular Hokage as he continued.

"My goal is to become a great shinobi, and to help someone close to me be able to meet those she was separated from….oh and to be happy with my precious people." He finished as he smiled towards Kushina and Hinata in turn. At his finishing words Kushina found her curiosity growing at just who Naruto had been talking about? At first she thought it had been about the Namikaze's but that didn't really fit with his later comments?

_Who are you talking about Sochi?_ Wondered Kushina before shaking such thoughts from her mind for now. She had a job to do as a sensei first after all, her questions could wait until after that.

"Ok then well I guess it's about time we start our test." she said smiling down at the three with an evil little chuckle. As all three of the genin eyed one another nervously at her tone.

"Um…sensei, what are you?" started Hinata as Kushina turned to her smiling as behind her a series of three eruptions of smoke cut off the young Hyuuga. As the genin watched the smoke fell slowly away to show three more redheaded armor clad Kushina's now standing behind the original as she looked across at the three.

"Simple Hinata-chan it's time for the next test, I'm sure Hitomi and Tsume warned you about it, and I already told Naruto so how about we just get started." smiled Kushina as all three teens paused for a moment before nodding remembering the warnings they'd heard about a read tests coming after the academy.

"Good well then time for you real test." Started Kushina as she tossed a kunai each to her clones as she slowly moved back from between the two groups all three of the teens turning to watch her as she strode towards a tree at the edge of the clearing.

"Now your test is simple each of those clones has a real kunai with them, all you have to do in order to pass is get one of them and return it to me, and anyone without a kunai at the end will be sent back to the academy to wait till next year. You have one hour before my clones dissipate on their own, so better put your all into it." Finished Kushina as she turned to brace herself against a tree at the edge of the clearing nodding towards the three teens who as one looked around at the three clones who were standing before them.

"Ready!" called Kushina as the teens nodded towards her.

"GO!" she called even as within her mind she sent out a silent prayer that they would pick up on the purpose of this test.

At her words all three of the clones shivered once before vanishing in three separate whirls of water leaving the three genin and one pup alone in the field.

"What? Oh come one Akamaru can you smell them?" called Kiba turning to his partner who began sniffing at the ground in earnest. At the same time Hinata had already activated her bloodline her pale eyes opening wide as she took in the 360 degree view of the field leaving the final member of the group to do the only thing he could think of.

_OH NO! OH NO! OH NO! how do I find Kaasan, crap what do I do? JUUBI HELP? _ Called Naruto within in mind as the purple haired woman peaked out from her pool before letting out a heavy sigh.

"**Sorry Seedling but this is a test for you, not me, now stop panicking and think for a moment and it will come to you."** Stated Juubi before she sank back into the pool leaving Naruto alone with his thoughts.

_Juubi?..oh come on I'm not a tracker how am I supposed to find her, I mean I can fight a clone but what am I supposed to do?_ Thought the blond as he looked around at his team who seemed to already be figuring the situation out.

"_Oh yeah I don't know….HOW ABOUT ASKING FOR HELP YOU BAKA!" _called his other passenger the sudden cry causing Naruto to jerk slightly as though smacked upside the head by some invisible force. Something that drew a curious look from the tree line where Kushina stood watching the three.

_What? But? _Started Naruto before giving himself his own mental smack as he realized how easy the answer was, after all if he couldn't do it alone why not ask his team for help, that's what they were there for after all, and he could help them with his Kaasan's clones.

"Hey Hinata-chan do you see any of her clones?" asked Naruto as Hinata paused for a moment in her searching before nodding at the blonds words.

"Hai Naruto-kun, there's two over that way." She said pointing towards the western side of the clearing even as across from the pair Akamaru let out a happy little bark.

"Alright Akamaru found one's trail that goes this way!" called Kiba as three looked to one another before looking off in the opposite directions the clones had gone.

"So what do we do?" asked Naruto as he looked towards the other two who looked towards him.

"Huh what are you talking about? We go get them me and Akamaru got after this one and you two go after those two and we all pass." Smiled the feral looking boy as beside him his pup let out a bark of agreement.

"Are you sure you can do it alone?" asked Hinata as Kiba gave her a happy grin throwing her a thumbs up. 

"Of course I can just you two make sure you find your's and…" started Kiba before Naruto cut him off.

"Wait!" he called as the pair turned towards him looking a little confused at his sudden interruption.

"Why? Come on Naruto this is the only way that each of us pass, we all go after one and we win." Offered Kiba as Naruto turned to him.

"But if you can't take her alone then you'll fail and we won't be there to help you. And what if the two we're after split up? I mean without you two I'm as good as blind out here, maybe we should stick together and go after them as a group." Pointed out the blond as both of his teammates looked to him frowning slightly at his words.

"But Naruto-kun if we are all together we might not be able to catch that one alone, then we might not have enough time to get all of the Kunai…and that means." Whispered the girl as she cast her eyes towards the pair as the thought settled in around each of them in turn.

"But if we all get separated we might get none of them…and if we're alone then the clones will trounce us, Kaasan's amazing when she wants to be." Added the blond as Kiba gave a small shiver the thought of his own Kaasan and Neesan when they got serious making him suddenly unsure about going after the titular redhead alone.

"Maybe Naruto's right…beside with all three of us we'll get it done in no time!" called Kiba as across from him Hinata found a small smile touching her lips as she nodded towards the two.

"_Well there you go, now hurry up and get to work I'm not going to be the only one pulling us alone!"_ it called causing the pool in Naruto's mind to rippled slightly as a smile burst across his lips.

"Hai lets go get those kunai!" called Naruto as the four speed off towards one end of the clearing leaving their sensei behind who stood watching them go a large smile moving across her lips as she watched them go.

_Well I thought it would take them longer to figure it out…guess I shouldn't have worried. _Thought Kushina as she stood in the now deserted training field as her smile grew ever time the memories of her clones flooded back to her showing the three genin working off each other in order to overcome each copy in turn.

"Good to know teamwork won't be an issue." Smiled Kushina as she felt her second clone vanishing accepting the three would be after her last clone soon enough. The test was an old one, but simple after all one on one, even a clone of a Jonin was more than a match for any Genin…and all she really had to do was escape them. Leaving each other to fend for themselves would have left the three chasing her clones around all afternoon, working as a team was the only way to pass this exam.

"Well I guess that means its official." Smiled Kushina as she felt the memories of her clone returning to her. 

"Team eleven passes." Smiled the redhead as she turned to await her team's return, ready to congratulate them at officially becoming Shinobi and Kunoichi of Konoha.

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Two months, two long months of hard work and some of the more interesting missions that Konoha had to offer had proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that Kushina's test had been correct in passing team eleven.

Speaking of the team at that very moment the quartet, and one pup, were just entering into the mission hall of the hokage tower with a purring Tora nestled in the arms of Hinata the pearl white cat looking nothing like the feral beast that so many insisted that it was for them. On either side of Hinata her two male teammates chatted happily as behind them Kushina walked glancing around at the other sensei's they passed, a prideful smirk upon her lips as she saw more than one pausing at the sight of the teams catch. The trio had been advancing in their training so much that Kushina was almost positive that she had a group of protégées working under her.

Hinata was moving into some of the more advance areas of medical justus, as well advancing in the use of poisons thanks to his meetings with Shizune, something the newly minted master medical kunoichi took a great deal of pride in. On top of that she had started her elemental training with Kushina recently finding that like her Kaasan she held a strong water affiliation. Using this as just one more reason to follow through with her plan Kushina had insisted on bringing Hitomi to their training to help instruct her daughter, the memory of the smile on the woman's face as she had been asked to help her daughter still visible within her mind's eye.

Alongside Hinata, Kiba had also been advancing steadily in his training although at this time they still had not found a weapon to fit the Inuzuka fighting style the boy favored. Kushina was able to find that the boy possessed a particularly rare element for their village, a wind element. The boy was at first distressed at this premise as neither his Kaasan nor Neesan had the element, meaning he didn't know how to make it work with the Inuzuka style. Kushina, however, was not about to let the boy down and dedicated herself to finding a way to incorporate the element into his style of fighting. So far they had found that by applying wind to his tunneling fang he had already increased both its speed and destructive force two fold; something the boy wasted no time in showing off to his family before getting smacked down when he tried to show off a bit too much, though the smiles on his families faces enough to tell anyone just how proud they were of his advancements.

The last member of the team Naruto, however, had become Kushina's primary focus, as she poured herself into getting his skills back to where they should have been alongside his teammates. He had succeeded in moving into the next few stage of his taijutsu style along with his Kaasan making him able to keep up with Kiba when they were limited to only taijutsu, though Hinata was still able to put both in their place when it came to that area. Along with this he had worked hard to refine his basics down to the point where he was able to use most of the moves without hand signs, his control slowly getting better and better till when the team began work on tree climbing the boy found himself able to keep up with his team, something Kushina took great pride in as the three ran up and down the sea of trees before them. His jutsu arsenal, however, had not begun to move forwards as of yet, though Kushina planned for them to begin at least discovering his element before too long.

Soon enough the four figures stepped up to the mission desk that Iruka and Minato sat behind, a small wall of scrolls laid out before them.

"Team eleven reporting on a successful mission completion." stated Kushina looking at the two men behind the desk; her eyes lingered momentarily on her husband's face before looking back to Iruka who nodded as he watched Hinata moving over to hand a sleeping cat into the waiting arms of a larger woman who wore her wealth on every inch of her body. Meanwhile Minato's own gaze had been focused upon Kushina as with a heavy heart he took the scroll from Iruka reading over the words as he continued to spare glances towards the woman he loved.

Over the last month he had done everything in his power to patch things up with Kushina, apologizing for his words and even making an effort to be at home more to help her in any way he could. Even this, however, was not enough to wipe away all of the tension between them. The sticking point had continued to be with Naruto, and his actions towards the boy. Despite having apologized for his words towards the boy, Minato had remained firm on both the punishment as well as denying Kushina a reason for his actions leaving a doubting presence that Kushina could not move past.

So at the moment, neither were sure what to do with one another. It wasn't a matter of love for them, despite their anger with one another it was their feeling, more than anything that spurred their conflict. No, it was that the trust was broken between them, as much as she wanted to believe him Kushina couldn't blindly believe in Minato anymore. And worse Minato knew that but he couldn't bring himself to admit his actions….he couldn't bring himself to believe what he had done was wrong. To do so would be to admit that everything he had believed and sacrificed for would have been for nothing. So the two remained at arm's length with one another neither sure just what the future held for them.

Shaking himself from these thoughts Minato looked back to the most recent assignment, as he suppressed a small pang of sadness as he looked away from his beautiful wife. Trying not to think about how she no longer graced him with her true smile like she had once done only months prior. Now it was gone…and he privately feared that it could indeed be forever.

Minato was not blind to his pain, and in a way that was worse, he knew what he had done…he knew how to fix it… but he had chosen his path and no matter the cost he would walk it.

"Well done team eleven." Spoke the blond looking down over the mission report. "It's still early yet and we have plenty of D rank missions left if you would care to take another." He continued taking refuge behind his clipboard so he would not have to face that fake smile still etched onto his wife's face.

"With respect Hokage-sama I believe my team is ready for a low class C rank mission. I would like to put in a request for one." replied Kushina cutting her husband off before he could begin listing off the chores that passed for D rank missions.

This declaration caught the Hokage slightly off guard.

_C rank, already, but none of the other teams are near that level yet, not even the girls team, Kakashi said they still needed work. Does that mean Kushina's team is advancing that fast. No, it's probably just something to do with Naruto, probably just trying to give the boy something over his sisters. No…no Kushina wouldn't put a team in danger just for that…but they can't be advancing that fast…can they? _Thought the hokage to himself as he gazed up at his wife.

"Kushina are you sure, I mean you don't need to feel pressured by your team to give them a better mission if you don't think their ready." Minato offered, thinking he was offering help to a sensei bogged down by whining students.

"With all due respect Hokage-sama," **"ya like that's a lot" **chimed in the Juubi in Naruto's head, "I do not lie about my teams abilities, and this is my decision alone to make. My team has advanced across the board and I would like to take them on a low C rank mission to test them further out in the field." replied Kushina a small bit of annoyance creeping into her voice at the suggestion that her judgment could be compromised in some way.

At the tone he was receiving from his wife Minato relented turning to begin shuffling through the scrolls on his desk attempting to locate a mission for team eleven. Meanwhile across the desk from the Hokage the three Genie listening in on the conversation were barely able to contain their excitement at the news they had just heard.

_All right Kaasan and Neesan aren't going to believe it. My first C rank this is going to be great, I'll probably be assigned to protect a VIP or better yet overthrow a dictator. Oh man wait till I tell everyone they'll be so jealous. _Thought Kiba with a large smile spreading across his face as he turned towards his teammates who were also grinning at the time.

_Hanabi isn't going to believe this. Oh I'll have to tell Kaasan about it to…Maybe Tousan will be proud of me to. I should stop by Shizune's before I leave and tell her, she said my training is progressing to the point I can start working with her hidden senbon technique, maybe I can take it on the mission? _ Pondered the Hyuuga as she looked around excitedly at her teammates who looked just as excited as she now felt.

_This is great! I'm going on my first C rank mission isn't that cool Juubi?_ Called the blond as within his mindscape a woman found herself smiling slightly at the excitement in his voice. 

"**Yes seedling I can see that you are very excited, but remember you have to be ready for anything out there." **She replied from where she sat beside that same reflective pool her eyes glancing down to it where she could alone see another blue sky as well as her tree stretching seemingly into that blue emptiness.

"_Hey Naruto ask where the mission is maybe we can all meet up for a bit it's not fair you hogging Hinata-chan all to yourself." _the voice chipped in.

_What's that supposed to mean, you have Juubi with you! _Naruto fired back as the voice let out an annoy huff.

"_Ya well we can't take Juubi out on a date now can we." The voice shouted back._

"**Well actually I'm always with you two, so really." **Juubi began smiling before the pair of voice cut her off.

"_Stay out of this"/Stay out of this! _Both called as one causing her to falter before adopting an annoyed expression as she rose her arms to cross beneath her chest taking a more proper posture.

"**Interrupting a lady when she is speaking is rude seedlings. I can still make both of your heads explode you know." **stated Juubi in a small threatening tone as the pair suddenly went silent before rushing to apologize

"_We're sorry pretty Ms. Juubi-san"/We're sorry pretty Ms. Juubi-san _both voices sounded off at once as the purple haired woman smirked slightly to herself as she savored the moment for a bit.

Meanwhile back in the real world Naruto had been gazing off into space for a few moments, but was called to attention as Minato spoke up finally pulling a single scroll from the pile and beginning his briefing.

"Alright here we go, we have a standard escort mission to wave, possible bandits activity at most, the client should be arriving some time tomorrow, I will have him meet you at the gate at 800 hours please have your team ready for him. Till then prep for a month long mission outside of village." finished Minato speaking in the tone he used when commanding troops as he looked across at the team before him.

"Hai hokage-sama." voiced all four of the Shinobi and Kunoichi before him, even Akamaru letting out a small bark as he wiggled on top of his partners head. Nodding once towards Minato Kushina turned to her team each coming to attention as she looked at each in turn.

"Ok squad we will hold off training for today, go ahead and return home for today, we will meet at the gates tomorrow at 700 hours. I expect each of you to have a full pact and be ready to move. Understood?" stated Kushina as she looked round at her team.

"Hai sensei." coursed the Genie before Hinata and Kiba took a moment to bow respectfully before heading out towards their compounds to tell their family the good news. At the same time Naruto turned smiling up to Kushina who returned the look as the two slowly made their way out of the hall.

"Hey Naruto lets head over to the Senju compound and pick of Mito ok. I'm sure she'll be excited to hear the exciting news." offered Kushina as the blond turned his sunset eyes up to her.

During the month Naruto had begun to open up to her a little at a time, but even now she still found herself nervous when speaking to her eldest. Even now she held no illusions on the fragile nature of their relation. Naruto may have never stopped loving her but she had almost completely destroyed any trust the two shared…all she could do was to work and wait, each day another small step towards once again holding that trust she had so long ago lost.

"Hai lets go, if I know Mito, Tsunade and Shizune will probably will need rescuing right about now." Replied Naruto smiling widely, as the two departed towards the Senju compound.

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A few hours after team elevens departure Hinata could be found sitting beside her mother looking out at the garden having just finished telling her about her upcoming mission, the excitement on the young girls face bringing a warmth to the woman as she looked down on her daughter.

"So your first C rank, it's a big step forward." Commented Hitomi looking over at her daughter who nodded slightly before replying.

"I…I guess so, we leave tomorrow for wave." Replied Hinata smiling as a gentle breeze worked its way through the garden scattering bright pink and lavender petals across her vision.

"Well I want you to know that all of us here will be cheering for you Hinata-chan, so just be yourself and everything will be fine." smiled Hitomi as she looked at the wonderful kunoichi her daughter had become.

"Thank you, Kaasan, I won't let the clan down, I promise." smiled Hinata as she turned her pale eyes up to meet those of her mother.

Hearing this Hitomi let out a small sigh as she leaned over to place on of her hands on her daughter's soft pale check. Her complication in birth had robbed her of much, the chance to train her children even the chance to walk side by side with them, but there was one thing she would never let it take from her.

"Oh my sunny place I could never be anything but proud of you, don't you every doubt that." Replied Hitomi softly as she bent down and placed a soft kiss upon Hinatas forehead. Leaning back Hitomi saw Hinata brighten at her words as her thoughts brought about another thought of what she could do to help her daughter.

"Now come on I'd like to teach you how to cook something to take with you on you C rank; I'm sure your Naruto-kun will love it." said Hitomi as she turned to begin wheeling herself towards the kitchen; raising one hand to muffle a giggle at the huge blush that had overtaken her daughters face.

"Kassan." Called Hinata in a little bit of a whining voice as she rose and followed her towards the kitchen fighting back the edges of her blush.

As the two made their way around the compound toward the kitchen Hinata was caught off guard by a small impact at the small of her back. As she orientated herself she recognized the presence of two arms that had encircled her waist her eyes soon identifying them as her young siblings.

"Oneesan I heard you were heading out for a C rank for a month, you can't! If you leave who will save me from Mito-chan, if you and Naruto are gone I'll be all alone." Hanabi all but cried into his older sister back as Hinata and Hitomi exchanged small glances with one another smiling slightly as they did so. Both soon turned their attention to the boy who was currently holding onto Hinata as though he expected her to vanish if he let go for even a second.

"Hanabi I have to go, it's my job now. I have to become a better kunoichi so I can't always be here to protect you from Mito-chan." Started Hinata as she saw her brothers face look up at her slightly devastated by the news even as she pressed on.

"Besides I'm sure that Mito-chan will worried about Naruto too, so you need to be strong for her to ok. She's your friend and I know you don't want her to be lonely." replied Hinata turning to look down at her brother who was not looking at his feet.

"I guess." Muttered the boy as Hinata reached forwards to ruffle the boy's hair as he slowly looked up to her offering a small smile as their mother looked on.

Hitomi at the time was watching her children a soft smile upon her lips as she saw them so close to one another despite their clan's attitude on such things. The Hyuuga clan had long been interested in only the strongest members gaining recognition, and to this end it was less of a family and more of a rivalry between most of the household. Brothers competed against brothers, and sister against sister, and she thanked Kami that she had managed to spare her children from that fate. She also suppressed a small giggle at the idea that her little Sochi was so terrified of his best friend, though she supposed it wasn't so unreasonable given just how excitable Mito could be at times.

"Sochi-kun." She started getting Hanabi to towards her as she continued, "How would you like to come and help your Neesan and Kaasan with something for a C rank mission?" asked the pale eyed woman smiling down towards the boy..

"Really?" asked Hanabi smiling between the pair who nodded back at him.

"Hai imoto, come on I'll even teach you something to help with Mito-chan while I'm away. It works on all Uzumaki's guaranteed." Said Hinata reaching down to take Hanabi's hand as they walked towards the kitchen with Hitomi smiling followed along behind the pair as they rounded another corner of the household.

Meanwhile across the village within another clan compound the second member of team eleven was having his own "bonding" with his family. Within the Inuzuka compound Kiba was busy attempting to pack his back while both his Kassan and Neesan looked over his shoulder giving him advice every now and then.

"Ototo make sure to plenty of treats for Akamaru, and don't forget that vet pack I gave you." called Hana looking down at the open pack Kiba was haphazardly throwing things into.

"Hai, Neesan I won't forget." said Kiba with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice. _Gah it's like she doesn't even think I can pack a bag without her help._

"Oh and don't forget your own bandages, if you trip yourself up you'll need to be ready to patch it." Added Hana as Kiba let out a small annoyed growl as she seized a handful of bandages to add to the mess of his pack.

Tsume seeing the look on her youngest face could only chuckle at him as she let out a small sigh.

"Come on Kiba-kun she's only trying to look out for her ototo, besides it's not every day a member of the pack sets out for their first big mission, we're allowed be a bit overbearing at times like this." Tsume finished with a fanged smile as Kiba gave her a slightly disheartened look.

"She's right Ototo, now don't forget to pack extra underwear yours…" started Hana before Kiba let out a small cry of annoyance turning to leap towards his sister. It seemed, however, that Hana was read for this as she simply stepped aside allow her brother to sail out through the open window behind her as a series of crashes rose from outside a feral smile working across her face as she heard them.

"Nice try pup, anyway you'll also need." Continued Hana as across from her Tsume broke out into howls of laughter taken up by many of the compounds hounds at the siblings back and forth.

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In no time the time had arrived for their departure as team eleven found themselves waiting outside of the gate using their free time to compare their packs and chatting amongst each other. As the three continued their chatter a small way's off Kushina watched her team smiling as she saw Hinata offering both Kiba and Naruto what could only be homemade treats that the both fell upon even as Naruto pulled Hinata into a hug gaining a fresh smile from their redheaded observer. They might not have been the best in the eyes of the academy, but by damn they were becoming the single greatest team she could have ever asked for.

As she looked out the massive open gates of Konoha her thoughts turned back to how her youngest had reacted at the news of their group's mission. Mito had gone off like a rocket bouncing around and giggle at hearing of her Niisan's newest mission firing off questions throughout the whole night till exhaustion finally managed to take her so that one moment she was still racing around before a small muffled thump drew everyone's eyes as the little redhead dropped face first onto the sitting room couch curling up in a little ball of red hair.

Naruko and Minami in the meantime had only been able to look on with equal amounts of jealously and shock at hearing that their brother's team was going to be going on their first C rank mission before theirs. Speaking of team seven, the dream team, had at this time not quite played out as either Kakashi or Minato had envisioned. While all three of the Genie were unquestionably skilled each at least a chunnin in skill alone their ability to work as a combined team was spotty at best. Naruko and Sasuke were always competing for the top spot which while great for growth made organized maneuvers difficult. Meanwhile Minami was left to play the peace maker between the two fighting back her own frustrations as neither seemed to get the point that as a group they were stronger than alone.

Meanwhile Kakashi was finding his dream of slacking was not going quite as he had planned. True his Genin were able to handle most of their training individually, but his work on teambuilding was slowly becoming more taxing that he had originally believed possible. Alongside this Sasuke's awakening of the Sharingan meant he was now working alongside the boy more and more to help him master the newest skill. It was safe to say after all of this that team seven was not shaping up the way anyone had planned.

Shaking herself from her thoughts Kushina looked around the massive gate once more spotting their client moving slowly towards them. As she noticed the figure, she motioned to her team causing them to turn to see the man who staggered up to Kushina. The man that now stood before the armored redhead looked to be around his late sixties wearing simple contracting clothing, along with a straw hat perched upon his head his hands currently occupied in hoisting a jug of booze to his lips as he looked around at them.

The three Genie noticeably faltered at the oncoming figure, all privately thinking how much of a disappointment the start of this mission was off to.

_So much for a princess….Mito's not going to like this one. _Sighted Naruto as he thought of telling his imoto that he had been protecting a sweaty old man on his first mission.

"**Could be worse…he could be rude." **Remarked Juubi as the client spoke up at last.

"I pay for guards and all I get are a bunch of snot nosed kids, what kind of village is this?" asked the man as he looked down his nose at team eleven.

_You were saying? _Asked Naruto as Juubi let out sigh at Kami calling her bluff. At the same time Kushina was reacting in her own manner to the client's words.

The man in question soon finding himself hanging upside down in front of the group as one of Kushina's chains had hoisted him up by his feet.

"Now I'm sorry but I don't think I heard you correctly, what was that you were saying about my team?" asked Kushina in a dangerously sweet voice. The man to his credit immediately started backtracking from his previous statement.

"I'm sorry, ok, I'm sorry you all look like amazing guards that I'm lucky to have for my protection alright, were all ok now right, please." He babbled away even as the blood rushed to his face, and he started to become dizzy. Hearing this Kushina released her chain allowing the man to fall onto the ground in a heap before scrambling around to stand up again.

"_YES GET HIM!" _laughed Naruto's other confidant as the boy himself found a smile upon his lips along with his team as they watch the man pushing himself up.

"Good to hear, now team this is Tazuna, for this mission we are to escort him home to wave, and provide protection as he finishes his work on the construction of a bridge. Expect a few bandit attacks now and then so keep your eyes open alright." Called Kushina even as the team looked from her to where Tazuna had finally gotten back to his feet.

"What, you mean we have to protect him?" asked both Kiba and Naruto both wanting nothing more than to pound the man before them, never mind actually protect the man.

_I guess Hanabi won't be getting a picture of a princess. _Hinata sighed to herself as she looked at their client.

"Yes we have to protect him you two, and I expect you to do your jobs as Shinobi as Konoha. Now come on team we're moving out." called Kushina noting the disappointment on her teams face and hoping that getting them moving might get them excited towards their future prospects.

"Hai." called all three teens turning to exit ahead of their sensei and client. After only a few minutes of traveling Naruto's thoughts found themselves interrupted by his usual guest voice.

"**Hey seedling good news, I managed to get him near wave, so you can have your little meeting just like you wanted. Oh and bring Hinata-chan he's been chomping at the bit to meet her."** called Juubi popping into Naruto's head.

"_You better believe it! I'll see you soon, so make sure you look after yourself until we see each other! And keep Hinata-chan out of trouble!" _added the voice with a clear amount of happiness in his voice.

_Really that's awesome I can't wait to see you! Bet I'm still the best looking out of the two of us. _Smiled Naruto back at the voice.

"_Oh yeah I'd like to see you say that when Hinata-chan choses me over you." _the voice fired back.

"**Baka's if you don't stop arguing and get your head in the game I will ground both of you from seeing Hinata-chan for the next year!" **cut in Juubi before the two could continue with their argument. This caused the two fall silent as their attention returned back towards their own bodies.

As Naruto dropped back into reality he saw that the team had progressed farther outside of the village and were making their way along a dirt road towards wave. As the three moved forwards Kiba was busy talking with Akamaru, while Hinata was conversing with Kushina about Hanabi and Mito leaving Naruto to simply stare around at the scenery they were moving past.

As he continued to glance around Naruto took notice of a small puddle of water that seemed to have formed in the side of the road. At first he took no real mind of it, but something in the back of his mind told him he needed to keep an eye on it. So as he continued forward he made a quick signal to his team motioning towards the puddle as he saw Hinata's eye flashing momentarily into her bloodline before she nodded slightly towards him and then to Kushina. At the same time Kushina nodded back at Naruto motioning for the team to continue forward, but giving them the signal to be prepared for an assault if necessary.

Their preparation was not in vain as the puddle suddenly shivered as two figures slowly emerged dressed in matching mist grey cameo shinobi gear their faces covered by a mixture of breathing masks and spiked headbands that gave them the appearance of some kind of mix of metal and man. Without warning the pair sprang into action as with one flick the first shinobi was hurled over the group landing on the opposite side of the group his clawed hand brandished before him as he glared around at them.

"Hand over the bridge builder and walk away little leaves." called the first shinobi as he took a step forward even while his fellow finished stepping out of puddle fully to take a flanking position his own gauntlet clinking ominously as he threw his gaze around to each of the five in turn.

"Team fall in protect the client, Kiba, Hinata take the head. Naruto protect Tazuna don't let them get to him." Shouted Kushina as she spun to face the enemy now flanking them throwing up one gauntleted hand to swat a small cluster of shuriken aside as the mist shinobi began his assault.

Throwing himself forward Naruto took up his position just in time to deflect a stray kunai that had been headed towards Tazuna curtesy of the second shinobi that his teammates were now rushing to engage leaving the other to their sensei.

Kushina at the same time flung herself towards the mist shinobi her armored form kicking up small spats of dust as she advanced on the shinobi. Seeing the redheaded woman charging him the shinobi began to fly through hand signs even as he skipped back trying to gain some space between the two. Just as Kushina closed on him, her back exploding into a wave of golden chains the shinobi landed on the final seal as all-round the pair a wave of water surged up as several whips took form before rushing towards her. As the first three whips slapped down towards her Kushina suddenly vanished into a shiver of movement suddenly appearing on top of the very whips that had been striking down at her racing along the trails of water as she closed on the man.

Seeing the redhead suddenly upon him the Mist shinobi directed the rest of his water wipes to fall back to form a dome of water around him, hoping to stave off the oncoming attack. It proved to be a mistake as Kushina kicked off from her watery coarse sailing over the water dome even as her golden chains flung themselves down to wrap around his protective shield, a moment before with a flick the man found his defenses shattered the shimmering chairs constricting around him before he was tugged up and over to slam headfirst into the earthen road before Kushina with a sickening crunch of impact.

As the man crumpled in her chains Kushina released her gold spinning back towards her team in time to see that the second mist shinobi had broken through Kiba and Hinata and was rushing towards Tazuna.

At the same time Kushina had been dealing with her opponent Kiba and Akamaru, at hearing her orders, had rushed towards the other shinobi with Hinata in toe.

"Come on Akamaru!" cried Kiba as he leapt towards the mist shinobi their bodies twisting into their whirling tornados with a cry of "Gatsuga!" As the pair of swirling tunnels of fang and claw tore across the road the enemy shinobi dove sideways taking one strike across his un-gauntleted arm drawing a small splatter of crimson but avoiding a deadly attack by inches. At the same time Hinata rushing in just behind the pair her Byakugan blazing as she saw him reach towards a spot on his gauntlet and pull from it a length of serrated rope that seemed to be comprised of overlapping shrunken. Before Hinata could call a warning Kiba had already spun to turned to repeat his attack the mist shinobi swinging gauntlet around allowing the chain to fly out and cut towards the two. With a burst of speed Hinata flung herself forwards managing to slam an open palm into the exposed back of the Shinobi drawing a yell of pain from the man's lips causing his attack to skew off course.

As the chain crashed down a few feet from the Inuzuka pair Kiba's nose detected something on the chain that smelled foul.

"Hinata!" he shouted as he leapt toward the figure again, "don't let him touch you he's covered in poison!"

At the same time the mist shinobi swung his first around at Hinata forcing her back before bringing his gauntlet around swiping his chain back and forth in an attempt to delay his pursuers. He managed to put some distance in between the Genie and himself, and took the opportunity to form some quick hand signs before breathing out a cloud of poison as skipped back from the pair. The purple cloud billowed out toward the two Genie causing them scatter giving the Mist shinobi the opportunity he needed in order to slip by the pair and head towards his target.

As pounded away at the earthen road he saw the final obstacle to his goal, a brightly colored blond who stood before him a kunai drawn in both hands. With an angry roar the shinobi flung his free hand forwards as a smattering of blades stars swept forwards towards the blond.

"NO YOU DON'T!" called Naruto as he swung his blades up to smack the weapons aside sending them off with small streaks as the steel weapons meat each other. Without halting his assault the shinobi swung his arm around whipping the serrated chain Tazuna just as Naruto deflected his last shuriken.

"_CRAP STOP HIM!" _called a voice in Naruto's head as without any choice Naruto threw himself in front of the blow unable to bring a kunai up in time to stop the weapons path. The next moment the Mist Shinobi saw as Naruto's arm slammed down into his chain the impact enough to send it aside even as a splatter of crimson fell to ground.

With another un-decipherable roar of anger the Mist shinobi yanked his arm back causing the chain to pull back wrapping itself around the blond's arm several times drawing a small cry from his lips as the pointed metal teeth bit into his flesh.

Biting back the pain now roaring in his arm Naruto trust his bound hand forwards even as the Mist shinobi race towards him yanking at his bound arm bring forth another small spattering of crimson from his wound. As the figure approached Naruto forced himself to ignore the pain in his arm as his fingers closed around the chain. With crimson drops falling from between his figures Naruto yanked the chain towards himself, throwing off the Mist shinobi's footing so that he skipped forwards just enough so that the blond could bring his remaining blade to bare ramming it to the hilt into the shinobi's chest as they collided.

As the blade drove home, the Shinobi let out a cry of pain a moment before he felt several other strikes hammer him from behind as his body suddenly failed him.

Just as Naruto had taken hold of the chain Hinata had managed to caught up with the pair and had disabled the shinobi with a series of well-placed Juken strikes to his back. As the shinobi collapsed Hinata's eyes came to rest on the bloodied form of Naruto her eyes widening as she saw his tattered arm died crimson from where the chain had bitten into his flesh.

"Naruto!" She yelled as her eyes fell upon his bloody left arm. Without waiting a moment more she rushed over the body of the Mist ninja and began disentangling the chain from the blonds arm even as a mixture of anger and worry fought for control over her face. As she worked to pull the steel teeth out of Naruto's arm she turned a pair of moist eyes up to the blond her voice breaking as she began to speak.

"Baka, why did you do that Naruto….yo…your arm….Baka, baka!" She continued as she finished removing the chain and began to apply her glowing green hands to the injured appendage the wounds soon stitching themselves back together under her healing touch.

"Baka, Kiba come over here and grab my bag now!" shouted Hinata as Kiba rushed to her side where the continued to call instructions, "there are antidote in there find the one that smells like the poison you smelled on the chain." She continued in a tone that had Kiba soon rifling through Hinatas bag pulling out vile after vile looking for the one in question as across from him Naruto did the only thing he could and fell completely silent as the two continued their work.

At the same time Kushina was almost frozen stiff by the sight of Naruto's bloody form. Her mind struggling to function as every part of her wished to do nothing more than pull the boy into her arms and run back to Konoha as fast as she was able...however she managed to keep herself from acting as she moved to secure the two shinobi before heading to her injured son. Whatever she wanted the truth of the matter was that Naruto was now a Shinobi, and despite her own desires at the moment Hinata was doing all that could be done, so despite what she wanted she pushed back her emotions for the time.

_Kushina damn it you can't help him now just make sure those bastards can't move then go to him. _She thought to herself even as she finished securing the pair.

Once that was completed she turned to see Hinata finally stepping back from Naruto who was making a disgusted face as he finished drinking some greenish liquid, his arm covered in tattered cloth but unblemished after Hinata's work. The sigh let the woman draw in a steadying breath as she moved over to look around at the three.

_See he's alright….kami thank you. _She though letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding before looking towards her son.

"Are you ok Naruto?" She asked dropping to knee beside the blond and laying a hand on his shoulder looking into his eyes as she did so. For his part Naruto gave his arm a small glance before looking back to her flashing a thumbs up with the previously injured appendage.

"Oh course Kaasan, I'm great thanks to Hinata-chan. Hey did you see me take on that Mist shinobi?" asked the blond looking excitedly up at his Kassan's face hoping to see a look of approval upon it. For her part Kushina did not disappoint as she smiled down at her Sochi's enthusiasm, most shinobi froze in their first real fight, but not her team.

Even as she smiled down, however, she also razed her other hand and rap it across her son's head with a loud cry of "BAKA" to mirror Hinatas previous words.

"Yes you were awesome Dattebane, but what were you thinking taking a hit like that? Don't worry me like that again or you're going to be running laps around Konoha when we get back!" she finished softly pulling the boy into a tight hug that the blond didn't try to push free from even as another voice spoke up for only the blonds benefit.

"**I'm with her seedling don't pull a move like that again!"** shouted Juubi settling for giving Naruto a headache instead of hitting him on the head.

_Ok, ok fine. Man is every girl like this? _He shot back as his other passenger let out a sigh.

"_Well from what I've seen….yeah pretty much. Still it's not like you had a lot of options, I say you did great, but then I could have done better." _added the voice with a prideful little chuckle as Naruto gave a mental grown before allowing his mind to wonder back to reality where Kushina had released him moving over to investigate the shinobi in earnest.

After a brief check Kushina sent off a clone towards the village with the location for the pairs pick up privately happy that they were only a few hours outside of Konoha's response time for this mission. As the clone departed Kushina moved back towards her team where found Kiba marveling over the twin gauntlets that the now identified demon brothers had been wearing.

"Hey Kushina-sensei can you help me store these I think we finally found a weapon that will suit me?" Kiba smiled up at her while Akamaru yipped excitedly as he jumped around the boy's feet.

"Hum…I think we can work with these. Ok Kiba I'll seal them for now, when we reach a place to stop we can work on cleaning them of that poison, wouldn't want you to mess yourself up with something you aren't immune to." Kushina said while pulling out a scroll tossing it to Kiba as she moved towards her other Genie and the client who currently was watching as Hinata was busy lecturing her son.

"Now Naruto-kun you're not going to do that again, are you?" said Hinata in a threatening tone as across from her Naruto seemed to shrink slightly under her gaze nodding across at the pale eyed girl.

"No Hinata-chan, I won't." replied Naruto in a submissive voice as she nodded once.

"Good, because if you do no more special ramen dates." Finished Hinata as Naruto's eyes went wide as he let out a small whine of fear.

"No, you wouldn't Hinata-chan, please that my favorite kind of date…please say you won't take the ramen." Called Naruto as Hinata crossed her arms the scene causing Kushina to shaker her head at the pair's actions.

_Man has she got him wrapped around her little finger, just like Hitomi, those Hyuuga women can be scary! _Chuckled kushina as she motioned her team to fall in. Soon enough the three fell in around her before she turned to face Tazuna who looked suddenly nervous.

"Now Tazuna would you mind telling me why there are Mist shinobi after your life?" started Kushina flaring a small amount of killing intent as she did so.

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A day after the events on the road found team eleven once more on the move. It seemed that Tazuna's true enemy was a man named Gato who was attempting to bleed his village dry. This bridge he was scheduled to build was to be the answer to that suffering…an answer that Gato wanted removed. So as he finished explaining the mission in full the group was left with the choice to abandon the man, or to work to save him and by extension his home… the decision took all of a few minutes as the team soon found themselves once more upon the road after a day's rest.

_So where are you going to meet me anyway? _ Questioned Naruto as he moved forwards through a slight fog his arms clasp behind his head as he looked idly into the nearby brush.

"_If Juubi is right then I think we aren't too far from where you are at now, can't tell you exactly were as there is all this stupid mist everywhere, but I'd say I'll be able to see you before too long." _replied the voice from inside his mindscape as Naruto nodded looking back around to his team still in formation around Tazuna as they headed along the path.

_Yeah it's everywhere what's up with that I thought this was the land of waves not the land of mist. _ Thought Naruto a little exasperated as another trail of it swept past his team making it appear as though they were inside the clouds rather than upon the earth.

Just as the conversation was about to continue Naruto suddenly felt his senses screaming at him a moment before Kushina's voice rang out inside the mist.

"GET DOWN!" cried the redhead a moment before Naruto found himself being tackled to the ground by Kushina as Hinata and Kiba dragged Tazuna down with them. As Naruto slammed into the ground he look up just in time to see a flying object pass just where his head would have been moments before cutting the air as it went with a horrible slicing sound.

A second later, with a sickening thunk, the object logged itself into a tree across from the group drawing everyone's eyes as the mist parted enough to show what appeared to be some kind of massive blade, like an oversized meat cleaver now stuck into the wood. Before they could digest this sight another movement drew their attention as a figure dropped to land upon the handle of the blade his back to them. The man astride the blade slowly turned his head around so that a face wrapped from cheek to chin in bandages could be seen below two burning black eyes that focused upon them. As the group was making it steadily to their feet the sound of cold cruel laughter emanated from the figure standing upon the blade.

"Well, well, well the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero, and three children." mocked the figure as he stepped off of his blade lazily grabbing his sword handle and wrenching it from the tree as he dropped to the damp ground before the group the blade twirling once before coming to rest on his shoulder as he smirked across at the five.

"Looks like you've gone into babysitting, such a shame they saddle someone like you with these brats who are trying to play shinobi. Still I guess you must have some skill left to deal with the demon brothers." He continued as he swung his sword from his back with surprising grace and ease to point towards them.

"Kushina-sensei who is that?" asked Hinata in a quiet voice as she Kiba and Naruto slipped into a defensive position around their client. Kushina in the meantime had moved to stand clearly in front of her team the slight ebb of the mist causing her red hair to wave out behind her as she glared across at the man.

"That is Zabuza Momochi, the demon of the mist, one of the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist. Or at least he was till he betrayed his village and ran off a few years ago." answered Kushina as she begin to send chakra along the seals in her armor causing them to burst into fiery golden light that with the red of her armor and hair caused to appear almost like a burning flame against the dull mist.

"I'm honored you've heard of me Kunoichi, as a matter of professional courtesy how about you hand over the bridge builder and I'll let you and your baby shinobi run on back to the leaf. No point in killing you and getting your husband after me if I don't have to." Zabuza said lowering his sword slightly as he addressed the woman.

"Like I need your offer, maybe you should surrender before I show my students just what it looks like to take down a swordsman of the Mist." responded Kushina plating herself firmly in front of her team as she spoke the words drawing a small smile to Zabuza's lips visible even behind his bandages.

"Not bad red, but don't blame me when I carve you to pieces!" called Zabuza as he swung his sword back up point across at Kushina even as the golden lite of her runes began to bleed out across her armor slowly swallowing the red and black of her outfit under a translucent golden shell.

"Team stay with Tazuna he may have back up, protect him at any cost!" shouted Kushina as the golden light of her seals gave one more pulse before solidifying around her leaving her ready for the fight ahead.

Her clothing was now covered by a second glowing set of golden armor that hung just a few breaths from her body though remaining affixed to it mimicking her as she lowered her arms to her side. The new plating still gave off the same glow as her chains which soon formed from her back clinking out past her amour to drape around. At the same time her red hair had come undone and was now flowing behind her interlacing with bright golden chains that seemed to swish back and forth with the red wave. As her students watched her arms rose slightly now sporting armored gauntlets that extended over her hands, including a single golden spike that they noticed was connected to another set of chains seemingly sprouting from the woman's arms as opposed to her back.

Zabuza's eyes glinted with a primal excitement as he gazed at the golden figure across form him, even as he began flipping through hand signs for his favorite Justus. Kushina, however, had other ideas as she slammed a now gold plated foot down into the ground sending small cracks out as she pushed herself forwards.

"I don't think so!" shouted Kushina launching herself across the field each step accompanied by a small impact that sent her forwards in another burst of speed towards the swordsman. As she neared both of her arms waved out the chains on either gauntlet springing forth into long golden lines that she swung inwards her arms crossing as the chains scythed across the ground towards the swordsman's legs.

As the pair of golden lines closed on him Zabuza kicked off from the ground leaping just as the chains crossed under him forcing a hand down into his pouch to fling a wave of curved shrunken towards the charging woman as he hung suspended in midair.

"Damn it!" he cursed as with a yank Kushina's gauntlets came up dragging the golden chains with them like serpents to swat away the projectiles as she drew ever closer.

With a flick of her wrists Kushina directed the chains to recede back into her gauntlets even as Zabuza landed once more. The next second the swordsman's was forced to bring of his sword up bracing his shoulder against the flat side of his blade to use it as a shield as Kushina impacted the other side with the force of a bull. The impact sent the pair skidding back before, with a roar of fury, Zabuza swung the flat of his blade up his muscles building as he hefted Kushina bodily up flinging her skywards as his sword came swinging around to crash into the ground at his back.

"Got you!" shouted Zabuza as he saw the redhead momentarily suspended, before flying through a set of sighs as three jets of water sprang to life from the nearby pond taking on the distended shapes of dragons before they flung themselves towards the airborne woman.

At the same time Kushina managed to right herself just as the three attacks closed in around her like the jaws of some great beast. As the watery jaws slammed shut Kushina's chains suddenly surged out formed a barrier around herself to take the attack. The next moment the water dragons swung the orb into the ground raking it across the field with a horrible grinding sound. As the watery beasts finally dissipated the impact flung up a small cloud of dusts that momentarily blocked the woman from sight.

As the cloud receded a golden glow became visible as the golden chains forming the dome slowly fell away showing the uninjured Kushina standing in the crater from the attack. Just as the chains receded there was a shiver of movement from behind the redhead as Zabuza appeared swinging his sword down with a victorious cry.

At the last second Kushina flung both her arms up in a cross guard the golden gauntlets across her arms pushing out becoming slightly thicker just as the blade crashed into them with a streaking sound that rang across the battlefield. Sparks flew as the blade slowly cut through the golden plates, but by that time Kushina had leapt back a few of her chains lashing out towards the swordsman forcing him fall back to avoid become speared by the golden assault.

As the two shinobi skipped to a halt each glared across at one another before Zabuza let out a manic burst of laughter as he swung his blade back in front of him.

"Yes, Yes, YES this is what I would expect form you Uzumaki, come and feed my blade!" called Zabuza even as the runes of Kushinas forearm glowed again forming her chakra in to another set of golden gauntlets she flexed once before glaring back at the swordsman wo continued so speak.

"It has been a long time since this executioners blade of mine has fought against your kind, but I must say you do, do your people proud." Zabuza called as he set himself for the next assault.

"You hold up pretty well as a member of the famous Seven swordsmen too demon of the mist." called back Kushina as the two charged one another once again the battlefield erupting once more into conflict around them.

The Genin who watched this could only stare open mouthed at the battle Kushina and Zabuza flung themselves fully into the melee. As Naruto watched Kushina smash a gauntleted fist into Zabuza's chest he found himself memorized by the tow before him.

_Kas…Kaasan is awesome! Hey where are you? You have got to see this! _Called Naruto within the open spaces of his mindscape even as Juubi found herself agreeing with the young man.

"**She is at that seedling; I must say that she does her people proud on the battlefield. Maybe she can teach you to forge your own armor someday, but for now keep your guard up just in case."** advised the Juubi as a slightly haggard voice that sounded like it belong to someone in the middle of a marathon spoke up.

"_Ah…ah man I'm on my way…come on Juubi steer me in the right direction will ya!" _shouted the voice excitedly as Juubi turned back towards the pool leaving Naruto once more to silently watch as the battle continued before him.

At the same time blasts of water and golden light erupted across the battlefield as the figures continued to engage one another Kushina skipping back as Zabuza's blade cleaved a chunk of her golden shield clean through leaving a jagged scar across her red armor as she in turn swung a leg up that caught the man just under the chin sending him staggering back a few paces. Taking advantage of the his Kushina rushed after him even as Zabuza allowed the momentum of the hit to pull him back from her strike as he spat a sharpened jet of water into the redheads face.

At the last moment Kushina jerked her head aside so that the needle like water merely grazed one cheek as she brought a pair of her chains whipping down towards the man, only missing his flesh as a pair of water clone rushed her from both sides catching the blows before exploding into small showers of water allowing the man a moment to kick back from her.

_Damn this isn't working out well, she is as tough as they say." _Panted Zabuza as he spared a quick glance towards the genin and his target biting back a swear as he did so_. I guess I'll have to try something else. _Thought Zabuza even as he was forced back as two of the golden chains pierced his sword forcing him to twist it to avoid getting impaled by the spikes that adorned them. As the chains sailed past the man spun a kunai free slashing down upon the links sending them falling away as he ripped his sword around before charging the redhead once more.

"Haku get our here and take out the bridge builder, while I handle her, kill the Genin if they get in your way, but kill that bastard!" shouted Zabuza a moment before he swung his blade around towards the redhead once again.

_Damn it! _yelled Kushina in her head even as she was forced to duck under the massive blade_, he has back up, I need to, _she began but was cut off as the blade swung up once more before slamming down forcing her back into the battle before her.

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Meanwhile across the misty battlefield a masked figure in the guise of a hunter shinobi complete with porcelain mask and darker clothing jumped from the tree line before taking off towards the Genie group hurling senbon as they came. At the attackers appearance Naruto pulled Hinata behind him a kunai already in hand that he used to deflect a pair of needles from reaching her even as Kiba used his claws to the same purpose. Akamaru was however, not as capable as a senbon soon found itself embedded into his hind leg drawing a cry of pain from the small pup's lips.

"Akamaru, YOU BASTARD!" roared Kiba as he charged ahead the wind of his chakra swirling about him as he began to spin towards the oncoming attacker soon becoming a swirling twister that toor forwards across the clearing. With a sudden crunch the Inuzuka caught the hunter full force causing them for skip back across the ground a few times before going still. Just as Kiba skipped to his own stop he turned to see the downed figure suddenly crack and then shatter into ice as another flurry of Senbon rained down on Kiba two finding their mark in the teen's body. Kiba, however, was to enraged to even register the pain as he turned upwards spinning forwards once more towards the Masked figure who had appeared above him.

As the grey drill of an Inuzuka flung itself skywards the hunter suddenly summoned what appeared to be mirror made of ice before them. The next second the hunter sand into the creation just before Kiba smashed through creation shattering it to pieces that blew around him. Then as if alive the jagged fragments stiffened before turning to point towards Tazuna suddenly blasting off towards the man only to be intercepted by a Kunai in the hands of Naruto, while Hinata had raced off to aid Akamaru.

As Naruto deflected the icy projectiles one managed to get past him cutting into his shoulder drawing a small cry of pain his lips.

A cry that was picked up by Kushina who allowed her concentration to waver for just a moment, allowing Zabuza to get a light cut in on her outstretched arm before her chains once more drove him back. The moment, however, did not pass Zabuza's notice who saw his opening at last.

_So you care for the little ones do you? _ Thought Zabuza forming a quick hand seal that caused two water clones to rise from the leftovers of a previous assault. Once the clones were completed each charged past Kushina towards the now unsupported figure of Hinata. Seeing this Kushina shot herself off towards the girl in an attempt to intercept them even as she cried out a warning towards the girl.

"HINATA INCOMING" she cried her words causing the Hyuuga to turn just in time to see the approaching clones, pulling back her sleeve to expose several senbon launchers Shizune had given her before leaving. Taking aim Hinata's free arm shot up to arm the weapons before firing off a full salvo of needles towards the oncoming clones. The first of the clones took three of the needles shaking once before erupting into a small splash of water with the second took note before hurling its blade like a giant shuriken towards the girl before another set of needles found him. Even as the clone vanished the blade struck catching the girl slightly on one arms and bringing forth a sharp cry of pain from her lips as a splash of crimson to leap from her arm causing her team to turn terrified towards her.

"HINATA!" came the cry of several voices as the girl grabbed her bleeding shoulder and turned to see her sensei pushing Zabuza back before rushing towards her even as across the field Naruto was doing much the same. Her eyes didn't focus on her sensei's figure however, but rather directly behind the red head.

"SENSEI!" was all she was able to manage before kushina felt a bite of pain in her back along with an impact that sent flying forwards as her armor broke under the blow. With a splintering impact Kushina hit the ground rolling to a halt just before student, just managing to rise to one knee to face who she knew was behind her.

With her now openly bleeding back to Hinata she could tell it was too late, Zabuza's blade was already thrusting towards her the tip already repaired thank to her blood now being swallowed by the sword. Everything seemed to stop for a moment then, as she saw the weapon approaching her a knowing that nothing she could do would stop it now. As her heart let out what could be its final beat Kushina found herself closed her eyes a silent prayer flooded their thoughts, praying that somehow the rest would be safe…and that somehow she could be forgive for failing them.

But then it happened, a thump…and then another, and another as the blow she was so sure was to claim her life didn't come. At the same second this crashed over her she noticed a few drops of something warm and wet hitting her face prompting her eyes to fly open in surprise….and what she saw before her made her wish that that heartbeat had been her last.

Kushina's violet eyes found themselves gazing into the sunset purple and blue eyes of her Sochi…her Naruto. As she overcame the momentary shock of this she noticed in horror the thin trail of blood that was even then dripping down from the side of his mouth. Crimson life that even as she watched gathered into a single drop before falling down his chin to slap silently upon the edge of Zabuza's blade that had erupted from the boy's chest its form already greedily drinking in the boy's life.

Then everything stopped. Whatever breath she had freezing in her though her mind retreated in horror from what she was seeing. Numbly Kushina found her gaze moving away from the blade and back into her Sochi's face till their eyes meet once again.

Memories then erupted before her, assaulting her as she gazed upon him; a small baby chewing on a rattle as he looked up at his smiling parents. A blond haired boy taking his first steps across their living room floor a look of concentration on his pudgy little face as her husband kneeled down with his arms stretched out with a look of happiness and pride upon it. A blond boy running from two girls that chased him around a playground laughing; while a small red haired babe shrieked happily at the figures. A teary eyed boy that sat on his bed looking back and forth between his parents confusion in his eyes. All these and more suddenly flooding her mind even as tear began to well from her eyes.

"S-sochi." she whispered in a broken voice as she extended a hand out towards her Sochi's face even as the light behind his eyes dimmed the lids falling slowly away from her as the body went slowly limp. Then with a jerk the blade was reached back from his form letting the body fall limply into Kushina's arms who drew Naruto's body closer to herself as if trying to will the boy in her arms back into life even as she began to shake unable to contain the pain now rolling across her. 

"Well I guess I was wrong, those fake shinobi of yours were good for something after all." called Zabuza in a mocking tone; even as Naruto's blood continued to drip across his mother and into the grass below dying it scarlet. With another vicious smirk Zabuza heaved back his blade ready to strike down upon the woman.

However, before he could move forward to finish the job a howl of complete anguish burst forth from Kushina. As he watched the woman cradled the mangled body of the blond genin in her arms her head thrown back in a cry of abject horror as the remnants of her golden armor shattered around her golden chakra poured forth from her into a swirling whirlwind of pure rage and sorrow.

Before the swordsman could react the whirling chakra coalesced into giant golden chains, the size of those found on cruise ships, before surging forth from the woman, in seemingly random directions. The great golden objects slashed outwards gorging the land and shattering trees as they carried forth the woman's sorrow. Before he could properly react one of these chains shot forward at him the impact smashing his blade to peace's before slamming him into the ground and raking him across the field in a horrible display of destruction.

But even that did not silence the woman's grief, as Kushina continued to howl holding her son's body closer to her body. Even as her voice began to wane, and her chakra chains fell to the ground breaking apart and disappearing she continued sob in agony holding fast to the body of her Sochi. Her anguished cry petering out into a simple amount of reaching sobs, and gasps.

A moment later under that cry Zabuza wrenched himself out of the crater he had been blasted into, his body horribly beaten as bits of muscle now shown clearly upon his back where he had been drug across the ground, his pain all that was keeping him conscious as he forced his body to move pushing back the pain that threatened to overtake him as he stepped towards his target.

"Yo…you bitch…th…that hurt." he muttered as he forced himself forwards towards the remnants of team eleven. The team itself was little better than Kushina at the moment, Hinata was all but frozen as Zabuza approached her sensei the girls mind trying desperately to fight what she was seeing even as it bleated desperately for it to not be true. With each step Zabuza took forwards she prayed that this was some kind of bad dream that she would wake up from soon….and with each step that prayer become more hopeless.

Soon Zabuza stood before Kushina again his blackened eyes looking down at the broken women before him even as a few trails of blood continued to drip down his body.

"For what it is worth," he spoke as he hefted his broken blade up once more, "he died as a shinobi should." He finished as he brought the blade down upon her, even as she raised held Naruto closer to her, unwilling to let any more harm come to him, even in death.

But just like the last time the blade did not reach its intended target. With a loud clang the executioner's blade was intercepted by a black rod that swung up to meet it the jagged steel of the sword now set against some kind of black material which pulsed with a faint purple aura.

At the sound Kushina found herself looking upon a glowing figure who now stood before her. He stood no taller than her own son had only moments before…his blond hair even waving out behind him like Naruto's had. His clothing even looked similar the jacket just a bit longer, and yellow, emblazoned with a great black tree across the back of it ten branches stretching away from the designs center. As her mind took this in a movement from the figure drew her eyes up where her mind once more stopped as a face she know look upon her once more.

"Oh no…Ka…Kaasan…Is he?" started the figure before her in a voice she had not dared to dream of hearing again.

"S-sochi?" asked Kushina in a broken voice looking between the blond boy before her and his twin in every aspect still nestled in her arms.

"**Naruto you need to get rid of Zabuza now! I'll think of something but you need to get rid of him!" **cried the Juubi to the Naruto she had been training for the past six years, the Naruto who had been born the night that a little boy had given a servant of Kami the idea to change his fate.

**OK DONE THAT IS IT FOR NOW, HALLE FUCKING LUYA! IT'S DONE. HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE IT FOLLOW, FAVE AND REVIEW. OH AND THOSE WHO ONE WILL GET THEIR PRIZE WITHIN THE WEEK BEFORE THE NEXT CHAPTER.**

**For the rewrite ya chap 5 went from 20,000 in one chap to 41,075 between these two…I guess I got a little carried away, oh well hope you like it and let me know what you think about me doing this to the whole work please. **

**Thanks as always.**

**Songbird out!**


	7. Chapter 6

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

I would like to give a shout out to those who have reviewed, followed and favorite my story in the short time it has been out. I can't believe I have over two hundred followers, and favorites, I'm blown away really thank you all.

Rest assured this chapter will spread a little more light onto what exactly the relationship between the two Naruto's is while also adding more insert evil laugh here. Also thank you again to all who participated in the last contest I will be having another soon. Also I am sorry if the last chapters fight scene was a little convoluted, it was my first attempt at one, and I have gone back and corrected it slightly trying to make it more stream line. With luck my next one will be better, and so on.

Also small point but the chapters will be going back to their original size, the last one was a direct result of me trying to keep my promise to revile that other voice and still cover what I wanted to. So back to the story.

**Chapter six**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_ (decided to change font so it is easier to tell let me know it helps)

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-The secret is out-**

Kushina found herself looking upon a glowing figure standing before her. He stood no taller than her own son had, and seemed to be wearing a golden glowing jacket with a great black tree patterned across the back of it, with ten branches stretching out from its base. As her eyes traveled up she saw a familiar set of eyes looking down at her from the mysterious figure.

"Oh kami Kaasan I'm sorry, if I had known I would have been here sooner." said the figure before her in a voice she had not dared to dream of hearing again.

"S-sochi?" asked Kushina in a broken voice looking between the figure before her and the boy still nestled in her arms.

"**Naruto there isn't time to explain he can still be saved, but you need to get rid of Zabuza now!"** cried the Juubi to the Naruto who now stood above Kushina; even as the redhead finally passed out due to exhaustion.

"_Kay Juubi lets do this!"_ he shouted in his mind.

Zabuza could not tell what was happening before him, one moment he was bringing the remains of his sword to bear down on his victims, the next someone who was almost a complete copy of the boy he had just squired moments before appeared, and was blocking his blade with some kind of strange black bar that glowed with an odd purple energy.

As he looked at the figure before him his highly developed senses began taking in the new arrivals form as quickly as possible. The figure looked so much like the boy that still lay in the red heads arms he would have sworn on his sword that they were twins. The same purple and blue eyes, the same height, hell even the same hair color. The differences, however, were just as striking while the first boy had been dressed in what he could only describe as an orange jumpsuit this new figure seemed to be coated by a strange energy acting as clothing. His body was defined by a black body suit with several glowing markings along it in the shape of leaves. On top of this what appeared to be a golden jacket sat giving off flakes of golden energy even as it waved gently in the breeze. The man noticed too that the boys skin seemed to be giving off the same golden light as well, and that his hair now had two golden horns that seemed to be formed from his hair.

Before he could see more however, his senses screamed at him to dodge as the figure brought another one of those strange black and purple bars towards his head in a horizontal ark. Zabuza leapt back from the attack landing a few yards away in a crouching position beside the hole that he had only recently crawled out of.

"Who or what the fuck are you supposed to be kid?" Zabuza called across the battlefield as he landed, his eyes never leaving the new figure.

Naruto did not react to these words turning his head once again to look down at the bloodied and broken form of what appeared to be himself still cradled in his mother's arms before looking back at the swordsman.

"you'll pay." naruto spoke in a voice barely above a whisper, even as his hands tightened around the two rods he held in his hands, and he called for his seeds to approach him.

"What?" replied Zabuza not clearly hearing the boys words over the continued sounds of battle coming from where Haku and Kiba were still engaged.

"I SAID YOU'LL PAY YOU BASTARD!" screamed Naruto as he charged forward even as several objects seem to faze into being around him. To Zabuza it looked as though the boy was now being trailed by a six balls around the size of a grapefruit all made out of the same black and purple energy as the bars the boy held. His questions did not last, however, as whatever the things were two had detached themselves from the circle they seemed to form around the boys back and were now rushing towards him at insanely high speeds.

"Shit!" was all he managed to say as he flung himself to the left avoiding the projectiles by just a few inches as he did so. Turing his head he saw two small craters from where the balls had impacted moments before, each looking like an explosive tag had just gone off. His momentary distraction cost him however; as he turned to locate his opponent again his face was met with the impact of one of those bars wielded by his advisory's golden fist.

With a sickening crack Zabuza one again found himself skidding backwards across the battle field. As he came to a halt he was barely able to rise before collapsing to one knee looking across as the two black balls wrenched themselves out of the ground to return their fellows behind the boy.

_Shit what they hell is he, he doesn't have a form but he hits like an anvil, and what the hell are those things with him? I've never heard of a jutsu like that before. Damn it I 'm running on empty as it is after dealing with that red haired bitch, I can't waist time trying to figure this kid out as well._ Zabuza's mind raced as he looked towards his opponent who had started to turn to face him again.

_Fuck this I'm not dying today!_ He thought before going through a set of hand signs quickly before the boy could reengage him. With a cry of Kirigakure no Jutsu the battlefield was soon covered by a thick cloud of mist enveloping his form as well as the rest of the groups. This caused the rest of those to halt their actions trying to get a sense of their location and that of their enemies.

"Haku we're pulling back for now!" called Zabuza threw the mist his voice appearing to come from every direction.

"Hai!" came a call back and a few seconds after that the leaf shinobi heard the sound of figures retreating over the lake their footsteps causing small disturbances as they rushed away.

As the figures retreated the mist began to recede from the field allowing those present to get a clear look at one another.

"**Quick Seedling get back to him before it's too late!"** called the Juubi urging Naruto back towards the downed form of his Kaasan who seemed to have fainted with his fellow still grasped in her arms.

"Right" called back Naruto as he rushed towards his Kaasan's downed form. As he reached her he almost allowed himself to pull back in horror at the scene before him. His fellow had been nearly torn in half by Zabuza's blow, even as he looked on he could see that the boy was not long for this world.

"_Juubi oh kami what are we going to do! I can't fix this!"_ Naruto shouted slowly becoming hysterical at what he was looking at.

"**Seedling just shut up and place your hand on him."** said the Juubi fighting back tears as she said so. Her body shook as she spoke even as her arms wrapped around her form, as if trying to hold herself together long enough to do what had to be done.

"_Ok Juubi-san please save him! Please."_ Replied Naruto as he bent down to place his hand upon the other Naruto's form.

"**Damn it, the damage is too much, I'm sorry seedling there's only one thing we can do."** replied Juubi after a moment of checking over the mutilated child.

"What! what is it, do it, whatever it is hurry." shouted Naruto in a voice thick with panic.

"**Ok seedling just hang on to yourself this wasn't supposed to happen to either of you."** replied the Juubi calling up the one ability that she still had access to, the only one that that man had not taken from her.

While all of this was taking place Kiba had been making his way back towards his team, when he spotted the figure approach the downed form of his Sensei. As he rushed forward in order to protect her, he found himself stopped cold as his eyes feel upon the mutilated boy in her arms, and the sour smell of blood entered into his nose.

"No, no no no no!" the boy started repeating as he fought to deny what his senses were telling him. Naruto couldn't be dead, he just couldn't. As he continued to fight the reality before him he turned his attention to the other figure as he approached the downed form of his teammate and sensei and nearly yelled out in shock. He looked just like Naruto, well if Naruto glowed, but still he looked just like him. As the poor boy tried to make sense of this his eyes continued to dart back and forth between the two Narutos even as his mind tried and failed to explain what he was seeing before him. As he watched the glowing Naruto knelt down and placed his hand upon the mangled Naruto.

The final member of the leaf team Hinata was in a state of shock. She had witnessed not only her Sensei horribly wounded in front of her, but had also just witnessed her first friend turned love fall limp after a blade had burst out of his chest. She had watched as his body fell limply into his mother's arms, and her mind recoiled in horror. As her mind raced she felt her heart break in her chest, and as Zabuza's sword had descended down towards the forms of her Sensei and her love to take their lives the girls mind had simply shut down, unable or unwilling to witness the loss of more than she already had.

So Kiba sat kneeling before the fallen forms of his team, his, the only eyes besides those of Tazuna that witnessed what came next.

Before him he saw the strange golden light from the glowing Naruto slowly spread out from his hand, and spread forth down the body of the mangled boy's form slowly creeping over the blood socked clothing, and to the tips of his hands, bringing forth a slightly reddish glow from the mangled body of the boy. As the red glow completely covered the form of the downed Naruto, dark black line began to appear all over the boys form spreading out to create an intricate spiral design that cascaded down the boys body striking a clear contrast between red glow that covered him. As the lines intensified Kiba suppressed a gasp as the mangled boys eyes fluttered open slight taking in the face looking down at him.

"Hey what took you so long?" Naruto choked out looking up into his own face with a pained little smile.

"Come on you know that we have a lousy sense of direction." chuckled the other breaking into a small sad smile of his own. As the downed Naruto looked down at his chest, his face too taking on a pained expression before looking back up at the other Naruto who was now standing above him. Seeing this the mangled boy forced his mother's arms away from him, and worked to stand even as he felt his feet become unsteady under his own weight. As he stood he could feel a creeping cold slowly spreading forth from his chest. As he looked down at his glowing form he saw a dark spot originating from his chest that seemed to be slowly spreading across the rest of his form.

"So does this mean what I think it does?" he asked looking back at the other Narutos face, with a bit of fear in his voice.

"**I'm afraid so Seedling, I'm so sorry but we have to act fast or there won't be enough left to save what little of you is left."** replied the Juubi as tears cascaded down her face. The two Naruto's felt a pang of sadness at this, both at what was to come, and the pain it was causing Juubi.

"Well then I guess we better get started, this knucklehead will need all of the help I can give him." spoke the Naruto who was slowly becoming less and less bright as time passed. Fighting to keep a note of light heartedness in his voice as he did so.

"**I'm so sorry seedling this isn't how I wanted it to be for either of you."** said the Juubi through her tears, falling to her knees at the base of her tree. Even as she spoke she saw the dark spot slowly working its way around the boy's body, slowly creeping up his neck as he turned to face the form of his mother and Hinata that sat behind him unconscious. As his eyes fell across the two a small genuine smile graced his lips as he turned to face the other Naruto.

"Well I'm not." he spoke clearly with no hint of deception in his voice, "besides" he said as the shadow crept its way up towards his lips, "I'm not going to leave them along right." he said as he stretched out his hand towards the other Naruto.

"No we're not." smiled the golden glowing Naruto stretching out his hand to grasp the others hand, "besides I guess we both had a good run, but everything has to come to an end eventually I guess." He said mirroring his fellows smile as the twos forms began to glow, as the golden light mixed with that of the red bringing forth a blinding flash of orange light that momentarily blinded those watching. From the light spoke the voices once more before both faded.

"Come on Juubi don't cry we knew it couldn't last forever, besides it's not like were really leaving so send us off with a smile ok." echoed the two boys voices simultaneously.

"**h-Hai seedlings, I guess your right but I wasn't ready for it to be this soon."** Spoke the Juubi drawing one arm to wipe the tears from her face and fight to form a smile to see the two off.

"That's more like it Juubi, just think now we'll be twice as awesome!" shouted the twos voices as the light meet its apex, and their two forms were completely engulfed in it. With a blinding flash the light erupted into a brilliant blast of orange that could be seen reaching up into the sky for miles in every direction. On toad mountain the great toad sage cried out in fear as the prophecy that he had given so long ago began to shake and glow before him rattling back and forth as a strange orange light began to engulf it. Even as his aged eyes looked on the scroll rose before him before unrolling and showing as two simple words beginning to glow and slowly fade away from their fellows as if eaten away by time. As the light faded around the scroll and it clattered to the floor the doors to the toad sages hall burst open as several toads shot forward to answer the cries of their elder. The elder toad sage only looked down at the scroll that had fallen before him mouthing silently wondering what had just occurred before him. Even as the toads rushed forward the elders mind could only think what those two simple words could mean for their world, such simple words "either" and "or" how could they change things so.

Back in Wave the blast of light had finally subsided. As it faded it revealed that the two boys had been replaced by a single figure standing where the two's hands had meet. No wind blew and both animal and nature seemed to go silent for a moment. If one were to look around one could have sworn that the trees themselves were swaying of their own accord to bow forward towards the figures that stood in the clearing.

As Kiba watched this he could not bring himself to do more than stare open mouthed at what he was seeing. The new figure stood the same height of the previous two Narutos. His clothing had changed from either of the fellows as well. While he still seemed to be clothed in a full black suit, the color of the symbols and the jacket that adorned it had changed to a bright orange. As the figure turned to face Kiba he saw that his eyes were now completely purple with small spattering of black (1) throughout them all traces of blue (2) having seemingly faded from them. As he watched the small black balls that had before circled the golden Narutos' form descended to create a circle around the boy dancing about his form as if rejoicing in seeing an old friend once again after a long absence; before they moved too slowly faded into the figures back. If Kiba had been able to see the boys back he would have seen the Tree on the back of the jackets seem to shift slightly as upon six of its ten branches a single black ball appears as if hanging from it like a piece of fruit.

Tazuna was looking on in complete shock. A myriad of question raced through his mind as had watched the battle between the Shinobi, but now he was frozen in shock at what he was witnessing. He couldn't put into words what he was seeing the boy he had seen die had appeared in glowing golden and driven off the shinobi with the huge sword, then the first boy who had been hit had started to glow a kind of red and stand up only for the two to join hands before a third new boy showed up! Even as he continued to look on the light slowly faded from the boy leaving him wearing a black body suit with an orange jacked over his forth the symbols on both fading until his garb no longer glowed, his hair also falling to lay delicately across his brow as a pair of headbands could be seen grasped in both of the boys hands, one drawn back with a red cloth, while the other was adorned with a yellow one. As he watched the boy looked down at the two headbands for a moment before tying one to each of his arms just above the elbow of both his arms.

The new figure turned to face Kiba full in the face feral looking eyes into those purple ones, and for a moment silence fell between the two. Before the new Naruto raised a single hand behind his head scratching slightly before breaking out into a familiar grin before speaking.

"Um hi Kiba." Naruto said privately hoping that the Inuzuka wouldn't freak out. This, however, was wishful thinking as the Inuzuka only raised his hand to point at the boy before him.

"W-w-what, w-w-who, how?" Kiba managed before he just broke down in to hysterical gibbering.

Naruto seeing this could only rub his head a little more before letting his arms drop to the side and start striding towards the poor Inuzuka as he tried to understand what was happening. Once Naruto was standing before Kiba he cocked back his fist still holding one of the forehead protectors before slamming the fist onto the top of the boys head, causing him to fall onto his butt rubbing his head savagely.

"Ouch, what the hell Naruto why'd you do that." Shouted Kiba not thinking and instead just letting his voice speak what his mind had failed to grasp, that the boy before him was indeed Naruto.

"Well it was either that or letting you stand there and wet yourself again, like that one time in class." Naruto responded with a chuckle happy to see that his gamble had worked.

"FOR THE LAST TIME THAT WASN'T WHAT HAPPENED I JUST SPILLED SOME OF AKUMARUS WATER ON ME DURING LUNCH!" shouted the embarrassed Kiba even as he began to focus back on his surroundings once again. As he looked up at the smiling blond he found his voice dying away as the events that had just occurred came crashing back down on him.

"N-naruto is that really you?" he asked in a half scared voice.

"The one and only buddy!" replied Naruto stretching his hand down to help the Inuzuka to his feet.

_Oh and Juubi you can stop crying they're both fine, or I'm fine, or whatever the point is stop crying everything is ok._ Thought Naruto trying to comfort his companion.

"**I know my little seedling, it's just hard seeing them go."** said Juubi softly leaning back against her tree as she gazed up through its white and purple branches as the light that shown between them.

_Well they didn't really go, but I understand, just try and smile for all of us ok._ Replied Naruto softly.

"**I'll try my little seedling, I'll try, just take care of you team for now, something tells me we will have to answer a lot of questions soon."** finished the Juubi closing her eyes as she finished speaking.

_I just hope Kaasan and Hinata will be ok._ Naruto thought back as he finished helping Kiba to his feet.

"So what happened just now, and why were their two of you, and didn't you get stabbed?" asked Kiba as he looked Naruto up and down, as if hoping the answer would jump out at him. Naruto only raised his hands at this trying to calm his friend down before beginning.

"Ok Kiba I know you have a lot of questions but for now let's get the rest of our team out of her, Kaasan and Hinata need some treatment, and I can't do more than basic first aid." He said turning to the still stiff form of Tazuna as he finished.

"Hey Tazuna is you house near here we need to get these two inside as soon as possible." called Naruto knocking the man out of his daze as he did so.

"Wah, I ya it's just down the road." Said Tazuna still in a compete daze at what had just happened before him.

"Good could you show us the way." Asked Naruto turning before Tazuna could answer back to Kiba.

"Hey Kiba if you can grab Akamaru I'll get Kaasan and Hinata-chan kay." said Naruto looking over at the girls unconscious figures.

"Sure but how are you going to carry both of them?" asked Kiba as he bent down to scoop up Akamaru, as the puppy offered a quiet yip in thanks.

"Well I can carry Hinata-chan pretty easy, so I guess my seeds will just have to carry Kaasan." Naruto said looking down at the redhead, even as he bent down to lift Hinata from the ground.

Before Kiba could ask what the hell Naruto meant by seeds the black balls that he had seen floating behind the one Naruto during the fight emerged from Naruto's back, and slowly floated down until they lay three on each side around the downed form of Kushina. As the boy watched small black lines that looked like tree roots began to spring from each of the balls, intertwining themselves with each other to form a link of bedding underneath kushina. As he saw the six balls rise they now supported Kushina between them on the small webbing of black lines that entangled below her; all pulsing with the same purple energy as the black balls that seemed to be Naruto's labeled seeds.

"Cool Huh." said Naruto smiling at the two figures that were looking at the event with slacked jaws.

_Who would have thought ninja were capable of things like this _thought Tazuna, as he proceeded to motion the boys forward towards his home.

_Ok I give up, Naruto said he'll explain it later I'll wait, if I try and figure it out on my own I'll just go crazy_ thought Kiba as he fell into step behind the floating form of his Sensei, as Naruto brought up the rear of the procession with Hinata slung across his back.

As they set off Naruto heard as small voice coming out of Hinata.

"No please no Naruto-kun, please." The pour girl murmured as she rustled slightly in her unconscious state.

"It's ok Hinata-chan, I 'm here, I'm not going anywhere." whispered back Naruto causing the girl to tighten herself closer to him as he held her, comforted by the voice she heard.

Meanwhile back in Konoha a certain blond hokage was sitting in the mission hall listening to his daughter complaining about having to continue doing D rank missions.

"Come on Tousan you have to let us go on a C rank these D rank missions are driving use crazy!" called Naruko while waving her hand around for emphasize.

"Naruko, as I've said before your Sensei is the one who has to approve the mission, you yelling isn't going to get you one any faster." replied the hokage in a half scolding half pleading voice.

"Come on Kakashi-sensei tell him that we are ready." said Naruko turning her attention towards her sensei who even now had his face buried into his little orange book. While both Naruko and Sasuke seemed annoyed at this Minami could only shake her head slightly at the entire endeavor wondering what the two expected at this point.

Over the past few weeks Minami had come to understand that however great a ninja Kakashi was, his teaching skills were lax at best. That wasn't to say that they were horrible, but it was clear to Minami that this was not where his strengths lied. He was a solider, a solo worker, and asking anything else of him resulted in a minimal amount of effort from the man. As a result Minami could not help feeling the only thing that kept the man from resigning was his own personal pride, not allowing him to admit to his own flaws.

As a result instead of handling the trouble with her sister he seemed completely content to simply take the path of least resistance whenever something like this happened. So as she turned towards her Sensei she knew the answer before it had even occurred to Kakashi.

"Hmm, well I think they are ready, it would be good experience for the team." stated Kakashi simply barely looking over the brim of his orange book as he said so. As he spoke both Naruko and Sasuke adopted confident smiles on their faces as they looked back at Minato who only sighed slightly at the whole exchange.

"Very well if Kakashi believes that you are ready then I suppose you should be ready for one, at the moment I don't have any that should work, but come by tomorrow and I'll have something for you." Minato said, inwardly smiling at the idea of his girls headed out towards their first C rank mission.

"Ok Kakashi your team is dismissed for now, how about you go and get some training in before dinner girls; tonight Mito will be home from the Hyuugas around eight so we can all go out together." He continued looking between the smiling Naruko, and the more subdued Minami.

Hm Minami seems a little out of it, I'll have to ask her about it later thought Minato looking down at the scrolls before him as another team stepped forward.

"Team Eight reporting for duty Hokage-sama." spoke Kurenai stepping forward before her students.

Behind her Sakura, Shino, and Yakumo all stood at attention. Over the past month team eight had been excelling in their performance. Sakura had caught the eye of Tsunade, and had been attending private lessons along with Hinata, before they were able to become official apprentices at chunnin level. At the moment her skills were increasing by leaps and bounds, and Tsunade had even hinted at teacher Sakura her own private strengthening technique if her progress continued at the high rate it had been.

Sakura had taken to wearing a set of pink arm bracers with her battle kimono and matching leg warmers that concealed armored plates for added protection. Tsunade had insisted that if she was going to be a battle medic her first duty was to be protected enough so that when her team needed her she would be available. (3)

To Sakura's right stood Shino Aburame. The boy had changed very little in appearance during her training. However, to assume he had not progressed at all would be a mistake. During his training he had been able to increase his hive capacity to twice that of just a month previously. Besides this his teammates had noticed him speaking up more and more as time when on. He seemed to want to be noticed more and more by those around him, but to this point he had not managed to find out how to.

The final member of the team stood directly to Sakura's left and stood just about the same height as Sakura. She was of a thinner build than her teammates, and her skin had a clear porcelain look. She was dressed in a simple white kimono top that ended around her waist. There her outfit continued into a small red skirt that traveled half the distance to her knees. Underneath her kimono she wore a mesh shirt as well as a set of white bandages after the same fashion as her master. Her brown hair still fell strait down her back, but her forehead now was adorned with a leaf headband tied with a read band. Her brown eyes never left the form of her sensei Kurenai. From the time that she had been a little girl Kurenai had been her instructor there to help guide her ability's, and support her, and for that the women had become her idol, and Yakumo had strived hard to make herself the greatest practitioner of Genjutsu in the same manner of her master.

The team had worked well together towards their own goals, and had bonded well over their month in active duty. Kurenai approached the Hokage's seat and placing down their completed mission report before reassuming her position before her team. As the hokage looked over the report his attention was drawn up toward Kurenai as the sensei cleared her throat.

"Hokage-sama, my team has proven themselves ready for our first C-rank mission, I ask that we be granted the next available one that would fit a Genie team." She stated with no small amount of pride in her voice. Minato was slightly caught off guard by this; he didn't think that the other rookie teams would be advancing as fast as his daughter's team had been.

"Unfortunately Kurenai the next available C-rank has already been spoken for by team seven. Your team will simply have to wait until another mission becomes available, that will fit with you teams skill level." replied Minato not seeing the small look of irritation crossing the women's face.

"With all due respect Hokage-san team eight has completed twice the amount of missions as team 7 in the past month, I would like a reason that my team is being denied the opportunity for more missions over team 7." stated Kurenai with a firm voice that made it clear she was prepared to fight for what she felt her team had earned.

Minato was once again unprepared for this kind of remark from the women.

"Kurenai while I do appreciate you efforts towards your students, but belittling other teams, is not the way to help your teams own advancements." Said Minato, looking at getting the women to back down, this, however, was not going to happen.

"Hokage, I am not belittling anyone by stating clear facts about my team's performance as compared to another. My team has completed a superior number of missions for Konoha, and have done so in the manner expected of Konoha shinobi, we stand by our record, and ask you if team seven can say the same." stated Kurenai losing patience more and more as the conversation progressed.

"Kurenai, I will say this very simply, team seven will be receiving the next C-rank mission, and if you peruse the issue further then you team will be stuck with D-rank missions for the forcible future do I make myself clear." Stated Minato adopting a toneless voice that despite herself Kurenai was unable to reply to.

"Hai Hokage we will be departing then, team eight was heading to training field fifteen." Kurenai said falling back into her solider persona turning to march out of the building, with a scowl marring her face. Iruka who was working in the mission office could only glance from the retreating form of team eight to Minato wondering why the man was so obviously favoring his daughter's team. Sure it was one thing to care for his children, but to start shaping his decisions on the village around them, something was different. What was the Hokage thinking in doing this, but before he could spend more time considering this the front doors of the office burst open, and the familiar form of the toad sage stood before the Hokage.

"MINATO WE NEED TO TALK NOW! ITS ABOUT THE GIRLS!" shouted Jiraiya in a clear panic etched upon his face as he turned his eyes to face Minato. Minato for his part felt his blood freeze at these words.

The girls, what's going on oh Kami what's this about? He thought before disappearing in a yellow flash appearing before his sensei, where he once again flashed away towards his office.

Meanwhile back in wave Naruto and Kiba had finally arrived at Tazuna's home. As they approached the modest two storied building the door swung forward to greet them. Out of the home stepped a blue haired woman with a welcoming face and simple pink dress. Her face held a combined look of happiness and concern as she turned her black eyes upon the precession in front of her. Her eyes scanned across the group before settling on Tazuna, and with a cry of happiness, she rushed forward to embrace the old bridge builder.

"Tousan your back!" she cried happily wrapping the old bridge builder in a tight hug.

"Tsunami." replied the man returning the hug for a moment before, holding the women a little away so as to get a clear look at her smiling to see her alright.

"Tsunami, you seem ok, how are things, is Inari alright?" asked Tazuna looking from her towards the house and back as he spoke. Tsunami nodded quickly in response to his questions before her eyes turned to see the rest of those present.

Tazuna noticed her shifted gaze and turned to see her looking at his escort, mentally berating himself for not concentrating on their wellbeing first before spending time with simple pleasantries.

"Tsunami hurry these people need to get inside now, I'll explain everything later, for now just hurry and prepare a room for the women on the top floor." Tazuna quickly instructed his daughter, before turning to face Naruto, "can you get her up there with," here he gestured towards the black webbing holding up the women, "those things?"

"Not a problem." replied Naruto before the seeds began to move forward carrying the relaxed form of Kushina forward into the home, and towards the room following Tsunami. As this was occurring the continued talking had been enough to start to rouse Hinata to waking. As she blurrily opened her eyes she was greeted with a sea of blond and orange directly in front of her, along with a voice she had feared never to hear again. As she continued to awaken Naruto spoke again.

"Ok Kiba lets head up and make sure Kaasan will be ok, my seeds can keep her stable for now but we really need to get Hinata awake to look her over." Naruto stated directing both of them to follow Kushina's form inside.

"Na-Naruto." Hinata said softly as if not daring to believe her own ears. Her voice prompted Naruto to turn his head slightly so that he could see the girl draped across his back, greeting her with a large smile as he did so.

"Hinata-chan, your awake, are you ok?" Naruto asked as he looked into her eyes those pale pupiles lavender eyes into the new black and purple ones of Naruto. Hinata however, was not comforted as their eyes meet. As lavender gazed upon purple and black a horrible feeling fell upon Hinata, and she began to struggle against the gentle hold of Naruto.

"Hinata-chan what's wrong?" asked Naruto trying to keep the girl from simply falling off of his back, concern evident in his voice.

"NO, NO you're not him let me go, who are you!" Hinata shouted as she landed a jyucken strike upon Narutos back causing him to drop the girl. Hinata rose to her feet, taking a few steps back from Naruto still not quite sure as to what was happening.

"Ouch, Hinata-chan why'd you hit me like that?" asked Naruto rubbing his back where the blow had hit, even as he turned to look at Hinata with a worried expression on his face.

"**Seedling the last thing she saw was you getting stabbed and dying, she has every reason to be suspicious of you."** Spoke Juubi for the first time in an hour, trying to help the boy understand what was happing.

_Right, crap how am I going to convince her that I'm me, wait Juubi do I look different, am I still blond, oh Kami did I shrink, please tell me I didn't I'm already the same height as Hinata-chan and she'd never go out with someone shorter than her._ Babbled the boy in a panic letting his imagined fears get the better of him for a moment.

"**And here I was thinking that you might become more intelligent after what happened, well I guess that's out the window, look just calm her down for now before she hits you again."** Juubi said interrupting the boys babbling.

_Hai _replied Naruto focusing back on a battle ready Hinata before him.

Meanwhile Hinata was having her own mental debate as she took in Naruto's, or in her view the imposter Narutos figure.

_Ok Hinata, think the last thing you remember is Naruto-kun…Naruto-kun being…being... but the memory of what had happened to the blond was still too painful to experience, so she simply continued. Ok but now I'm here, and someone is impersonating Naruto-kun, wait is that Kiba, no wait if that's not Naruto that's probably not Kiba either, but why would they be in disguises, what is going on, oh Kami please let everyone be ok. _ Hinata continued to try and understand her situation becoming more and more panicked as she did so, as the panic set in she lowered herself into a classic battle stance as she instinctively activated her Byakugan even as beads of sweat began to appear on her brow.

"Wow Hinata what's wrong Naruto compliment Sakura again?" asked Kiba stepping forward towards his female teammate not understanding the situation he was walking into. As he got within range Hinata lashed out instinctively missing Kiba only by the virtue of the Inuzuka jumping back with a small cry of shock.

"Hinata what the hell!" Kiba called looking at his teammate in confusion.

"I know you're not Kiba or Naruto so drop the act and tell me what you've done with them? Or I'll force it out of you!" she said sinking into a battle stance between her two male teammate, taking a stance that made her appear like an animal ready to pounce.

"Kiba, she doesn't know what happened she's just confused, just back off for now." said Naruto raising both of his hand up in front of him before slowly making his way towards the distressed girl. Hinata turned to focus on his approach glaring at the one who would dare mock her teammate like this.

"**Umm seedling I think she's actually going to kill you."** Spoke Juubi with a bit of concern in her voice.

_It's ok Juubi, I think I know how to help her, it's my fault that she is so scared I have to help calm her down before she ends up hurting herself_. Replied Naruto even as he continued to approach Hinata.

"**Ok seedling just be careful it's been a bad enough day already."** spoke Juubi with a touch of sorrow still in her voice.

"Don't take another step you imposter!" shouted Hinata focusing on the approaching blond her voice a mix of fear, anger, along with a small twinge of hope. Deep down away from her rational mind her heart was begging for the boy before her to be real.

"Hinata-chan it's me, it really is I promise you, please." Naruto said even as he closed in towards the girl with his arms still raised before him, only a few feet from the girl. He could see the emotions flying through Hinatas face as he stepped within a foot of her.

_Oh Kami she's terrified, oh Hinata-chan I'm so sorry, but it's going to be ok I promise._ Thought Naruto as he stepped towards the girl. Hinata was still a torrent of emotions, the battle, her sensei's injury, the boy she loved, apparent death, the soon to be death of her sensei, now the boy before her that was so much like her Naruto-kun…maybe. But before she could calm down she looked again into those eyes, they were just as kind as her Naruto-kuns _but they weren't his, they weren't, THEY WEREN'T!_ the girl shouted inside her head, as she thrust her left hand forward towards the boys chest.

To her surprise however, there was no resistance from the blond in front of her, instead her blow connected solidly with the boy's chest. She felt her chakra enter into the boy cracking his ribs and bruising his organs even as it did so. But that is not where her concentration was focused. As the blow had landed Naruto had taken his final step forward, and wrapped both of his outstretched arms around her. As she felt the arms encircle her she looked up into the boy's face and saw a small smile that reached all the way up to his eyes looking down at her. As she looked Naruto spoke.

"Hinata-chan it's me I'm so sorry for scaring you, but I promise I'll never leave you again, I promise." He repeated softly as he bent his head down to capture her lips in a soft kiss. Hinata felt the lips upon her own, and slowly felt the fear and anger begin to fade from her, as she leaned into the comforting grip of the boy.

_Naruto-kun…Oh Kami Naruto-kun it is you.. thank you, thank you for being real_. She thought even as tears of happiness fell from her eyes as she totally relaxed into the embrace.

When the kiss had ended Hinata simply sank into Naruto's embrace holding tight to the boy as if afraid that if she let go he would disappear her body shaking with suppressed sobs. Naruto only held the girl whispering soft comforting words into her ear as he did so.

"**So seedling when are you going to start crying, I know that blow hurt you quite a bit, and that hug isn't doing you any favors." **spoke Juubi with a smile upon her face, as she looked at the tender moment before her.

_Later Juubi, don't spoil the moment. _He fired back even as he winced slightly at the pain in his chest.

"Hinata-chan I'll explain everything soon, but Kaasan needs your help right now, ok." Naruto spoke as he gently detached the girl from his chest, and moved one hand to wipe away the tears on her face.

"Ha-Hai." replied Hinata softly as the two turned to enter the house following beside Naruto with Kiba shaking his head bringing up the rear. As they entered Tazuna directed them up towards the room that they had placed Kushina in. As they arrived on the second floor, they spied a door to their left open, and proceeded along towards it. As they entered, Hinata looked shocked at the strange bed of what appeared to be black roots that pulsed with an odd purple light that made up Kushinas resting place. With a reassuring squeeze of her hand Naruto lead her over to Kushinas side. As Hinata knelt down to observe Kushina the bedding as if sensing her intent moved to turn Kushinas injured back towards her while moving to support her body in other areas leaving the damaged area accessible.

Hinata moved to begin her treatment pushing back her questions until after she was sure that Kushina would be alright. As she placed her glowing green hands upon Kushinas back, Naruto and Kiba took seats leaning against the wall, Kiba having Akamaru in his lap while softly stroking the pups head as the two looked on at Hinata's work.

Back in Konoha Minato and Jiraiya were in a heated debate in the Hokage office of the Hokage. The two sat alone having dismissed the guards and sealed the room only moments after arriving, and the two where now attempting to figure out what could be happening.

"Jiraiya I don't understand I didn't think a prophecy could be changed, I thought they were simply a reading into a fated event, what could cause something to change that?" asked Minato trying to understand the situation they found themselves in.

"I don't know kid, nothing like this has ever happened before; prophecy's don't just change, it doesn't work like that. A prophecy can fail if something goes wrong, but in that case the scroll holding it just turns black. No, this is something else." spoke Jiraiya looking back at Minato.

"But what, the new prophecy seems to say that one of the girls is going to fall now, but it also says that two will rise, what does that mean, it's not making any since anymore." Minato stated.

"I know kid, it just doesn't add up, unless." said Jiraiya pausing slightly at the end.

"Unless what?" questioned Minato looking up at Jiraiya.

"Well kid we know both girls hold a part of the Kyuubi right." began Jiraiya.

"Right, but what does that matter?" asked Minato.

"Maybe that's the two will rise part, if one of the girls stopped being one of the containers for some reason, then the Kyuubi's chakra would go back towards the other meaning that one would hold both." said Jiraiya.

"Wait but if one of the girls lost their half that would mean." started Minato a look of horror upon his face.

"Ya, it would mean "one would fall"." said Jiraiya sadly, without meeting the blonds eyes.

"No Jiraiya I don't believe that, not after everything we have gone through for them, I am not going to simply sign one of them off on a hunch." replied minato rising form his chair as he did so.

"Minato this is the only thing that makes sense I'm not say to choose one, I'm just saying that one of them might be destined to fall." replied Jiraiya with clear sadness in his voice.

"destined, DESTINED, what the hell do you mean destined, you just told me that the prophecy has changed, something that has never happened before, who says we can even believe the stupid thing anymore." shouted Minato losing his calm demeanor.

"Kid this isn't just some prophecy this is talking about the whole world, we can't just ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist." replied Jiraiya trying to reason with the Hokage.

"That doesn't mean that we can count on it either sensei, its changed once already, who's to say it won't do so again." fired back Minato.

"KID YOU DON'T GET IT NO PROFICY HAS EVER CHANGED LIKE THIS BEFORE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT ARE KAMI'S COURT OR THEIR AGENTS!" shouted back Jiraiya.

"W-what?" asked Minato halting slightly in his ranting.

"Look kid the toad sage doesn't just make these things up he is just shown flashes from Kami's court, the only ones who can change their words are other members of that court." continued Jiraiya to a shocked Minato.

"You see what I'm say now kid, this is something big, look I don't pretend to know exactly what this change might mean, but we have to try and figure it out because whatever it is its big." said Jiraiya with a serious expression upon his face.

"Yes but we don't know what it means yet Jiraiya, and I'm not going to just write off one of the girls on a guess." replied Minato firmly.

"I'm not saying to do that kid, but I am saying we have to start watching thing more closely, because something is going on, and whatever it is, it will decide the future of the shinobi world." stated the toad sage before continuing their debate on the matter further.

What neither could guess was that the agent of Kami that had acted had done so in the interest of Minato's only son Naruto, who at that moment was watching as Kushina was just beginning to stir from her sleep.

Hinata had managed to repair all of the damage to Kushina, but she was still suffering from chakra exhaustion after that last blast she had released in her grief. Hinata said she was likely to be bed ridden for no more than a couple of days however, thanks to her Uzumaki recovery ability. Uzumaki's were known for replenishing their chakra at an accelerated rate, as a result they tended to have longer lives leading to the idea that they possessed some type of healing ability. In truth most Uzumaki's had simply master a simple type of medical Jutsu that allowed their chakra to accelerate their healing. However, at the moment all that mattered to the three Genin was the stirring form of their sensei. Kushina had been placed on a futon on the floor of the room Narutos seeds having withdrawn the black net and receded back in to Naruto's jacket causing more than a few confused looks as they did so.

As the redheads eyes began to flutter open, her gaze was draw immediately towards the purple and black eyes of the Naruto that was one of three looking down at her with concern etched into his face. As she looked into his face her mind seemed to wave back and forth between the events she had witness and reality. Zabuza's blade plunging through her sochi's chest, a second Naruto appearing out of nowhere to protect her. Her holding the limp form of her Sochi in her arms even as the life drained out of him. As these and more thoughts rushed through her mind a voice interrupted her train of thoughts.

"Kaasan, you're ok we're in Tarzana's home in wave, everyone is ok." spoke Naruto slowly trying to give the women something to simple to understand before moving on to explaining what exactly she had experienced.

"H-how..y-you?" Kushina began.

"**Well seedling I guess it's time for you to decide if you're going to tell them or not."** spoke the Juubi looking at the scene before her.

_Ya I guess your right Juubi, it's about time we let you meet them_. Thought Naruto even as three of Naruto's seeds rose from his back before shooting forward to rest on the foreheads of the rest of team eleven.

(1) fs71/f/2010/150/7/4/The_purple_eye_of_DOOOM_by_ new eyes

(2) .

(3) fs71/PRE/i/2012/223/e/6/sakura_haruno_movie_1_by_

**Ok I know there will be some responses to this chapter so I'll try and answer a few right here and now. Yes Minato did abandon his son for a prophecy, but things have changed. It is one thing to say I won't train my son in order to save the world and his life. It is another to be ready to sacrifice a daughter based on a prophecy that just up and changed on them, something that neither had even thought possible. Minato does have messed up priorities, but he is not heartless, everything he has done he sees and can reason is for the good of both his family and the village. After all it is better to have a son that hates you than have your home and entire family dead, or at least that is his view.**

**The second point I can see some question on is Naruto's powers, those will be flushed out more as time goes on but I will say that he will not be getting much if anything from the show. I'm taking him in a bit of a new direction, so no super eyes or sudden ability to bend all the elements like a god. Sorry gods are boring to write not going to happen.**

**Ok last point I'm entering a new little contest, during the Chunnin exam arc of this story Naruto will use a Summoning type of Jutsu. So guess away at what he will be summoning, I will give you a hint it will not be toads, slugs, or snakes. Everything else is fair game good luck. Winners will be given one of three prizes of their choice at the time of the contests end. Thanks for reading please comment. Also shout out to sugoi fyre, for getting me to write a better summory, here is hoping it helps draw in more readers.  
**


	8. Chapter 7

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

I would like to give a shout out to those who have reviewed, followed and favorite my story in the short time it has been out. I can't believe I have over two hundred followers, and favorites, I'm blown away really thank you all. It is crazy how fast this story is growing, thank you all of you.

Ok quick point I would like to say because I keep seeing it pop up in different forms in the reviews and PM's. Naruto will not be getting any I repeat any kekkei genkai from the show. I have seen this direction taken in almost every neglect fic I have come across, and I wish to do something a little different for my story, if you were hoping to see naruto is having one eye purple another red, while throwing all five elements and sub-elements, while summoning legions of animals then sorry not going to happen.

Ok so people are already firing off guesses one after another about the summoning, in the interest of fair play I will not be telling anyone if their guess is right or wrong this time. It will be several chapters till the summoning comes up in the story, and as a result if I answered every question I would effectively be giving you the answer through attrition. You are all welcome to continue guessing up till the very end, however, so as time passes feel free to keep up the guessing as more clues, or red herrings pop up. Yes I will be putting false leads in for the contest to try and make it a little hard, sorry but what's a game if there isn't some kind of a challenge. Also as mentioned the person will be getting one of three prizes to choose from. The prizes are listed below.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them, with that said onto the next chapter.

**Chapter Seven**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation_" (decided to change font so it is easier to tell let me know it helps)

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-Hard truths-**

Before any of the members of team eleven could do more than look surprised the black orbs had made contact with their heads. Naruto seeing this stood slowly and approached the door closing it securely and propping himself against it before his attention was drawn back to the room by a yipping noise.

"Oh Akamaru sorry I almost forgot about you." Said Naruto apologetically as another seed detached itself from his jacket and moved to plop down on the pups head. As it did so Akamaru experienced the same odd sensation of calming that had overcome the rest of team eleven. As the calming feeling flowed over the pup he experienced a gentle pulling sensation in the back of his head as though someone had placed their hands on the nap of its neck before gently pulling him backwards into darkness.

When the pup next opened his eyes he was in a large field, lying on what he thought to be soft grass. As he looked around he spotted his partner standing a few feet away from him looking around while conversing with the two females of the group.

"Um Hinata… sensei where are we?" asked Kiba as he looked around at his teammate and sensei trying to figure out how he went from sitting on the floor of the upstairs room of Tazuna's house to now standing in what appeared to be an open field in the middle of nowhere.

"I don't know Kiba, the last thing I remembered was some black orb flying towards me, and then I'm here." Replied Hinata looking around and catching sight of Kushina who was still sitting quietly on the ground her eyes locked on something in the distance. As Hinata followed her Sensei's gaze she saw that her sensei's eyes had fixed on the form of Naruto who stood directly before a great white tree that seemed to tower over the landscape emitting a strange sensation as its purple leaves pulsed slightly with an odd energy.

"So-sochi?" Kushina spoke with clear hope and sadness evident in her voice even as her eyes looked at the form of her son. As the rest of the team watched Naruto allowed a small smile to spread across his face before nodding his head towards Kushina and gesturing for the three to come towards him up the hill. As Hinata and Kiba started to move forward they turned back to see that Kushina had still not moved from her spot.

"w-what, wh-where." Kushina said again looking around her again trying to figure out where she was, and more importantly what was happening to her.

_Ok Kushina calm down panicking won't get you anywhere, now last thing you remember you were holding Naruto, while Naruto was standing in front of me at the same time blocking Zabuza's blow… but how could that be, and then I was in a room and he was telling me that I was ok and in Tazuna's home. Now I'm in some kind of field with my team with some kind of a weird white tree, with purple leaves. What the hell is going on here? _She thought looking back towards her team.

Before she could continue thinking however, she froze as she felt a strong presence right behind her. Turning her head slightly to the right she saw and elegant porcelain white hand gently lay itself upon her armored shoulder. As her eyes slowly worked their way up the hand and the arm that it was attached to, all the way up to the figure that was standing behind her. Kushina found herself looking up into a pair of deep black eyes that seemed both inviting, and threatening at the same time. A bundle of purple hair framed a heart shaped face that had adopted a look of both disappointment, and pity as they gazed upon the figure.

"W-who?" Kushina began before Juubi gently shook her head while looking down at the prone redhead.

"**I know you have many questions Kushina, but it would be best for everyone if you held them until everyone was together otherwise we'll be here all day." ** cut in the Juubi offering her hand to the redhead, with a small smile upon her face. Kushina was stunned by the appearance of the women in front of her, somewhere in her mind she vaguely registered that her appearance matched perfectly with the Henge that she had listened to her daughters describe to her during Narutos final. This bit of information served both to comfort and confuse Kushina more, but whatever the case she took the offered hand and allowed herself to be pulled up by the purple haired women.

"**Good to see that you're being calmer than Hinata-chan, I half expected you to attack me, the first chance you got." **chuckled Juubi as she proceeded to make her way towards the tree and the waiting members of team eleven.

The other members of team eleven except for Naruto were in the meantime looking slack jawed as the purple and red headed women made their approach towards their position.

_Wait that's the women that Naruto Henged into during the exam, what is she doing in wave, wait are we in wave, gah what the hell is going on around here I feel like I'm going crazy! _Thought Kiba while grabbing the sides of his head _Oh no you don't brain you stay in there daddy need you!_

Meanwhile Hinata was still in a mild state of shock after the events earlier, now adding this on top of it was putting the poor girl into another state of confusion.

_Wait isn't that the woman from the exam, what is she doing here, wait where is here last thing I remember was being in Tazuna's home and then a black orb, now I'm in a field with everyone and some purple haired women. What is going on here? _she thought looking over at Naruto with a questioning expression on her face. Naruto seemed to notice this as he gently took her hand while giving her another comforting smile.

"It's ok Hinata-chan I'll explain everything once Kaasan gets here." stated Naruto in a soft voice directing her attention towards the two approaching figures again. As they watched Kushina and Juubi finally made it to the bottom of the tree and looked around at the assembled team. As team eleven looked between Juubi and Naruto with questioning looks upon their faces, waiting for one of the two to start the explanation. However, before either could speak up Kushina's willpower finally collapsed causing her to leap forward towards Naruto carrying the unsuspecting boy to the ground along with her.

"Ack!" Naruto called as the red head grabbed hold of him crying as she did so.

"Sochi oh Kami Sochi is this real please let this be real." cried the mother while holding tight to the boy who was steadily turning blue from lack of oxygen. Kushinas calls slowly faded into a series of emotional muttering. Hinata for her part understood the woman's actions completely, seeing the boy alive was a shock at best, once the idea had settled in the only feeling that was left was relief, thus the present situation.

"**While I do find this moment heartwarming and all the seedling has already been through enough today between Zabuza and Hinata-chan over her." **piped up Juubi gesturing a thumb over at Hinata as she spoke causing the girl to go bright red remembering her previous actions.

This statement caught Kushina's attention long enough for Naruto to gently extract himself from his mother's grasp, and move to stand once again.

"Thanks Juubi." Stated Naruto helping to pull Kushina to her feet even as she wiped tears from her eyes.

"**No problem seedling, but don't you think it's about time you introduce me properly to your team?" **asked Juubi allowing a small smile to cross her face, as her words spurred the rest of the group to turn their attention once again upon Naruto.

"Oh ya, Kaasan, Hinata-chan, Kiba this is Juubi she's the nice lady that lives in my head." said Naruto smiling as he spoke not noticing that Juubi had stepped over and begun banging her head repeatedly against her try while muttering baka to herself over and over.

"What?!" shouted all three members of team eleven as Naruto finished his explanation. Juubi halted her activities for a moment to turn towards Naruto with an incredulous look on her face.

"**Naruto would you mind introducing me in a way that doesn't make people think that you have completely lost your mind, or is that too much to ask?" **said Juubi in a sarcastic voice.

"Hey what does that mean?" fired back Naruto with a hint of indignation in his voice. While the two were arguing team eleven were looking back and forth between the two trying to decide if they were ever going to stop.

"**It means seedling that you're not helping the situation by saying things like them, when they don't know what's going on." **replied Juubi while readjusting her hair out of her face to look back into Naruto's face.

"Hey that's what you are, what's wrong with telling them like it is?" Naruto said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"**It's not what you said it's how you said it!" **said the Juubi obviously losing patience with the boys attitude.

"Huh?" said Naruto crossing his arms and tilting his head to one side.

This conversation continued for several more minutes until Kushina finally lost patience in waiting for someone to explain their current situation, so with her usual level of delicacy, and with an amazing amount of restraint she addressed the two in a clam and respectful tone.

"WILL YOU TO STOP BICKERING AND TELL US WHATS GOING ON AND WHO THE HECK YOU ARE!" shouted Kushina gesturing towards Juubi, as she finished. Here voice caused both Naruto and Juubi to stop their argument, and swivel their heads to face her. While Kiba took shelter behind Hinata having heard that tone form his mother on more than one occasion.

"**Oh right, sorry about that." **chuckled Juubi as had a branch lower behind Naruto and wrap around his mouth to stop his retort before it could begin. This action caused the attention of the rest of team eleven of course which did not escape Juubi's notice.

"**Don't worry about him, he'll be just fine I promise." **Said Juubi waving her hand dismissively at Naruto as the boy attempted to bite his way free of the branch, to little effect. The team turned to face Juubi with questioning looks while she looked off slightly with a bit of a guilty look on her face.

"Anyway would you mind telling us who you are, and where we are, I don't remember being in a field." Kushina began. Focusing her attention away from her son once she was sure he was in fact in no danger.

"**Well Kushina, you may call me Juubi, as someone who once housed my youngest son I guess it would be easiest for you to understand the relationship that I have with you sochi here." **replied the Juubi looking straight into the women's eyes as her eyes slowly shifted from comprehension to fear as she took as small step back from Juubi.

"Wait the Kyuubi that would make you." said Kushina with a hint of fear in her voice.

"**Yeah my youngest does tend to be a bit hard to deal with, I guess I should be angry at you but I really can't blame you for listening to your elders on the matter of being a host." **said Juubi with a little dismissive shrug of her shoulders.

"But how, the Kyuubi, you, I don't understand?" replied Kushina with a puzzled look on her face.

"**Like mother like son," **chuckled Juubi with a little shake of her head, **"I suppose you've at least heard of the old story about the sage of the six paths at some point from the Uzumaki's?" **questioned the Juubi.

"Y-yes it was explained to me when I became the new host of the Kyuubi, the Sage sealed the rampaging beast the… the Juubi." spoke Kushina with a look of fear on her face as the words left her mouth.

"**And there we have it." **smiled the Juubi as she observed Kushina's shocked expression.

"Um excuse me Juubi-san but what are you and Kushina Sensei talking about?" asked Hinata stepping forward slightly. Hinata took a moment to gather her courage before looking directly into the Juubi's eyes, but what she saw there surprised her. Instead of a threatening presence there was a gentle smile upon the Juubi's face as she looked down at the young Hyuuga.

"**No need to be worried Hinata-chan, believe it or not I've been there to see you grow up, you have nothing to fear from me." **spoke Juubi causing Hinata to adopt a puzzled look on her face. **"Understand little one that I have been in Naruto from the first day of his birth, where I was sealed alongside my son on the night of the Kyuubi attack."**

"**But that isn't important right now, you asked what Kushina and I meant by the sage correct?" **asked the Juubi motioning for Hinata to respond.

"Ha-hai!" replied Hinata with a bit more confidence in her voice.

"**Kushina and I are referring to the old story of the birth of the tailed beasts as well as the birth of chakra as you know it, but the story that Kushina knows is a false one." **Juubi said turning her gaze upon Kushina, who looked like she had just been struck.

"What do you mean?" questioned Kushina.

"**Your story comes from the story passed down by the Sage, and he was told his by his Mother, and both failed to say that it was her that first brought forth my wrath upon her and her kin." **replied the Juubi looking around the group slowly as she spoke. Before anyone could voice another question she began again.

"**Long ago I was tasked by Kami to guard his fruit upon my branches, and I did so for centuries. Then there came a time of war among this world, and a women driving by a desire to gain the power to stop the conflict. So she climbed up my branches and stole the fruit and wielding its power took her place ruling over everyone. Her intentions may have been pure but the fruit was not meant for mortal hands and so I was tasked with taking that power back. So I battled her for ages, and when she passed I battled her sons. One day one of the sons awoke the power of the fruit and turned it on me sealing me into himself. Once there he used my power to give life to chakra to rip my power from me one by one and create my children that you know as the tailed beasts." **Here Juubi looked off into the distance a look of anger upon her face.

"**Then that bastard sealed me into the moon where I could not look after them, instead he just let them free into the world alone, where they fell one by one until they all are seen as nothing more than tools for war." **Finished Juubi with the hint of tears in her eyes. This did not go unnoticed by team eleven, as they could not help but feel pangs of guilt at hearing the story.

"So does that mean you're?" started Kiba looking more than a little lost at the whole situation.

"**I am the guardian tree, or in your peoples words the "ten tailed beast"". **Replied Juubi to which Kiba only looked more confused. Juubi sweat dropped slightly at this. **"Ok you know how Naruko and Minami have the Kyuubi?" **she asked looking at Kiba as he nodded. **"Well I'm like that only not as angry, fluffy or well-known get it?"** Juubi finished prompting Kiba to nod in response.

"That still doesn't explain how you got into my Sochi." Piped up Kushina after recovering from what she had just heard.

"**Well your third hokage decided to take all three of your children for the sealing, and the Shinigami decided to let me out of the moon, and let me set up shop here." **replied Juubi motioning to the field around them.

"So where is here?" responding to the Juubi's gesture.

"**Well this is inside his mindscape." **replied Juubi gesturing back at Naruto who had finally managed to break free of the tree branch.

"Ya dattebayo this is all in my head pretty neat right!" said Naruto excitedly.

"Wait.. wait… wait if you have been in my Sochi's head for so long why am I just now finding out about this?" asked Kushina staring directly into the Juubi's face.

"**Naruto, I'd like you to go and take Hinata-chan and Kiba-kun away for a bit there is something I have to talk to your mother about in private, ok." **said Juubi in a calm commanding tone. Naruto hearing that tone decided it was best to head out for now, and gestured for the two to follow him off from the hill to give the two women some more privacy. Once the three were out of earshot, Juubi turned her attention back to Kushina.

"**Well Kushina the reason you didn't realize I was here was because until recently you weren't exactly part of your Sochi's life, were you?" **spoke Juubi, with a tone that was not judgmental, but not comforting either. Her words hit Kushina like a blow to the face. For a moment Kushina was about to fall in on herself once again, but managed to hold on. Now was not the time to start falling to pieces on herself, she had promised that she was going to face her mistakes and move forward.

"No… no I wasn't." replied Kushina softly. Juubi could not help but be a little pleased with Kushinas attitude, just a few months previously she would have argued the point, and try and defend her actions, at least now she seemed willing to own her mistakes, and try and move forward. With that in mind Juubi moved forward slightly to lay her hand upon Kushina's shoulder prompting the redhead to look back up into her eyes.

"**Kushina I'm not here to berate you for your time as a mother, or your past with Naruto, but I am not going to lie to you either, so if you don't want to talk about this I will understand, but if you want to know the truth then it is going to be hard." **stated Juubi firmly locking eyes with Kushina as she did so.

After a few moments Kushina nodded slowly, "Yes I'm sure, I'm tired of running away from my failures." replied Kushina softly.

"**Alright then, while I was in your son since birth, I first interacted with him on his sixth birthday." **began Juubi noticing the fear in Kushina's eyes as she spoke, **"Yes Kushina the night you and Minato told him he wasn't going to be starting his training with his sisters like you had promised him. He was confused, scared, and didn't understand what was happening to him, his faith in you and Minato was wavering and as a result I stepped in to try and keep the boy form falling apart on himself." **continued Juubi even as guilt continued to pile onto Kushina.

"**That night Naruto and I talked about him and I leaving to train for a while, but he wouldn't hear of it. He refused to leave his family even for the prospect of power, or his own advancement." **continued Juubi noticing a small smile of pride spreading across Kushina's face at the idea of her son's actions, even as sham at her own continued to be present.

"**I swear the boy can be so stubborn." **chuckled the Juubi.

"Ya I guess he gets that from me." replied Kushina with a slight chuckle of her own.

"**Anyway I couldn't get him to follow me, but I couldn't let him stay, and get himself hurt waiting for you and your husband to wake up. So I had to improvise." ** Juubi finished with a little shrug of her shoulders.

"Improvise?" said Kushina questioningly.

"**Ya well remember how I said the sage used my power to split my chakra from me and gave it life?" **asked Juubi as Kushina nodded back.

"**Well I kind of spitnaruotintothatnightandtookoneofftotrainwithmewhiletheotherstayed." **Juubi rushed through quickly.

"Um sorry what did you say?" asked Kushina.

"**I kind of split your son into two and took one to be trained." **Said Juubi while looking away slightly, trying not to meet Kushinas eyes.

"YOU DID WHAT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU SPLIT MY SON IN TWO!" shouted Kushina while grabbing the front of Juubi's battle kimono and shaking the women as she did so.

"**It's not as bad as it sounds really." **replied Juubi quickly as she freed herself from Kushinas grip.

"Explain!" said kushina in a voice only a worried mother could make.

"**Ok but let me finish ok." **stared the Juubi waiting for Kushina to nod before continuing, **"Ok that night I split Naruto and took one off to teach while the other stayed at home for you to teach. The two shared a link with me that allowed them to talk about their lives with one another, but they couldn't share training as it would intervene with each other. They…they got along better than I could have hoped really." **thought Juubi looking thinking back to that night six years previously.

-flashback, ha their back baby-

In Narutos mindscape some six years previously the Juubi had just split the boy into two separate beings. The two new blond headed boys sat blinking at one another for a few moments.

"Cool, you look just like me." spoke the naruto on the right.

"Ya you two this is so cool, hey this is awesome!" said the naruto on the left leaping to his feet moments before the other Naruto joined him. As the two began to play around Juubi could not help but give off a small smile at them. Before that is the two started to argue about which got to stay and go, which turned into a small fight.

After several games of janken (rock paper scissors) the matter was eventually put to rest and the boys found them sitting on the floor of their room looking at one another having decided who would go and who would stay.

-End of flashback-

"**So the two grew up separate from each other, but always in contact, until that is what happened recently." **continued Juubi, allowing a slight look of pain to cross her face as she thought back to the events that had happened this day. Kushina grew very quiet at this two, thinking back to what she had seen a horrible feeling spreading across her.

"So…so does that mean the Naruto I've known all along is…is." whispered Kushina with a growing fear evident in her voice as she spoke. Inwardly Kushina was praying that she was wrong, as she allowed her gaze to shift towards the figure of Naruto across the field.

"**I'm afraid Kushina that neither of those Narutos are around anymore." **said Juubi causing Kushina to whip her head around with a panicked look in her eyes as they gazed back at the purple haired woman.

"What do you mean? What happened to my sochi?" shouted Kushina as she faced the Juubi again.

"**Kushina I'm sorry the Naruto you know wasn't able to survive the hit he took from Zabuza, the Naruto I had trained saved your team, but wasn't able to save the Naruto you knew. I tried to save him but…but I couldn't, so those boys decided to fix the situation on their own, and had me combine them into one again." **she finished looking at the redheaded women before her.

"So what does that mean now." asked Kushina still wondering what exactly was happening to her son.

"**It means that the Naruto you have always known is still there, but he is going to be a little different than you might have remembered." **said Juubi seeing the small bit of hesitance in Kushinas gaze. **"Rest assured though that throughout everything both of those boys from the beginning to the end never stopped thinking of you as their mother." **The Juubi finished with a smile, noting a small smile form on Kushina's lips as she did so.

"So what will happen now?" Kushina asked. At this Juubi could not help but chuckle slightly before gesturing towards the three students who at the moment were watching as Akamaru was flying around their heads, one of Naruto's seeds clamped in his mouth.

"**Well I guess we need to explain this to your other students first, and from there I guess we play it by ear." **said the Juubi with a little shrug of her shoulders.

"I guess we will have to Juubi-san." Kushina said turning to look at the figures of her team.

"Before that though I want to thank you." Kushina continued causing Juubi to turn to face her. "Thank you for being there for my Sochi when I wasn't." she finished with a sad little sigh.

"**No need Kushina-san no need, just make sure that you are there for him from now on." **replied Juubi with a smirk.

"Count on it." replied Kushina as the two started towards the rest of team eleven.

Meanwhile back in Konoha Minato had just left his office after the long conversation with Jiraiya finally coming to an end. Jiraiya had decided to head out see Tsunade and see if he could find out how she had managed to get Kushina through the experience of losing the Kyuubi the first time. Minato however, was headed home to meet his daughters, before taking them out to grab a bit to eat.

As Minato walked through the village he answered the waves and bow of the Konoha people that he passed while moving towards his home as he allowed his mind to wander.

_I'm sorry sensei but I'm not just going to accept losing one of the girls because of this prophecy, not if there is a way to save them. I just hope Tsunade is willing to help, she has seemed rather distant with me as of late, I wonder if it has something to do with Kushina. Come to think of it they both started acting the same around the time that Naruto pulled that tarp over the hokage monument. _As his thought fell on that memory he felt a clear bit of guilt hit him as his thoughts turned to that day, and what he had yelled at Naruto.

_Ahhh I still can't believe I said that to him, I'm starting to wonder if this prophecy thing is even worth what its costs. No NO Minato you can't just stop when things get hard for you, your first duty is to the village and your family. Even if Naruto and Kushina hate you it doesn't matter as long as they are safe…that's all that matters…. I just hope that someday they will forgive me for what I have to do for their own good. _Minato thought with a shake of his head, as he approached his front door.

As Minato entered into his home he saw that his three daughters were all in the living room, while Mito excitedly told Minami and Naruko about her day with Hanabi and the Hyuugas. Minato looked around at his laughing children with a sad little smile upon his face.

_Sometimes I wish I wasn't born into the shinobi world, all it seems capable of destroying lives. Just look at the Hyuuga family, brother pitted against brother in a desperate bid to prove who is worthy of being selected as the next Main branch member. And poor Hitomi attacked by a Kuma shinobi only an hour after giving birth to Hanabi. She lost the use of her legs from the attack, but I suppose that she considered it a fair price for protecting her child. This world of ours seems only to destroy people; I guess all we can do is protect what we can while we are here._ Thought Minato stepping forward into the living room to greet his daughters.

"Hey girls, all ready to go out to dinner." Minato said smiling as the girls turned to face him.

"Tousan!" cried Mito excitedly waving at Minato as he entered the room.

"Welcome home." Minami said softly with a little smile that did not reach her eyes. As of yet she still did not know exactly what to think of her parents. So she had simply chosen to stay open and watch to see how things would play out.

"Yo Tousan where are we going?" asked Naruko turning a huge fox smile upon her father's form as she did so.

"Well Naruko I thought we'd head out for barbecue how does that sound?" smiled Minato as he turned his eyes upon the others. All three of the girls nodded excitedly at this and ran to grab their shoes to follow their father out to dinner. As the family exited their home Minato gave a quick look up at the sky hoping that team eleven were safe, and that he and Jiraiya could keep the family form losing one of the girls.

Back in Wave

Team eleven had just awoken from their time in the mindscape experience. After Juubi and Kushina had approached them, they had attempted to explain most of the events, while trying to make sure that each member understood the importance of keeping this kind of information confidential. Juubi had bid them farewell actually giving Kushina a quick hug before she left while whispering a quick message into her ear. Whatever it had been it had caused the redhead to pause for a moment before nodding her head and whispering something back into the Juubi's ear that caused her to actually start to laugh as the team felt the pull and found themselves exiting the mindscape.

As each of the members of team eleven blinked and began to take in their surroundings Kushina let out an audible groan as the fatigue and her injuries made themselves clear to her for the first time.

"Ouch, if I'd have known I was in this much pain I would have stayed asleep." Said Kushina through gritted teeth forcing a small smile as she did so.

"Kushina-sensei you shouldn't move yet, I was able to help with your injury but you should at least wait for a few more days before you're ok to move." spoke Hinata as she leaned forward to push Kushina back down onto the futon.

"Hai-hai." replied Kushina as she laid back down at Hinata's insistence.

"So sensei what are we going to do now?" asked Kiba looking over at Kushina.

"Well Kiba I'll be up and active in another day or two, from what I've heard Zabuza wasn't in much better shape than I was, so we can at least expect he won't be active for at least another week. So in the mean time I want at least two of you with him at all times, one of you will remain here with me until I recover. Once I'm back in action I'll be stepping up all of your training, we have a month to spend here and I don't want to see anyone getting lazy on my watch understood." The redhead finished with as much energy as she could muster.

All three of the Genin nodded in response to this and moved to exit the room so that Kushina could get some rest. However, as they were standing Kushina reached out to grab hold of Naruto's arm before he could rise to his feet.

"Naruto, I need you to stay please." She said softly looking up into Narutos now purple eyes. The other two members of team eleven excused themselves from the room, as Naruto moved to sit back down beside Kushina's futon.

"Naruto… I need to talk to you, Juubi told me that she and you met on your six birthday." Kushina started softly.

"Hai, she and I meet that night I was really confused and she showed up to help me calm down." replied Naruto.

"I see." replied Kushina not breaking her gaze from the boy in front of her. "Naruto-kun would you be willing to do me a favor?" Kushina asked softly.

"Um sure Kaasan, what do you need?" asked a confused Naruto.

"Sochi I need you to tell me everything about your life in Konoha, everything that I should have known." Stated the redhead in a voice that was mixed with both determination and a hint of fear. Naruto started to look away but before he could Kushina had placed on of her hand on the side of his face turning his eyes to meet her own again.

"Sochi please, I need to know." whispered Kushina softly.

"Ha-hai Kaasan." replied Naruto, "I guess it started when I overheard the conversation between you and the Hokage, back on my seventh birthday." he started. As he continued Kushina could only feel a horrible weight of guilt hit her with every word she heard. By the end whatever doubts she had about her own failing were washed away.

Once Naruto had finally finished Kushina simply laid there a thousand thoughts battling to gain ground in her mind.

_He knew….he knew all along what we did, and he didn't say a thing! He watched as we chose to walk away from him, and didn't act to help himself, only every thinking of us…_

"Ho-how." whispered Kushina looking into Narutos face. Naruto didn't know what she meant so only tilted his head slightly as the response, trying to understand his Kaa-san"s words.

"How could you ever forgive me?" Kushina said, real wonder in her voice. After all she had done to her son, how could this boy who she had failed to protect from the world ever be willing to give her a second chance. Before she could continue, however, Naruto leaned down to capture Kushina in a gentle hug.

"Because you're my Kaa-san." Naruto replied holding Kushina as his words washed over her. This was her sochi, he was still alive, she had been given a second chance. All of these thoughts culminated and washed over her even as she returned the embrace of her son allowing small tears of happiness to escape her eyes as she did so.

"S-sochi, oh my maelstrom." She repeated over and over as she held Naruto tight, she had been given a gift, and she wasn't about to fail her son a second time, she would die before she did.

An hour later found Naruto, Kiba and Hinata all sitting in the kitchen having left Kushina to get some much needed rest after the day's events. Tazuna was busy telling Tsunami all about the events, and battles as she worked to prepare dinner for the group.

"You should have seen it, it was unbelievable, I was there and I still can't believe half of what I saw!" continued Tazuna in an excited voice, even as he took another swig from his jug. Tsunami could only shake her head at her father's actions, believing that most of his tale must have come from the bottle and not from the actual events. Naruto in the meantime was talking to Hinata and Kiba about his new appearance and memories.

"So if what Juubi said was true then you're like two Naruto's in one right?" said Kiba lightly scratching Akamaru behind the ears as he stared across the table at Naruto.

"I think so, since we were originally one person, I guess you can say that we are simply back to being Naruto again, but it's a little weird to be honest. I have memories of being in two places at once, and it's giving me a headache. Juubi said that this wasn't really supposed to happen, but it was the only way to make sure neither of us, me, we….. you know what I give up it's just how it is Kiba." replied Naruto with a comical little huff as he folded his arms across his chest.

Hinata could only giggle at Naruto's antics. At first she had been concerned and a bit scared that the Naruto that she had known and loved wasn't in fact anything like the real Naruto. However, after only a few hours it was clear that whatever had happened he seemed to be almost completely the same towards them. Really the only thing she had noticed was that he didn't seem to refer to either Naruko or Minato as part of his family; Minami was addressed formally as well but to a much lesser extent. Hinata could not help but think that for some reason this Naruto was not as attached to those three as the Naruto she had known, but as she couldn't be sure she simply decided to put off such thoughts.

"Um Naruto-kun." spoke Hinata drawing both boys attention. "I was wondering what exactly were those orbs you were using earlier, I think you called them seeds?" the girl finished.

"Oh ya they're awesome, come on I'll show you them." said Naruto leaping out of his chair and heading for the back yard of the home. Hinata and Kiba soon followed him out finding him standing a little ways away in an open field bordered by a small lake as well as a small forest.

Unbeknownst to the Genin Kushina had propped herself against the second floor window and was smiling down at her students as the conversed.

"Ok here we go." said Naruto as six black orbs shot out of his back forming a ring behind him that pulsed faintly with an odd purple energy. Naruto was smiling ear to ear at this while both Kiba and Hinata stepped forwards to get a closer look.

As they did two of the orbs seemed to detach themselves from the formation and float lazily towards the two placing themselves floating just before the other two members of team eleven. Kiba was a little apprehensive at the orb just staring at it while giving it the occasional sniff unnerved how it seemed to have no scent of its own. Hinata in the meantime had stepped forward to cup the orb in her hands finding that if was giving off a slight bit of vibration, and almost seemed to be pulsing much like a heartbeat. She also noted that for some reason her hands seem to tingle slightly at holding the ball, as if it was somehow pushing away her own chakra.

Going with a hunch Hinata proceeded to activate her Byakugan, which almost caused her to yell out in surprise when she caught sight of the orb through her enhanced vision. This did not go unnoticed to Kiba as he turned to see what the commotion was about.

"What's up Hinata?" Kiba asked stepping forward even as his own orb moved back to float behind Naruto. Hinata did not answer however, instead turning her gaze between Naruto and the orb and back again as if trying to will Naruto to explain what she was seeing.

"Naruto, what are these orbs made out of?" asked Hinata with a note in her voice as if she already suspected the answer.

"Oh figured it out already, I guess I should have seen that coming from you Hinata-chan." smiled the blond even as he moved to scratch his own head. "Well they are made out of my own chakra, that has been compressed over time until it can't be anymore. Juubi had a weird name for it but I just took to calling in chakra shaping." finished the blond.

"Chakra shaping, what's that mean?" asked Kiba watching as the orb flew back to join its fellows behind Naruto.

"Well you know how you take chakra and use it to make justus and stuff, well these." Here he gestured to the black orbs, "are just pure chakra compressed until they are actually physical." replied the blond unable to see the look of shock that had just appeared on Kushinas face.

"Wait so those are chakra, how is that possible, chakra can't be sustained like that, its energy, it disperse once it leaves the body." said Kiba looking at the orbs behind Naruto.

"Naruto, how can they be just floating there like that even the Hyuuga can only make chakra visible when they are continually pouring it out of themselves, and even then only for a moment without completely exhausting themselves." chimed in Hinata.

"Ya that's what Juubi said, but it turns out she has the ability to hold chakra in place, something about her having to guard the source of all chakra at some point, but anyway as long as I supplied and compressed the chakra, and use Juubi's teachings I was able to compact them into these." Naruto said gesturing to the orbs behind him with a large smile planted on his face.

"Wow so wait why do you only have six and not like hundreds?" asked Kiba looking at the blond.

"Oh that's simple I have to pour in a year's worth of chakra just to make one of these things." chuckled the blond. At this Hinata blanched slightly realizing what she had originally thought was true.

"Um Naruto-kun how much chakra is in each of those seeds of yours?" asked Hinata with a twinge of fear in her voice.

"Hmm you know I really don't know Hinata, I never really asked." replied Naruto scratching his head slightly.

Both Hinata and Kushina were looking at Naruto with just a twinge of apprehension now. If what the boy had said was true that meant he effectively had a full years' worth of chakra stored up in each of those seeds. Counting in the amount of chakra the boy could regenerate thanks to his Uzumaki bloodline, it was safe to say that each of those seeds as he called them was effectively the power of one a small army at the very least.

"Um Naruto what exactly can you do with those seeds now that they are formed?" asked Hinata.

"Well now they just come, out whenever I want them to, I'm still learning some of the things I can do with them, but I'm getting better so far I can only really make them form a few shapes." replied the blond with the same smile on his face.

Both Hinata and Kushina could only shake their heads at this. Naruto had effectively done something that most had considered impossible and actually created physical chakra that seemed to be self-sustaining, and responded to him. Effectively Naruto had unknowingly created small versions of the tailed beasts out of his own chakra, only lacking the freewill and personality of the actual tailed beasts. Naruto had effectively found a way to create demonic chakra on his own, and then completely control it.

"Um Naruto I'd like to try something if it's ok with you?" asked Hinata wanting to see if her idea was right.

"Ok Hinata what do you want me to do?" asked Naruto turning his attention towards the girl. Hinata responded by proceeding to walk over to the small lake and performing a quick series of handsignes. As she landed on the last of these she gave a small call of Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu,  and another Hinata formed out of the water and walked forward to stand in-between her and Naruto

"Ok Naruto I want you to send on of your seeds over to my bunshin and just let it touch it." instructed Hinata, while looking towards the exchange with some excitement in her voice. Naruto just shrugged at this and mentally commanded on of the orbs so it drifted over until it floated just in front of the bunshin.

Once the orb was in place the bunshin stretched out it hand to lightly place itself upon the orb. As soon as the hand touched the balls surface the bunshin immediately fell into a puddle of water, as though it was a puppet that someone had cut the strings on.

"Hey why did that happen?" asked Kiba looking at the exchange with a curious look on his face.

"Ya Hinata-chan why did you bunshin fall apart, I thought it had to take an attack before it fell apart?" asked the blond. Hinata in the meantime was looking at the puddle that had been her copy then back up to the blond with a hint of amazement in her eyes.

"Naruto do you know what your orbs do, they repeal normal chakra!" said Hinata excitedly, as she looked over at Naruto.

During this time Kushina was simply at a loss for words as she observed the demonstration in the yard. Thanks to her armor and the Uzumaki sealing arts they had been able to make a kind of physical chakra, but even that was a constant drain that if not for their stamina would have them out of a fight in no time. On top of that if what she saw was correct Naruto's seeds were capable of repelling other types of chakra they came into contact with by their very nature. That meant that effectively Naruto's new chakra was somehow able to dominate all other forms of chakra. If that were the case then most ninjutsus would be mostly ineffective against him, as long as he could intercept them with one of his orbs. Before Kushina could think more on the prospects of what she had witnessed she saw Naruto raise his hand towards one of the orbs as it changed to resemble two rods that seemed to be made out of the same black substance as the seeds.

"I can also change them into these, but I'm still learning how to use them in combat, at the moment I can't do much more than swing them like a kunai and hope to hit something." chuckled Naruto.

"Hey that's awesome enough for now don't you think, I mean you must be like some kind of a superpower kage level ninja now!" said Kiba excitedly while Hinata nodded excitedly in the back. Naruto, however, only laughed in response to the idea of him being that powerful.

"Me, a kage level you've got to be kidding, I'm nowhere near that." chuckled the blond.

"But Naruto-kun your abilities are unlike anything I've ever even heard of how can you say you're not that strong?" asked Hinata in a puzzled tone.

"Because Hinata-chan beside these guys I'm the same old Naruto as before, sure these things are powerful, but what good are they if I get hit by a kunai or can't keep up with the target, sure they are powerful, but I'm still just a Genin… I guess with these things I'm probably something like a special Jonin, but even then it would mostly be through surprise. If someone knew how to fight against these things I doubt I would last a minute against someone like Kaasan." replied the blond with a smile on his face.

"Huh, then why are you smiling?" asked Kiba wondering why Naruto seemed to be happy about not being kage level.

"What, cause I'm awesome and I'll get stronger in no time with training dattebayo!" replied Naruto causing the two boys to laugh out loud at the statement, while Hinata could only shake her head and mutter something like "boys" under her breath even as she cracked a smile at the scene. Kushina as well couldn't help but smile slightly at Naruto's enthusiasm, and feel a bit of happiness that at least it seemed she would be able to help and teach him something, to start to make up for all of her failings.

Meanwhile back in Konoha the Namikaze family was sitting around the restaurant table with the soft sound of sizzling and happy chatter emanated from all around them. Naruko and Minami were already busy putting some meat onto their skillet, while Minato was trying to get Mito to stop stealing the rest of the families' food with her chains.

"Mito I thought I told you no chains at dinner." Half chuckled and half scolded Minato as once again one of Mito's chains and snaked its way over to Naruko's place to steal a piece of just finished barbeque.

"Hai Tousan." said Mito with a cute little pout at getting caught in the act again. Minato only smiled down at his youngest, rubbing her hair affectionately until she playfully swatted him away.

"hey Tousan what kind of mission will we be going on for our first C-rank?" fired off Naruko, still excited about her first real mission.

"I told you Naruko, you'll find out tomorrow, there is no need to worry it's not going anywhere." responded Minato smiling at his daughter's enthusiasm. "By the way what did your team do with your free time after our discussion?" asked Minato wanting to get the girl talking about something else.

"Oh well Kakashi-sensei took us out to the training field, to work on team exercises, and then told us to work on our own skills, as he monitored us." smiled Naruko.

"Well it sounds like your team is working hard then, I'm sure that the next mission won't pose any issues for you, right Minami?" continued Minato attempting to get his final daughter to start talking to him more. He had noticed that around the same time that Kushina and Tsunade had become distant with him, Minami, has started to become more silent as well. The girl wasn't hostile or anything, she just didn't look at him the same way she used to, almost as if she was watching him.

"Well I guess we will just have to do the best we can with whatever mission you assign us." stated Minami in a soft voice. However seeing the concerned look on Mito's face at her tone she forced a cheerful smile on her face and continued "besides it not like anyone would be a match for our team anyway." She continued with a bit more life in her voice. This seemed to have the desired effect as Mito smiled again and began moving one of her chains slowly towards Minato's plate.

"I'm sure you will Minami, from what I hear from Kakashi you are becoming a wonderful kunoichi, and I shouldn't be surprised if we saw both of you in the chunnin exams this year." said Minato with a clear hint of pride in his voice. Naruko smiled wildly at this praise, but Minami looked much less excited than her sister.

"I think we may want to hold off on entering the exam for a while longer," Minami started drawing both Minato's and Naruko's attention. "We have only just started as Genin and our teamwork still needs some work before we're ready for something like the Chunnin exams." finished Minami popping a piece of barbeque into her mouth as she finished speaking.

_Besides _she thought _if Naruko and Sasuke don't stop competing with one another they're more likely to hurt each other before the enemy ever gets a chance to. Not that Kakashi-sensei would even notice, "Monitoring" ya right more like reading that stupid book of his._

While Minami was thinking this, Minato and Naruko were looking at the redhead as if they couldn't believe what she had said.

"Come on Minami there no way that we couldn't be ready, we're getting our first C-rank faster than anyone else, how much more proof do you need." fired back Naruko. As Minami finished chewing she turned to face her sister with a puzzled little look on her face.

"Your forgetting Oniichan's team, they started their first C-rank a few days ago Naruko, besides a C-rank doesn't say that you're ready for the Chunnin exams only that you're ready for some more responsibility as a genin team." responded Minami turning her attention back to the skillet to retrieve a new piece of barbeque.

Naruko just turned her head at this comment, not being able to come up with a counter argument to her sisters' statement. Minato in the meantime was about to say something when he noticed a glint of gold that had snaked its way over the table and was currently receding with several pieces of barbeque that had been on his plate attached to it.

"Mito!" called the Hokage momentarily distracted, as the three girls burst out into laughter at the look on Minato's face as he looked down at his barren plate. The rest of the night passed pleasantly enough for the group, and it was not until they were on their way home that something noteworthy happened.

Just as they were rounding the last corner to their home they caught sight of an oddly shaped bundle that seemed to by lying just outside of the Senju residence. As they approached they noticed that the bundle was moaning slightly, and shifting with obvious discomfort. Once they stood beside the bundle it became obvious that it was actually the curled up figure of Jiraiya, who seemed to have been beaten quite badly by someone before being left outside the front of the compound.

"Hey ero-sensei, what happened did you get caught peaking on grandma Tsunade again?" asked Naruko having seen the toad sage in this state once before when Tsunade had caught him peeping. Meanwhile Mito had extended one of her chains to lightly poke the downed figure while waiting for some kind of a response.

As Jiraiya rolled over, his eyes caught Minato's and Minato felt a sinking feeling in his gut. From the look his sensei was giving him his request towards Tsunade had not gone very well.

"Girls you go ahead home, I'll take care of Jiraiya kay." said Minato, bending down to pull the battered toad sage to he feet throwing one of the old man's arms over his shoulder as he did so.

"Hai Tousan we'll see you later." called Naruko as she and Minami steered Mito towards home.

"Ok sensei, let's go to the hospital and get you fixed up, and after that you're going to tell me exactly what you said to get Tsunade this pissed at you." said Minato before he and the toad sage disappeared in a flash of Yellow light.

**Ok chapter end, I want to thank everyone for their favorites, follows and reviews once again, they really make me want to continue with the story. I'll say this now, I will be showing more of Narutos ability's, but in combat, so be patient. Also yes I showed a different side to Minato in this chapter, just because he wasn't a great father to Naruto, doesn't mean he was an all-around rotten father, the two are not mutually exclusive. Thanks for reading I'm out.**


	9. Chapter 8

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

I would like to give a shout out to those who have reviewed, followed and favorite my story in the short time it has been out. I can't believe I have over three hundred followers, and favorites, I'm blown away really thank you all. It is crazy how fast this story is growing, thank you all of you.

Oh a bit of trivia while writing these I usually have a song on repeat playing. Not important, but the last three chapters have been brought to you by the lion king soundtrack….and now I'm onto the opening for Lorax…..horrible movie catchy as hell song. Not important I just thought it was funny how my writing seems to change depending on what I'm listening to lol.

Ok so people are already firing off guesses one after another about the summoning, in the interest of fair play I will not be telling anyone if their guess is right or wrong this time. It will be several chapters till the summoning comes up in the story, and as a result if I answered every question I would effectively be giving you the answer through attrition. You are all welcome to continue guessing up till the very end, however, so as time passes feel free to keep up the guessing as more clues, or red herrings pop up. Yes I will be putting false leads in for the contest to try and make it a little hard, sorry but what's a game if there isn't some kind of a challenge. Also as mentioned the person will be getting one of three prizes to choose from. The prizes are listed below.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them, with that said onto the next chapter.

**Chapter Eight**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-New first steps-**

"Juubi wants to know if you're trying to kill me Kaasan, and I can't help but ask the same." said a worn out and battered Naruto as he laid on his back in the open field behind Tazuna's house.

"**Hey don't bring me into this, I want to live to see my kids you traitor!" **shouted Juubi hearing Naruto's comment. Outside Kushina was looking down at her sochi with a large grin upon her face, even as her golden armor faded back into the seals on her armor. As Naruto leaned his head up he once again marveled at the intimidating pose that Kushina presented. Clad in her Uzumaki armor along with her fiery red hair she looked like some blood red Valkyrie of the battlefield. It also didn't help that she had a huge fox like smile on her face at the moment either.

"Oh does my poor Naruto-kun feel too tired to keep up with his Kaasan?" chuckled Kushina looking down at the collapse form of her son. Kushina had to admit that the new look did suit her sochi well. The new bodysuit with its leaf symbols made him strike a dominating presence. She had hoped he would have let the orange on the jacket go, but in his own way it seemed to suit him. She was still getting use to his new purple and black eyes. To her they were a constant reminder of what she had lost, but also what she had been given. The only other thing that had made her a little uncomfortable were the twin headbands that the boy had tied to either arm. While the red one had an Uzumaki symbol tied to the standard leaf, the yellow one was a bit different. It had what appeared to be a small tree upon it with ten lines acting as branches. When Kushina had asked, Naruto had said that each of the bands were gifts from the other Naruto's to represent them so that he wouldn't forget them. Like the eyes, these headbands were a reminder to Kushina, but like the eyes she had insisted to make them a tool to push her forward for her son.

That is how Naruto found himself having been driven both into and through the ground by his Kaasan's training. It seems that Hinata had been slightly off when considering Kushina's rate of recovery. It was only a day later that the group found Kushina able to be up and about, it turns out that during the Zabuza encounter she had exhausted her chakra supply in her grief, and once it had stabilized she was able to finish healing her wound in no time.

So once she was back into shape she had the team rotating two with Tazuna, while one stayed back with her a day to work on their training. Naruto had been chosen for the first training day, and things had been more interesting that either could have expected. Kushina had first wanted to start Naruto with elemental training, but it had not gone as expected.

-mini flashback-

"Ok sochi this is a chakra card, it should tell us what your element is so that I can start you training along with the others." Kushina said while showing Naruto a small white piece of paper.

"All you have to do is channel some of your chakra into it like this," here Kushina demonstrated the paper becoming very damp before glowing a faint golden color. "you see that it go wet this is because I'm a water element, the light comes from my special chakra, for suppressing." smiled Kushina as she pulled out another sheet to hand to Naruto.

Naruto took the piece of paper from Kushina and proceeded to channel his chakra through it only for the paper to curl up into a small ball. Just as Kushina was about to say that he had a truly strong lightening element, the ball interrupted her. It continued to collapse in on itself before turning solid black and emitting a faint purple glow. Before either of them could react a small black ball about the size of a marble was floating in-between the two.

_Um Juubi what's going on? _asked Naruto

"**Oops, I forgot this might happen, dealing with my type of chakra training has kind of changed your element to mine." **replied the Juubi.

_Wait, what does that mean? What's your type? _asked Naruto.

"**Well I guess you can call it demon chakra, you now wield the same kind of chakra as my children, so it really doesn't have an element."** responded Juubi while adopting an embarrassed look on her face for forgetting to explain this to the boy.

_So what does that mean for my training? Naruto said after a moment._

"**Um you won't be doing any elemental training if that's what you mean, sorry seedling." **replied Juubi now feeling a little uncomfortable, at the whole exchange. Juubi couldn't help but feel a little bad about what she had effectively robbed Naruto of, but as usually Naruto didn't see it that way.

_Oh well I'm sure Kaasan with understand, besides she can help me with the shape manipulation, I still haven't really figured out more than just the rods. _replied Naruto exiting the mindscape to look at Kushina who was currently eyeing the black marble with a bit of confusion.

"Naruto, would you mind telling me what this is?" asked Kushina gesturing to the small black and purple marble before her.

"Well it turns out that Juubi kind of changed my chakra type to her type so my chakra is all kind of like that now." replied the blond scratching the back of his head lightly.

Kushina felt a small pang of sadness at this news, as it meant it was one more thing that she had lost the chance to help her sochi with, but before she could think more the small marble floated up in front of her face. There it started to slowly circle around her.

"Um Naruto what is it doing?" asked Kushina.

"Um I don't know Kaasan, I really don't know what it's doing, I'll ask Juubi." replied Naruto.

"**Hm well I can say that you created a mini one of your seeds, so its effectively alive like they are, although it doesn't have much chakra, maybe a second year student at most." **stated the Juubi. However, this time it wasn't just Naruto that heard her, this time Kushina could also hear the voice, that seemed to be emitting from the small black marble before her.

"Um Juubi?" questioned the redhead.

"**Huh Kushina, is that you?" **asked Juubi genuinely surprised at this.

"Wait why can I hear you?" questioned the redhead.

"**Hmm….. well I guess if you had those sheets on you it might have gotten some of your chakra in it, so when Naruto brought it to life as it were, I guess it had a part of you in it, meaning that its linked to you." **said Juubi after a moment's thought.

_Wait does that mean Kaasan can read my mind? Crap she'll find out I was the one who ate her emergency raman, I'm so dead._ thought the blond boy.

"THAT WAS YOU!" shouted Kushina becoming incased in her golden armor even as her hair separated itself into nine brads and began to rise behind her.

"Oh crap, run for your lives!" yelled Naruto making a break for it with Kushina hot on his heels.

-end of flashback-

After Kushina had properly finished educating her son on the importance of not stealing they had set about learning the implications of Kushina's new little friend. It turned out they were only able to communicate over a limited amount of area, and that the connection was easily closed from either side with a little amount of concentration. Another discovery came when Naruto was running from Kushina, he found that he could sense the chakra signatures that were around the orb, as if he was the one floating behind Kushina.

Kushina had been amazed at this and insisted that Naruto experiment with the technique further, as a means for scouting and communication. She also said that he would be creating another two specifically for Kiba and Hinata, stating how invaluable it would be for them to all be able to stay in contact during missions silently. So far the only shortcoming that Kushina had been able to see was that the chakra paper that was required to create his new mini orbs were expensive, and only released in limited quantity, so creating them in extreme numbers was out unless Naruto and her wanted to empty their entire bank accounts.

So with elemental training out, Kushina had moved onto an area she knew she would be able to help with taijutsu. She had insisted that Naruto go ahead and wield his rods, stressing the importance of learning to adapt them to the whirling tide style as soon as possible. So for the past hour Naruto had been going through the stances. After that Kushina had insisted on some sparing between the two.

-Flashback…..sorry this will be the last one this chapter promise…..ya you're not buying it are you?-

"Ok Naruto-kun I want you to come at me with everything you have." said Kushina forming her golden gauntlets on her arms, but not engaging the rest of her armor.

"Ok Kaasan, but you better be ready to lose!" replied Naruto with a shout as his six seeds shot out of his back from their circle behind him. Two of the orbs proceeded to float before his hands and extended the beginning of his rods. As his hands griped the ends the orbs moved forward before separating themselves and floating back to join their fellows behind the blond. At this Naruto sank into a standard stance with the two bars held firmly before him creating an x before him.

As Kushina lowered herself into a similar stance but with her arms hanging loosely at her sides with the palms facing up, her fingers with their golden claws facing up towards her sochi. The two stayed motionless for a few moments before Naruto made the first move.

Crouching down slightly he rocketed himself forward, swiping his bars in a cross cut towards Kushina. Before the bar could connect, however, Kushina leapt over the blow, firing a pair of chains from her back as she flipped over Naruto causing him to dart right to avoid them. This was exactly what Kushina had planned however, as once the chains had impaled the ground they immediately began to retract pulling her down as she began to spin her arms outstretched with her largest chains extending so that she formed a kind of golden tornado heading down towards Naruto.

Before she could catch him in her golden chains Naruto had seen the impending attack and acted. As the chains approached all six of Naruto's seeds flew forwards creating a vertical line in the air by stacking themselves one on top of the other. The effect of this was for Kushinas chains to impact the seeds causing them to shatter, and the ends closest to naruto to fade out before they could connect.

Seeing this Kushina altered her spin so that she landed like a cat on all fours off to the left of her son, before leaping back to avoid an overhead swipe of Naruto's bars that smashed into the ground right where she had been moments before. As she skidded to a halt she saw the orbs moving to situate themselves behind Naruto once again.

_Hmm so there's a delay after all. _thought Kushina before she stood again looking towards her son and the woods behind him.

As Naruto sunk into his stance once again Kushina moved first firing off two golden chains from her gauntlets to the left and right of her son and embedding them in the trees behind him. As Naruto turned he saw that the chains had expanded to large hooks on the other end of the trees and were now uprooting the trees and Kushina pulled on them. Acting fast Naruto had the seeds fire off his back to form a protective ring behind him to deflect the trees as they were pulled from the ground and came rushing towards him.

"_Shit Kaasan isn't pulling her punches! _thought Naruto seeing the trees smash against his seeds. As he looked he could not help thinking he had forgotten something. As he turned around he saw that Kushina had jumped from the ground allowing her chains to pull her forward in to a flying dropkick that impacted his chest only a moment later.

The hit caused the blond to fly backwards towards his own seeds which seemed to sense his approach and converged to help dampen the impact. As Naruto came around from the hit he noticed that Kushina was also getting to her feet retracting her chains from the remains of the demolished trees.

"**Looks like she figured out that you haven't mastered your seeds yet, I told you, you need to trust them, they're a part of you just let them do what you want don't try and control every little thing, it only slows them down." **lectured the Juubi, admittedly liking the Kushinas approach to training, hands on was always a favorite of hers.

_Hai hai. _thought Naruto quickly focusing back on the battle.

Before Kushina could move to re-engage she noticed Naruto seem to relax momentary as the seeds gently lowered him to the ground. Before she could think further the six seeds spread out around Naruto creating a ring around him before firing off one after the other at her forcing her to proceed to weave in and out of the seeds that continued to spin around her attempting to make contact with her. Just as she was beginning to get use to the patter she caught a glimpse of orange out of the corner of her eye. Turning she found Naruto swinging one of his rods forwards towards her. Before the blow could hit her unguarded chest she brought a golden fist up to meet the rod. However as the gold chakra meet the black orb the golden energy turned an odd purple color before shattering as though it was made of glass. The gauntlet had managed to slow the blow slightly, which was all Kushina needed to be able to grab the bar with her own hand and reaching it along with Naruto forward before burying her leg into the boys chest, sending him skidding back again. The momentary exchange had cost her, however, as two of Naruto orbs had mashed into her back throwing her forward even as Naruto was thrown back.

Kushina, unlike Naruto though had the benefit of armor, which dampened the blow enough so that she was up on her feet before Naruto and already back on the offensive. Naruto had only just gotten to his feet and was looking around before he felt a large fluctuation of chakra behind him in the direction of the water. As he turned around she was Kushina standing out on the water her hands landing on a final seal as a massive orb of water formed from the water and flew above Naruto before dive bombing the boy. Before the ball of water could impact Narutos seeds had reformed their ring and shot up to intercept the blast. This didn't work out quite how Naruto had been hoping however. Sure enough the seeds acted to destabilize the chakra of the attack and the orb of water was now simply a large amount of water. The issue was that the large amount of water was now plummeting down on his head.

_Oh crap! _thought Naruto seeing the huge amount of water plummeting down towards him.

"**Nice going seedling." **chimed in Juubi barley able to keep a smile off her face as she looked at the situation before her.

-Flashback end-

So there lay Naruto beaten and soaked looking up at the smiling face of his mother.

"Well sochi-kun I can safely say that you're at least a special Jonin in skill but you're leaving opening with your seeds also we need to look into making more shapes for you." said Kushina adopting a lecturing tone.

"Besides that I'm thinking of working on your taijutsu some more." she continued bending down to plop down beside her son leaning back on her hands, while looking over and smiling at her sochi. Naruto was looking at the sky with a small concentrated look on his face, with just a shred of disappointment at his performance. Seeing this Kushina raised one of her hands to push back the wet hair from her sochi's forehead, letting her violet eyes look fully into his deep purple and black ones.

"But I have to say, you almost had me there a few times, if you hadn't known what your seeds could do I would have lost in no time." Kushina said smiling as she saw Naruto brighten considerable at her words. Naruto then allowed his newest mini seed to exit the inside of his coat and float up between the two, so that Juubi could speak as well.

"**I have to side with Kushina on this, speaking of which Kushina would you mind me taking him for a bit so that I can work on the shape manipulation, sorry but this isn't something that anyone else can really help him with." **asked the Juubi in both of their heads.

"Sure Juubi I think I've done enough damage to my son for one day, besides," here she looked over at the destroyed lawn, "I think we need to clean this mess up a bit, before we have to explain to Tazuna why we remodeled his yard." chuckled Kushina pushing herself up from the ground.

As Kushina and Naruto sat about towards their goals, in the leaf Minato was sitting outside of a hospital room that contained Jiraiya.

_Damn it Jiraiya what did you do this time to piss Tsunade off, neither her nor Shizune are even willing to heal you. It couldn't have been about the girls could it? No she has always gotten along so well with them, then again I have seen Tsunade stopping by to take Naruto over the past few weeks. I wonder if that could have something to do with it. Come to think of it, that started around the same time that Kushina and I started our fight, after the banner incident. Hmm I guess that might have made more of an impact than I guessed, but that still doesn't explain Jiraiya's condition. _Thought Minato leaning back against the wall waiting for a medical ninja to exit the room.

Just as Minato was starting to think that leaving to return home was a good idea the door to the room finally opened and a medical shinobi stepped out and noticed him sitting outside the door.

"Ah Hokage-sama, how can I help you?" replied the shinobi bowing slightly at the sight of her leader. Minato gently waved the gesture off, with a smile.

"No need for all that, I'm just waiting to hear how Jiraiya is doing." responded Minato.

"Oh of course, well he had several bruises and broken bones as well swellings when he came in, we managed to fix most of them, but he will need to stay overnight, it seems someone injected him with something that made him unable to receive sedatives, so he'll have to stay till the drug flushes from his system." finished the shinobi reading form her clipboard.

_Ouch Tsunade must have been pretty pissed to go that far, _thought Minato as he proceeded to enter the room after dismissing the medical shinobi who bowed before exiting down the hall. Once he entered into the room, Minato's eyes fell upon the resting, and bandaged form of Jiraiya lying on a hospital bed gritting his teeth obviously in a great deal of discomfort. As the blond stepped forward the toad sage turned his head towards the door his eyes focusing on the Hokage's form.

"Hai Kid, she really messed me up this time." grunted out the toad sage as he looked up at the blond hokage. Minato could not help put give a small smirk at the sages comment before beginning.

"Ya I guess she did what did you do this time, don't tell me you actually tried to grope her again?" Minato said with a note of humor in his tone. Jiraiya only shook his head with a glum expression on his face.

"Nah at least then it would have been worth it, all I did was try and talk her into looking into what we talked about." replied the white haired man.

"She did this over you asking for help that seems a little hard to believe sensei." replied Minato with a disbelieving tone, even as he looked down on the man.

"I'm not kidding kid; she said she was busy with her student, and getting to know her godson. I tried to get her to see that the girls needed her more, but that only seemed to piss her off. Then I told her to get her priority's straight, and well here I am, I just don't get it, she was acting like I was attacking her family or something." Jiraiya said looking up into Minato's face with a puzzled expression.

Minato only looked back at his sensei while mulling over what he had just been told.

_Hm from what he said Tsunade got angry when it came to focusing on the girls. She mentioned a new student, maybe that's it. I guess she would be defensive of her workers but this reaction is a little much for that. And her godson… Naruto again, I guess she has been getting closer to him, but why would that make her angry about the girls…unless she is siding with Kushina.. Damn it Kushina I know you're just trying to do right by our son but you don't realize what you are doing.. huh what am I going to do, if they won't listen to us then I might have to tell them about the prophecy… Kami this is getting more complicated as we go. _Minato thought as he turned to leave the room giving his sensei a little wave on the way out.

"Well I have to get home to the girls sensei, I'll see you tomorrow, I think we need to start considering telling Kushina and Tsunade about the prophecy, it may make them angry, but better them angry at us, than unknowingly hurting the girls, and the prophecy." said Minato as he exited the room.

"Maybe kid, but I'm not looking forward to what comes after that." Said Jiraiya softly as Minato disappeared in a flash of yellow light.

A few days later in wave, team eleven was just sitting down to dinner after a long day of work.

As they Tsunami went about placing dishes on the table, Kushina could not help but smile around at her team proud of the progress they had made over the last few days. Hinata had started on her second Mizu Jutsu, and was coming along well. Kushina had decided to teach the girl the whirling wall Jutsu to help her defend against projectiles better. The Jutsu summoned a disk of water in front of the shinobi that acted as a shield to oncoming attacks, but also doubled as a source of water for a follow-up offensive attack. Hinata had taken to the training well, and had managed to form a disk that could survive a few hits by the end of her third days' work.

Kiba in the meantime was working on both his wind release ability's, as well as working on a special project with Kushina that he wished to keep secret for the time being. He said that it was because Hinata and Naruto already had their aces in the hole, and he wanted his to be kept a secret for a bit longer, but Kushina knew he just wanted to surprise his teammates with his new moves. On the area of his wind release Kiba had successfully learned how to channel the attack into his clan moves, as well as channeling some wind to enhance his claws cutting ability. Kushina had decided to start working more with his wind channeling, working to allow him to actually create blades out of his wind chakra to be able to be fired off from his gatsuga. Kushina had also found out that Inuzuka's were able to channel their element into their canine companion, so she was also working with Kiba on having Akamaru get a hold of his wind element as well.

Her final student was making the most headway in his training, however. Naruto had taken to his taijutsu training with a passion, sparing and working on stances with Kushina as much as he could, before being called off by Juubi to work on his shape techniques. Kushina could not help but smile as she recalled Naruto running up to her with an excited look that day telling her how he had finally managed to get the next stage down, before telling her she better watch out during their next spar. Kushina also had Naruto created another five of the marble sized seeds, making sure that each of team eleven now had a connection to each other if need be. Besides this Kushina had insisted that Naruto send his marble seeds out to scout the town, getting a feel for their sensory abilities. It seemed the farther they went from the boy the less accurate they became but within a few hundred yards Naruto could effectively act as a shinobi sonar. Even Kushina couldn't hide from the boy when the marbles were on the loose, something she learned the hard way when she had been attacked underwater by his seeds where she had been hoping to sneak attack him from during their last spar.

All in all Kushina could not help but feel that all three of her students would be ready for the next bout of the chunnin exams if they continued to progress as they had over the past weeks. As Tsunami set the final dish on the table, a voice spoke up from over by the stairs drawing all those at the tables attention.

"Why are you all so relaxed, don't you know you can't beat Gato!" spoke a small boy no older than Mito wearing a bowl shaped striped had and overalls. His shouting caught the attention of all those present who turned to look at the boy.

"Hey kid, my team is awesome we won't lose to anyone!" replied Kiba as he gestured back towards his team with a jerk of his tum.

"You'll just die no one can stop him! people like you can't change anything!" fired back the boy with a look of anger on his face. As he finished this he noted that one figure at the table had set down his utensils and was looking at him with a confused look.

"What are you staring at don't like hearing the truth!" shouted Inari, as Naruto pushed himself back from the table, and turned to face him with a confident little smirk upon his face. Inari watched as the blond walked over to him before kneeling down in front of him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You see that's were your wrong Inari, cause you see I'm not going to die anytime soon." smiled the blond while closing his eyes and wagging one of his fingers slightly from side to side as if explaining something that should have been obvious. This made Inari angry enough to try and swing at Naruto's face trying to get rid of that smug look on his face. Without even looking Naruto moved his finger to catch the boys fist holding is slightly back from his face.

"Now what will that accomplish?" asked Naruto tilting his head to the side still with that same smile on his face, but with his eyes slightly open now. "Besides you should be happy, you see I'm here to protect you, and your family so nothing's going to happen to them, cause you see I won't let it."

"You can't change anything!" replied the boy angrily with small tears forming on the sides of his eyes, even as he tried and failed to meet Narutos gaze.

"Oh but that's where your wrong everyone can change things, they just have to be willing to, and even those who fail never truly fade, they stay around in us to inspire us. The only time we truly become powerless is when we chose to, and you see that's why I'll never die because I'm not willing to allow two people to be forgotten!" finished the blond as he released the boy and spread his arms wide in front of him. Inari could only gaze at Naruto not knowing what to say. It was how Naruto had spoken, like nothing in the world could truly stop him, like he could somehow will it to turn out how he wanted.

After the initial shock of the words faded Inari could not help but let his mind wander back to the man who had been like a father to him. The man who had always smiled, and helped everyone, the towns hero, and his idol. As those thoughts came the memory of the last time that he had seen the man. His broken form tide to a post, both arms lopped off, countless blows littering his form, while one eye stared out into his face. He remembered the smile he had seen on the man's face as he saw Inari, and for the first time Inari remembered the look he had seen, it wasn't fear, or sadness, it was pride. In his final moments the man was not sad for what he had done, not scared, he was proud even as the blades descended, and he looked out at Inari. He was proud to see he would live on through him.

As that thought entered the boys mind, a cascade of feelings descended over the boy, causing tears to begin flowing form his eyes even as he looked up into the blonds face. Naruto smiled back at the boy while lowering both his arms to rest squarely on the boys shoulders before stepping behind him so that Inari was now facing the table where his family, and the rest of team eleven looked back at him.

"So Inari, do you still think we can't stop Gato?" asked Naruto with a smile.

"No." replied Inari with a pool of courage building up inside of him.

"And do you see something here you won't be letting him take away from you?" asked Naruto as his voice raised slightly with the question, that same powerful confidence in it.

"Hai!" fired back Inari as the tears began to fade, and both his voice and courage grew stronger.

"So Inari what are you going to do?" asked Naruto now having an earsplitting smile upon his face.

"I'M GOING TO CHANGE WAVE AND ITS PEOPLE JUST LIKE MY FATHER!" shouted the boy his voice echoing around the room as he said so. This prompted the rest of the members of team eleven to smile happily at both Inari and Naruto, joined by Tazuna who had set down his jug with small tears on the edges of his eyes. Tsunami had placed both her hands over her mouth, during the conversation, fearing Inari's reaction, but had lowered them to walk over to her sochi, and kneel before him before embracing him in a tight huge. The two embraced while Kushina motioned for team eleven to leave the room to give the family some privacy directing them towards the back of the home. The shinobi rose and left silently from the room into the grassy field that now sat illuminated under a cloudless night and full moon.

As Kiba allowed Akamaru to run around slightly Hinata and Kushina looked back at Naruto with a small look of confusion on their faces.

_Naruto-kun, that wasn't like something you would have done before, have you changed that much. _Thought Hinata with a small twinge of worry that the boy she loved was changing before her. Kushina was also thinking along the same lines, but her thoughts were more on wondering how much of her sochi she truly knew. Hinata was the first to vocalize their concerns.

"Um Naruto-kun." The blue haired girl asked, causing Naruto to take his eyes off the moon, and direct his face towards her with a small smile.

"Hai Hinata-chan what is it?" asked Naruto in a happy tone.

"Well I was wondering, well you seem a little different is all, I mean what you said back in the house, it didn't really sound like you." Hinata said slowly looking at Naruto, whose smile never faltered. Naruto responded by walking over the worried girl before putting his arms around her before speaking.

"It's ok Hinata, I'm still the Naruto you've always, known, I've just gone through a lot, and it's shown me what matters in my life. You, Mito, Kaasan, and everyone else; I'll make this a world where we can all be happy cause that's the world I want to have." Naruto said smiling confidently. Hinata could not help but feel a little comforted by Naruto's statement. Sure it wasn't what he would have said a week ago, but it was clear that this new Naruto still loved his precious people and her; for now that was enough.

Kushina listening to this was also able to notice the difference. She had been noticing that Naruto seemed to have been more confident lately during training, but it was here she saw how much the change had really altered him. The old Naruto was loud and boastful, but it was a way to help inspire himself and make others around him feel better, but that wasn't the case with this new Naruto. Now it wasn't some empty boast any longer, now it was fact to Naruto. He believed what he was saying, and despite herself Kushina could not help and believe in him as well. Something about her sochi now made her willing to believe in him, no matter what he likely really would remake the world just so that he was happy with it.

With these thoughts she watched as her team moved around the yard playing with Akamaru, and laughing at Naruto's and Kiba's antics in turn. As the Genin mingled their sensei walked back to take a seat on the back pouch while allowing her eyes to slowly travel upwards towards the bright moon shining down upon them. Due to this she did not notice the small marble sized black ball that floated up beside her until she heard a familiar voice.

"**So Kushina what are you thinking about?" **spoke up Juubi causing Kushina a slight fright, as she was still not use to the disembodied voice yet.

"Oh hey Juubi, sorry I was just thinking about Konoha, and everything that has happened over the past few weeks is all." Kushina responded calmly looking out over the moon lit yard.

"**I see, you know I really do have to say I haven't seen Naruto this happy in a long time… I want you to know how much it means to him to have you back in his life." **Juubi continued an obvious sense of gratitude in her voice that did not go unnoticed by Kushina.

"Thank you Juubi it means a lot to me to be able to make him smile again." replied Kushina with a small smile.

"I guess I missed being a mother to him more than I realized." She continued allowing her gaze to fall on the blond boy who had just used one of his seeds to pull Kiba's jacket over his head causing the Inuzuka to fall over, and for him and Hinata to fall into a fit of laughter.

"**Hai being a part of your children's lives, to see them happy is one of the greatest joys in this life… It's funny but it almost made everything I went through worth it just to even have a moment with that feeling when my children were born." **Spoke Juubi in a wistful voice that seemed to pass like a gentle breeze over Kushina. The redhead closed her eyes at this hearing the same kind of hopefulness in Juubi's voice that she heard in her own whenever she dared hope about her relationship with Naruto.

"If you want Juubi when we get home we can try and see if you can meet your youngest sochis." said the redhead softly after a moment's pause. Juubi was silent for a moment after Kushina's words, seeming to mull them over for a moment before responding.

"**I think I'd like that Kushina, thank you." **She spoke after a moment her voice soft but with a clear note of happiness in it as well as hopefulness.

"You're welcome Juubi-chan." Kushina replied as she rose to her feet and stepped off the back porch towards her team leaving the black and purple marble behind.

_**Well Kushina I guess I was wrong about you, it seems Naruto was right to trust you…I just wonder if your husband still has a chance. **_Thought Juubi even as the marble floated gingerly back to fall into Naruto's jacket as he and his team proceeded back into the house lead by Kushina.

Meanwhile deep in an old mist outpost deep in the woodland area of wave a hunter ninja was looking down at the injured form of Zabuza as he lay in bed recovering from his last battle.

The man was littered with countless wounds ranging from chakra burns to a collapsed lung; truth be told it was a miracle that the man was even still alive. What was worse was for some reason he had lost the ability to channel chakra to his face for the last few weeks, making medical justus all but useless in healing his facial wounds. The hunter ninja could only look on helplessly at their injured sensei with clinched fist cursing their own helplessness.

"I'm sorry Zabuza-sensei, if I had only gotten the bridge builder this wouldn't have happened to you." whispered a soft voice from under the porcelain mask.

"Shut up Haku your whimpering isn't going to change anything, and take that damn mask off, it's annoying." replied the bandaged form of Zabuza without opening his eyes.

"Zabuza-sensei I didn't know you were conscious." Spoke Haku while pulling away his ninja mask to reveal a smooth face with very feminine features.

"Well your constant whining sure didn't help me rest any…so how long have I been out?" asked Zabuza turning to look over at his apprentice. Haku went silent for a moment not wanting to meet her sensei's eyes.

"Haku answer me." repeated Zabuza no longer asking but commanding Haku to reply. This caused Haku to drop her doubts and look back at Zabuza full in the face and begin speaking.

"Hai Zabuza-sensei, you have been out for two weeks, you died at least twice during that time before I could stabilize you, on top of that your chakra system is fluctuating oddly, and something seems to be suppressing or outright repelling it in areas of your body." replied Haku without letting emotion interfere with the report. Zabuza paused for a moment before chuckling to himself in a dark tone.

"Ha, it seems what they say about that Uzumaki bitch is true." Zabuza said in a dry tone even as his chuckling subsided. Haku only looked confused at this pronouncement prompting Zabuza to continue.

"They say that if you're hit by her golden chakra your own is suppressed in response, on top of that her damn seals all over her armor make it almost impossible to actually hit her with anything, and those damn Uzumaki's always did love their seals to much for my liking." continued the bandaged man still in that dry tone.

"Hai Zabuza sensei, but there is something else that bothers me, for some reason the chakra in your head doesn't respond at all, it's not like the rest of your body where its suppressed, there it's like it just doesn't recognize it anymore. Over the past few weeks it has slowly entered back into it, but even that has only been minimal at best." continued Haku hoping Zabuza could offer some explanation for this.

"Hmm must have been that kids hit at the end. I've never seen anything that matched what he was pulling out, he's probably the one who did it, but that's not important now has Gato shown his ugly face around here since I was out?" Zabuza asked tilting his head to look at Haku full in the face. Haku hesitated for a moment before looking back into Zabuza's face with a small nod of the head.

"And?" prompted Zabuza.

"After seeing you condition, he said that a baby demon of the mist wasn't worth his employment, and said if this was all that you were capable of then you might as well lie there and die because he had no further use for you." Stated Haku, as Zabuza's eyes narrowed at what he was hearing.

"And?" spoke Zabuza quietly in a dangerous voice.

"At that he moved to hit you, and I…I took his left arm off with your blade." Haku said gesturing to a far wall where the executioner's blade lay against the wall half reformed from the blood it had taken from Gatos arm. Zabuza paused for a moment before breaking out into a holler of laughter that reverberated around his base.

"HHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHHA, well done Haku, that is the student I trained, that bastard thought he could buy me… ha an arm is a perfect price for that smug midgets gall to try that." laughed the man for a few moments before calming down.

"So what is our next move?" asked Haku wondering what they were going to do now that they were definitely not going to be working for Gato anymore.

"Hmmm well I guess we just keep on the move, once I'm healed we head out and look for someone else to hire us, there is always a war happening somewhere." replied Zabuza looking over towards Haku.

However, before Haku could respond a sudden blast erupted behind the pair in the direction of the base's door. Zabuza having been looking up towards Haku caught sight of the blast moments before Haku could and with what little strength he had grabbed Haku's stunned form and wrenched him along with himself over the other side of the bed using it as a makeshift shield from the bits of shrapnel that had been flying like daggers towards the pair. Haku after the brief moment it took to take in the situation leapt over the bed in order to stand between Zabuza and this newest assault, drawing a few senbon in each hand at the same time. Zabuza in the meantime was leaning with his back against the bed looking down at his bleeding body, it seemed by moving to avoid the attack he had reopened a few of his wounds. Droplets of crimson worked their way down his form as he shakily pushed himself to his feet and turned to face whatever was heading towards the pair.

As the two mist ninja looked towards the wreckage of the front door they saw several silhouettes began to step out of the smoke all brandishing kunai that and wearing an all too familiar set of porcelain masks. As the figures entered Zabuza could feel a cold shiver run down his spine, he knew this was bound to happen someday, but one was never prepared to face their deaths, and even the demon of the bloody mist was no exception.

"So you found me at long last, I guess that fucking mizu brat finally decided to settle the score after all." said Zabuza looking towards the group of Mist hunter ninja that had just fanned out around the room. Haku in the meantime had moved back slightly trying to keep all of the shinobi insight while keeping Zabuza covered.

Zabuza's eyes darted over to the wall where is executioner's blade lay, too far for him to reach before the hunter's would riddle him with kunai before he could hope to reach it. His eyes continued to scan the ninja even as he saw Haku moving back towards him. The entire time not one of the hunter ninja had spoken a word, only moving slowly around the two trying to surround them.

"Hmm you guys were never much for conversation," stared Zabuza allowing what chakra he could to begin to build within him, pushing past the pain that threatened to pull him to the ground at any moment, "but I hope you're ready because you're about to learn what happens when YOU CORNER A DEMON!" finished Zabuza with a roar as he launched himself towards the hunter ninja with Haku following behind him.

From the outside of the base one could hear to the sounds of combat inside beginning, and what appeared to me dozens of masked figures emerging from the trees and undergrowth all around the hideout, all with those faceless porcelain masks, all turning to move towards the building where their objective lay. As the sounds of battle slowly died down the crowd of hunter ninja descended upon the base like a great flock of white faced birds of prey, with single minded focus.

After a few moments there was silence in the base, and the forest followed suit soon after, as the flock of hunter ninjas departed with their prize in tow.

A week had passed since the confrontation at Tazuna's home, and at that moment Naruto and Hinata were walking down the village street with Tazuna between them headed towards the bridge. Today was Kiba's training day, and he had almost fallen over himself getting out the door dragging Kushina along with him to train.

Tazuna had announced that the bridge was just about finished, and Hinata and Naruto were both excited about seeing an end to this mission. Sure it had been their first time out of the village, however, it had also been a long time since they had seen their home, and they were beginning to miss Konoha, and their friends there. So as they neared the bridge the two were animatedly discussing their return.

"So Hinata-chan do you think we should take Hanabi and Mito out when we get back, knowing them they won't want to let us out of their sight once we get back." chuckled Naruto looking over at the smiling girl.

"Hai, I think that's a good idea, knowing otouto he will need saving from your imouto." giggled Hinata picturing the two kids antics.

"I guess you're right, still we need to get them a souvenir or we'll never here the end of it." replied Naruto with a smile of his own just as they approached the edge of the bridge. Once they arrived Tazuna set about organizing his workers, and moving onto finishing the rest of the bridge, while Hinata and Naruto took position around the workers. During this Naruto scattered his marble seeds around allowing them to float lazily over the ends of the bridge, he still only had about ten of the marbles but Kushina and Juubi had insisted that he practice with them as much as he could to get use to their new abilities.

Hinata was also working a little as well looking over the edge of the bridge and attempting to form a Mizu bunshin on the water's surface below, so far she had managed to create around five at a time, before having to take a break.

It was nearing noon before something happened to interrupt the groups activates as an arrow came sailing down in the center of the workers catching one in the leg and causing him to fall to the ground with a howl of pain; while the rest of the workers dropped their work and looked frantically around Naruto and Hinata sprang into action.

Hinata immediately ran over to the injured man, skidding to his side before starting work on his leg while activating her byakugan to identify where the attack had come from; as her vision changed to her three sixty degree vision she saw a huge mass of chakra signatures closing in on them from the end of the other end of the bridge. As her eyes focused of this she gave a call to Naruto, while working to get the injury before her under control.

"Naruto incoming from the bridge, at least sixty signatures, all genie or below." shouted Hinata while ripping the arrow from the man's leg extracting another howl of pain from his mouth.

"I see them." Shouted Naruto looking out over the bridge through the light mist that was covering the bridge were he could see the silhouettes of a huge crowd of people marching forward. Naruto at seeing the number of individuals approaching immediately sent two of his marble seeds back towards Tazuna's home to alert Kiba and Kushina to what was happening. In the meantime he took up a position that put himself between the fleeing builders and the approaching horde.

What came next, however, Naruto had not expected. A small man no taller than his own chest stepped out of the mist wearing a black suit, and holding a cane in one hand while his other sleeve seems to blow slightly in the gentle breeze from the sea below.

"So Tazuna you just wouldn't listen, I guess there is only one cure for stupidity like yours after all." called Gato looking over at the group of workers and spying the old bridge builder standing in their center.

"Gato you monster what are you doing here?" called back Tazuna with clear hate etched into his voice as he did so.

"Oh Tazuna I'm here to educate you just like I did that useless man a few years ago, it seems to be the only thing that you stupid people seem to understand." laughed Gato while a cruel smile spread across his face.

"Sorry but that's not going to happen, you see Tazuna there is under my protection, and I can't have you hurting him." spoke up Naruto with that same tone of self-assurance he had slowly found himself using more and more.

"Ya right kid, after I'm done with Tazuna and his family I'll be happy to kill you next just to show you how wrong you are." fired back Gato with a cruel smirk on his face. However, for his boastful tone, Gato could not help but suppress a small shiver at the seeming calm that this boy had while looking down him and his men.

"Oh you know I have to say I seem to have to be telling people this a lot lately, but you see that isn't going to happen." replied Naruto with a little shrug of his shoulders and gentile shake of his head.

"Ya brat and why's that." Fired back Gato even as he motioned from the men surrounding him to get ready to move. Naruto looked right back into Gatos face along with a small smile spreading across his face as he did so.

"Because you see the fact is I'm never going to die, it just can't happen." replied Naruto with no hint of a lie in his voice as his six seeds exited out of his jacket and took their circular formation behind him. Gato's face contorted into a look of rage at this as he turned to move back into the formation of men behind him.

"Kill him, kill them all!" Gato shouted as he retreated back into the crowed, as those there readied swords, spears, axes and all manner of weapons before moving forward.

"Hinata back me up!" shouted Naruto as he pulled forth two bars from his seeds and rushed forward towards the advancing force intending to meet them head-on.

Meanwhile back at Tazuna's house Kushina and Kiba had just dealt with a pair of samurai that had attempted to attack Tsunami and Inari in their home. As Kushina finished tying the two together she turned to Kiba just as two black marble sized balls descended beside them.

"**Kushina hurry Gato's attacking at the bridge Hinata and Naruto are fighting now but you need to hurry." **called Juubi once she could make contact with the two.

"What?" called back Kushina looking over at Kiba for conformation of what she had just heard?

"We need to get there now!" yelled Kiba as he took off towards the front of the house and the road beyond. Kushina paused only long enough to tell Tsunami that the bridge was under attack before she rushed out towards the bridge leaving the mother and son back in the home looking at the spot the two shinobi had just disappeared form.

Back at the bridge it was complete chaos. While not one of the grunts that Gato had hired were a match for the shinobi, there were just so many and Naruto and Hinata were trying to protect the civilians that things were turning ugly quickly. Just as Naruto ducked under the swipe of a blade and hammered three more men into bridge with his seeds he saw a small group break off from the attack and head towards Tazuna.

Hinata also saw the even as she called up another group of Mizu bunshin to attack from the side of the bridge. After delivering a devastating blow to one of the ninja before her she turned to sprint towards the group that was bearing down on the helpless bridge builders. As she closed in on them she pulled back her sleeve to release her senbon launchers firing a salvo at the group dropping three out of the five and causing the last two to turn their attention back towards her.

The first grunt turned with a bellow swinging what looked like a smaller version of Zabuza's blade towards the girl which she leapt over while spinning to deliver a crushing kick to the side of the man's head causing him to crumple to the bridges surface. The man's fellow however, seeing Hinata's movements had leapt back from her while bringing up his spear in an attempt to squire the girl before she could land. Seeing the blow coming Hinata brought up her arms to try and deflect it. It worked but as the spear head cut past it managed to break off her senbon launcher from her arm, leaving a shallow gash along the length of her fore arm.

Hinata bit back a cry as the blade pierced her flesh and red droplets of blood ran down her arm is small swift currents. Before the man could attempt to repeat his attack Hinata had managed to leap forward focusing through the pain to deliver a bone shattering blow to the man's shoulder causing him to drop to the ground holding his ruined arm with a howl of pain.

As Hinata turned to re-enter the fray she felt a small bit of fear overcome her at the sheer number of enemies remaining. True Naruto and she had taken at least Thirty of the thugs out by this time, but there were still at least twice that number remaining and even if every hit they managed was only a glancing blow, the constant fighting was taking its toll on the two.

Naruto had seen the brief engagement between Hinata and the latest group, and could not help but feel a rush of cold anger flood through his system as he saw Hinata cradling her damaged arm, while leaping back to gain some breathing room. However, just as Hinata landed another arrow sailed out of the back of the crowed causing the girl to dodge sideways. As she did so she found herself slipping on some blood on the ground and falling down to skid across the bridge.

"Hinata!" shouted Naruto as all six of his seeds exploded forwards away from him pushing back the attacking force before him and allowing him time to rush over to the downed form of Hinata. As he came close he skidding over to the girls form reaching down to lift her from the bridges surface while turning her over to get a look at her face.

Hinata's once porcelain skin was now marred by touches of dirt and blood, her blue hair stained with patches of sweat and crimson that made in cling tightly to her face and jacket. Her cloths were patchily destroyed thanks to a mixture of cuts and tears that had happened over the course of the fight. As Naruto lifted her face Hinata's eyes cracked open slightly trying to focus on Naruto's face before her.

"Hinata, hang in there Hinata, Kushina and Kiba will be here soon, we just need to hold on a little longer." said the blond looking down at the broken form of the girl he loved.

"h-hai Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered back fading in and out of consciousness as she did so thanks to exhaustion and blood lose. Naruto's face contorted at the look of pain upon Hinatas face turning his gaze to look towards the group of attackers that were even then slowly reorganizing to attack them again.

"It will be ok Hinata-chan, I won't let them hurt you anymore…. I won't let them hurt my world anymore." Spoke Naruto softly with a clear sense of anger in his voice as he looked at the approaching men. Just as Hinata was about to fade out of consciousness she saw something that she couldn't understand. Naruto's eyes they had gone from their shining purple to pure black.. Almost like Juubi's. The only difference was that what looked like small cracks of black seemed to be forming at the sides of his eyes. Before she could see more exhaustion finally took her, and she feel limp in Narutos arms, as the blond gently lowered her to the ground. As he did so he channeled his chakra into his hand as he stretched it out towards the girls wounded arm, but unlike a usual medical jutsu the light from Narutos actions was pulsing with the same purple energy that his seeds did. After a moment the blond rose slowly turning to face the remaining attackers, and look of pure rage upon his face. Before the men could make a move he was among them.. and the bridge became hell.

A few minutes later Kushina and Kiba had just arrived at the edge of the bridge, and gazed in a mixture of wonder, and fear at what they saw before them on the bridge.

"Juubi…what is this." asked Kushina softly looking around at the scene before her.

"**Kushina that is what your sochi meant when he said he wouldn't let the world take anyone else from him." **replied the Juubi softly to the stunned redhead.

**Ok chapter done.. yes it's a cliff hanger so sue me it works out to stop it here for now. Again thank you all for your comments, favorites, follows and guesses they are what keep this story going. Remember the contest for the summoning contract is still up for guesses; more hints are coming next chapter, so feel free to keep at it. Also small note I seem to have a lot of people saying I'm not making Naruto strong enough still, or that he wasted his time with the Juubi. To this I only reply that if he was an S rank or something now, it would make the story boring and pointless. Sorry it's not going to happen overnight he will grow stronger as time goes on. Also have had a few people comment on Kushina losing to Zabuza…. Really why is this an issue. Zabuza is an A rank missing ninja, who is at least on par with his fellow seven swordsmen, including shark guy… and if you want to argue that Guy beat him, and Kakashi beat Zabuza… given these two are considered to be about on the same level I think it's safe to say the same for Zabuza and him. Also you can correct me if I'm wrong but in the show Kushina never actually fought. We only ever saw her chains, that's all. And no I don't count the road of a ninja movie or whatever that was an alternate world, in it Sakura's dad was hokage for gods sake things were nuts there. Also I have seen the whole sword and seals thing done better than I could all over this site so I'm going in a new direction. Yes she has seals, that's what her freaking armor is, but seals in combat isn't something I'm doing. **

**Ok that's all from me thanks again for all those who read and I hope you like the newest chapter, and don't hate me to much for leaving on a cliffhanger again I really am not doing this on purpose.**


	10. Chapter 9

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

I would like to give a shout out to those who have reviewed, followed and favorite my story in the short time it has been out. I can't believe I have over three hundred followers, and favorites, I'm blown away really thank you all. It is crazy how fast this story is growing, thank you all of you.

This chapter is brought to you by the combined ingredients of Diet coke and mystery science theater 3000. And the that song from Robot Unicorn attack…. If you have time go find the music video for that song it is nuts. So ya this chapter might be a bit different that we have been seeing lol.

Again yes there will be a summoning type jutsu for Naruto, so guess away; I will say that so far one person has actually gotten it. So hurry and be the next to get it right.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them.

Also small note here on Narutos seeds. They can best be described as little living bits of chakra like the tailed beasts, only without a true personality. As a result they act very basic in their movements, and relations, acting to help Narutos who they see as their creator. The smaller ones are the same, but have some different ties because they have two peoples chakra in them usually.

Oh and Narutos chakra is best described as Demon or negative chakra. In the show demon chakra repellnbhced or hurt a normal based chakra person, also acting to be able to standup as a shroud against chakra based attacks. Narutos chakra is similar only taken a step farther as it is the pure style of the Juubi who was meant to hold in place the fruit from the tree that was the source of all modern day chakra. Think of his chakra as the inverse of Kushinas, it by its nature suppresses and repels normal chakra.

**Chapter Nine**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-Oh the times are changing-**

A few minutes later Kushina and Kiba had just arrived at the edge of the bridge, and gazed in a mixture of wonder, and fear at what they saw before them on the bridge.

"Juubi…what is this." asked Kushina softly looking around at the scene before her.

"**Kushina, that is what your sochi meant when he said he wouldn't let the world take anyone else from him." **replied the Juubi softly to the stunned redhead.

A few moments ago on the bridge Naruto had just lowered Hinatas form to the bridges surface. As the boy rose from the lightly breathing form of Hinata the six orbs slowly descended around him before slowly spreading out on either side of him. The grunts that Gato had hired could only watch in strange fascination as purple wisps of chakra began to expel from each of the orbs and the boys form. As they watched the orbs began to crack and expand with waves of purple energy leaking out of the cracks and flowing down towards the bridge closely followed by the black form of the orbs that seemed to be in an odd state between solid and liquid. As the substance reached the ground, it slowly seemed to build upon itself slowly rising higher and higher from the ground in two columns that intersected and branched up back towards the orbs position, as it continued to float and leak out the substance.

With sick fascination the substance shot out three more branches two moving parallel to one another and stretching from the center of the form, while a final one halted in connecting itself with the orb even as the ball began to contort and shift allowing small tendrils of back to leak out and form their own shapes along its form. As a final flash of purple light erupted form the orbs the thugs were forced to momentarily cover their eyes in an attempt stave off the flash of light. As they looked back what they saw horrified them. Before them stood seven forms where once there was only one. In the center stood the boy they had been till then fighting, his eyes having taken on a terrifying black countenance, with small black cracks forming from the edges like small plant roots coming from his skin.

While this was unnerving to the group what truly had them worried were the other figures. Each of them looked like a solid black version of the boy, down to the smallest detail. Their black forms simply shifted slightly as if they were testing themselves, feeling this new life as it were. Besides their black complexion only two things stuck out about the six figures flanking the boy. First was that where their eyes should have been there were instead deep pools of what looked like a solidified form of that same purple energy from before. The only other difference that he could observe were their mouths. Where there should have been a mouth there was only smooth blackness although each was wearing a kind of mask.

Before the grunts could do more than take in this odd vestige before them, the boy in the center had raised his right hand lazily up before allowing it to jerk slightly forwards. As if shot from a bow the six figures shot forward as one as they allowed their hands to fall out behind them even as the six came closer to the solders before them. Just as the six were about to meet the group as one they seemed to open their hands, and long black tendrils seemed to bubble forth from their palms slowly drawing back behind them. With a uniform swipe of their arms the six black figures hurled their newly formed appendages forward. The tendrils had each stretched out to about four feet in length while allowing for an innumerable amount of small thorn like appendages to form on the central vine. The result of their attack was devastating.

The first row of grunts were torn into by the whips, cutting through armor, flesh and bone with little to not resistance. A chorus of screams rent the air as crimson splattered around the bridge painting its surface with its crimson rain. As the first row fell limply, or shrieking to the ground the courage of the thugs completely went out of them. As they turned from the bloodied forms of their fellows to stare up into the bright purple glowing eyes of the figures before them, they saw no anger, no fear, no anything. The figures gaze was simply looked on as if curious, as if they somehow did not comprehend very much what they were seeing. It was horrifying to look at the sea of screaming bloody figures, and see six figures so comfortable, so relaxed amongst the savagery of it.

So with their courage broken, their ranks soon followed after, and the army of thugs became a stampeding crowd of cowards tumbling over each other in a desperate attempt to flee from the monsters before them.

By the time Kushina and Kiba had arrived at the bridge what they saw were the figures of Hinata and Naruto leaning back against one side of bridge. Naruto was leaning back with haggard breath, as he allowed the softly breathing form of Hinata to rest herself against him. What next drew the two's eyes was the rest of the bridge. Nearly thirty to forty bodies were laid out across the bridge with different markings from the recent battle. The surface of the bridge was still wet in places with crimson pools still sitting by some of the bodies. While at least half of the figures were obviously dead, the other half seemed to be in varying states self-care. What drew their eyes next were the six figures that seemed to be moving in-between the groups. The black Naruto's were walking between the figures, bandaging critical wounds, and securing the rest with small rolls of ninja wire they seemed to have divided amongst themselves. Without another thought Kushina and Kiba rushed over to the sitting figures of Hinata and Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, oh kami are you ok, what happened, wha-what are those?" fired of Kushina as she knelt before the twos forms, watching as her sochi turned his purple and black eyes upon her with a small smile. Kiba in the meantime was looking over at the black Narutos that had stopped their movement to gaze towards the two with their blank questioning purple gaze.

"It's ok Kaasan.. everything is just fine.. I'm just a little tired." replied Naruto his exhaustion clear in his voice as he spoke, even as he forced a small smile to his lips.

"Bu-but?" Kushina began, but before she could continue Naruto had fallen to the left so that his head now rested slightly on top of the still form of Hinata.

"**He will be just fine Kushina he is just exhausted!" **spoke up Juubi trying to assure the redhead that her sochi would be just fine.

"Bu-but what are those?" asked Kushina as she looked back over the bridge noticing that one of the six black Naruto's seemed to have become very interested in Akamaru and was now following the puppy around the bridge, even as the other five had halted their actions to watch their fellows progress.

"**Well you remember when you were teaching the girls the shadow clone back on their tenth birthday." **started the Juubi prompting a nod from the redhead. **"well Naruto got so excited about learning that move that he said he had to learn it, but it turned out that my chakra wasn't compatible for the technique for some reason. But you know our Naruto never one to give up, and so he has been working on this technique for the past three years." **Finished Juubi, as Kushina looked out at the black figures.

"So wait they are clones?" asked Kushina looking at the figures.

"**Not really, Naruto just managed to have the seeds transform their shape into copies of him. Remember how I told you that they were like tailed beasts, that's really what they are the closest too. But they don't have any personalities or anything else because they are still tied to Naruto. So they are just kind of like blank slates in that form. I guess if I had to be specific I'd say they have about the intelligence of a normal shadow clone, but one based off of just chakra and not the person if that makes sense." **finished Juubi with a tone that suggested she was shrugging.

"So they are like clones without memories; that is more than a little odd." replied the redhead standing up from the two children's forms and turning to look out across the bridge where the one that had been following Akamaru had bent down to pet the puppy, while Kiba was working to secure the rest of the downed thugs.

"Kiba take care of the rest, the clones should listen to you just ask them ok!" shouted Kushina across the bridge to her final squad member as she went over to approach a small gathering of bridge workers where she spied Tazuna. As she reached the group she saw that they had gathered around a small form on the ground that lay pinned to the bridge by a single familiar black rode.

Gato lay dead before the bridge builders a single rod having been driven through his spine effectively nailing him into the concrete. Kushina had seen far worse deaths in her time, but the simple brutal nature of this kill struck her in a way she was ill prepared for. This was not just any kill this was Naruto's kill, her sochi had taken this and many other lives not an hour ago. As she allowed her gaze to look back at the bridge she also saw the signs of death from poison, and gentle fist style hits. With a pang she realized that both Naruto and Hinata had taken their first lives this day.

"I just hope that they are going to be ok." said Kushina softly looking over at the children's forms the two having shifted slightly to hold each other in their sleep, small comforting smiles on their faces.

"I wouldn't worry about Naruto Kushina-san." Spoke up Tazuna looking away from Gato's body and towards the redhead behind him prompting her to turn to face him once again.

"Why do you say that?" questioned Kushina.

"Well you see once he… well." Here Tazuna could only gesture towards the bridge "he did that, Gato tried to escape, and one of those black things ran over and grabbed him before he could escape and dragged him back over to Naruto." Continued Tazuna as Kushina listened being able to picture everything the man was telling her as she looked down at the body.

"He looked like he was barely able to stand, but one of those black things helped him walk over to where Gato was, and then he said something to Gato before he finished him. I don't know what he said, but after that he just walked over to Hinata and pulled her to the side telling us that you would be here soon, and that everything would be alright now." Said Tazuna looking over towards the two's forms as he did so.

"What did he say to Gato?" asked Kushina listening to Tazuna's statement. Tazuna looked at the boy for a few more moments before letting out a breath and looking up at the sky before speaking.

"He said that people like him weren't allowed to harm his world anymore." said Tazuna softly looking over at Kushina who was now looking over at Naruto.

"His world hmm… you know I don't think I'd mind living in his world if it can make him smile like that." replied kushina in a quiet whisper as she looked over at the smiling and sleeping form of Naruto and Hinata.

"Juubi would you mind getting those clones to take those two home." asked Kushina through her mental link with her marble orb.

"**Ya no problem I have to dismiss most of them soon though, to stay like that taxes Naruto pretty bad at the moment, and changing them all at once almost drained him completely." **replied Juubi as four of the black Narutos began to crack and glow before they were pulled back into their seed form and floated back to Naruto's form sinking into his jacket as they reached him. The remaining two headed over towards the sleeping forms of Naruto and Hinata.

When they reached the spot in front of them there was a small scuffle as the two Naruto's seemed to fight over how to carry the two. Fortunately for Hinata the one carrying her had chosen bridal style so her trip was comfortable enough. Naruto, however had a less dignified manner of transportation as his had decided that it was easier to simply lift up Narutos feet before dragging him off.

Luckily for Naruto Kiba came to the rescue laughing as he showed the clone a better way to transport the exhausted blond. After a few attempts at miming Kiba finally got the clone to understand what it was doing wrong, and nodded excitedly as it lifted the limp form of Naruto over its shoulder before looking at Kiba as if asking for approval.

Kushina meanwhile was overlooking the bridge with a sad little smile of pride upon her face. It seemed Naruto was going to become something really special in this world, now if she could only get the rest of her family to see what they had lost.

During this time in another part of the elemental nations two sisters stood outside on the bow of a ship watching as it swept its way across the waves towards the land of Snow. Their mission of guarding a movie star Koyuki Kazahana, who was quickly getting on both girls nerves. Hence them taking this opportunity to simply enjoy the trip and the scenery it offered them.

"So what do you suppose Kaasan, and Naruto niisan are doing on their mission." said Minami stepping forward to rest her arms over the railing looking out over the clear blue water that seemed to stretch out to the horizon, the sea air lightly blowing her deep red hair slightly in the wind. Behind her Naruko adopted a puzzled little look at the back of her sister.

"What's it matter Minami, I mean come on we're on our first C-rank, and we are getting to guard a real princess all the other teams are going to be jealous of use. There's no way that anyone will get a mission like this." said Naruko stepping forward and hopping a rung up seating herself so that her legs dangled over the edge of the ship as the sea wind blew her long blond hair over her face, and back.

Minami turned her red eyes up to look at her sister, even as Naruko worked to spit out a few strands of her hair that had found their way into her mouth.

"Naruko, that doesn't matter, I'm just thinking about them, why does it always have to be contest with you and niisan anyway?" asked Minami wondering about her sisters behavior. This caught Naruko off guard slightly as she let her thoughts wonder slightly on the subject. As the memories passed before her eyes she remembered how much Mito looked up to Naruto, while no matter how hard she worked her younger sister would never look at her with the same light in her eyes.

"Hey all I'm doing it pointing out what's true, besides when did you start sticking up from Naruto, weren't you always the one saying that he was goofing off." fired back Naruko turning her ocean blue eyes to look down into the red eyes of her sister. Minami felt a large pang of guilt as Naruko spoke remembering her own actions towards their brother.

"I was wrong, I've told you that already, we both were, but you don't seem to want to see it why?" asked Minami a true note of curiosity in her tone. Minami knew that something else was going on here, Naruko was many things but she was never a cruel person, she only ever seemed to be agitated when it came to their brother.

"Whatever, he didn't seem so special to me, I mean we were still way ahead of him." replied Naruko with a hint of pride in her voice. This caused Minami to push herself back from the railing and step back to stand in front of her sister.

"Ya we are better than him Naruko, because we had Tousan, Kaasan, and Ero-sensei to work with us all the time, but Naruto never had that, doesn't that seem wrong to you, haven't you ever wondered why he was left out?" asked Minami willing the blond before her to see reason. Naruko, however, was getting angry, and reason was not going to be on her list today.

"Who cares why it happened, it's not like it will change anything, we have worked hard to get here, and I'm not going to start worrying about our brother just because you and Kaasan suddenly decided that we did something wrong. Face it Minami we hold the Kyuubi we had to have more training, and were always going to better shinobi than him, he didn't have to work to control something like that he had it easy." Fired back Naruko her voice rising with emotion as it did so.

"Easy… EASY what the hell are you talking about Naruko he didn't have anything easy he was alone, and working to get there alone, you and I had all the help we had it easy, what could he possibly have that we didn't?" asked Minami feeling truly lost as to where this was coming form.

"What we had, oh I don't know maybe our little sisters love!" shouted Naruko a few tears spilling from her eyes as she yelled at her sister. Minami looked like she had just been smacked in the face, out of everything she could have heard this was not what she had expected. However, after a moment it begain making since but before she could think more Naruko continued.

"Don't tell me you don't see it Mito looks up to him like he is some hero, and he isn't anything compared to us! It didn't matter how much we tried she never looked at me like she did at him.. I tried everything I could but I was always just second place when he was around, and why, what did he have that I didn't I trained into the ground, I beCAME AN AMAZING SHINOBI, I DID EVERYTHING I WAS SUPOSE TO SO TELL ME WHY I COULDN'T BE HER HERO BUT THAT GOOF OF A BROTHER COULD BE?!" shouted Naruko with tears now clearly falling from her face. Minami still looking on with a clear shock upon her face.

"SO YA I DON'T CARE WHAT NARUTO IS DOING, IF IT WASN'T FOR HIM I WOULDN'T HAVE LOST MITO!" screamed the blond this final statement coming out in a cracked sob.

"wh-what are you talking about lost her?" asked Minami not understanding what was being said, she had never seen Mito angry at her sister.

"YA THAT'S RIGHT OUR SISTER MITO DOESN'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH ME, NO MATTER WHAT I SAY OR OFFER SHE JUST POUTS AND SAYS NO… AND WHY BECAUSE I TRIED TO SHOW HER THAT I WAS BETTER THAN NARUTO WHICH I AM! WHY TELL ME WHY! IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I SAY I'M SORRY SHE DOESN'T LET BE BACK IN AND ITS ALL HIS FAULT!" finished Naruko as she tried to catch her breath after her shouting.

"Nar-naruko, Mito isn't like that she is always happy to see us." said Minami softly trying to calm her sister down, before moving on.

"Ya to you, but whenever she looks at me I can see it in her eyes, she still hasn't forgiven me, and s-she won't let me, I know it was wrong to act like that with Naruto, b-but what's the point of knowing if you can't change it. Tell me that, what's the point of knowing if you don't have the chance to change anything?" asked Naruko with a hint of pleading in her voice as she sank to her knees on the deck, having hoped off the railing during the earlier shouting.

"Na-naruko." Minami tried to say, but the words wouldn't form, because in truth she didn't know what to say.

"I know I was a stupid kid but damn it, why can't I be the hero to my own sister, I've worked myself to the bone every day, I've done everything I was told, why, why can't I be the hero to my own family." Spoke the blond as her tears dribbled down to the deck.

Minami could only look down at the shivering form of her sister, as she went down on her knees before her and pulled her into a hug.

_Kami Naruko please tell me that's not what's going on here. You always tried to make everyone so happy that you always did what Tousan and Jiraiya said without question. You trained every day, no matter what it was until you mastered it, just so that everyone would be happy and proud. Oh Naruko you don't even see it anymore do you, we don't need you to be our hero we just want you to be our family you don't have to protect us. _Thought Minami as she held her sobbing sister as gently stroked her blond hair and whispered softly into her ears.

"I-I don't understand, I did eve-everything I was su-supposed to, why can't I be what I'm supposed to." asked Naruko through her tears.

"It will be ok Naru, it's going to be ok, you don't have to be a hero to us, we just want you to be Naruko our stubborn, and silly Neesan, ok." spoke Minami pulling herself back slightly to look into her sisters face as she did so. Naruko couldn't speak but nodded slightly. It was going to be a long road for her sister, but Minami hoped she would be able to help Minami realize what was really important for her.

It was a week later in Wave, and the bridge was nearing completion. The battle had set the work back some, but more than that the small nation was in a state of celebration at the demise of Gato. Team eleven was seen as the new heroes of wave, and the team had allowed themselves a bit of time to relax.

At the moment our blond headed hero was seated at the kitchen table with his head resting on his folded arms as he muttered softly to himself.

"I create a new type of chakra from scratch; I train for years to be able to master it, and spend all my time to create the most awesome new move and now this is happening." muttered Naruto as he looked around the kitchen/living room of Tazuna's home.

Tsunami was busy cleaning and putting dishes away at the sink, but that is not where Naruto's eyes were focused. No what he was looking at was the black Naruto that stood directly to the left of the women who was taking the dishes from her before proceeding to dry them with a small flower patterned hand towel it was holding. Looking over to the living room area he spied another two Narutos sitting on either side of the room rolling a ball back and forth between them for Akamaru to chase while Kiba was resting on an armchair. Over on the couch Hinata had another of his clones handing her the tools she needed as she worked to repair and fix up some new poisons for her senbon launchers.

Meanwhile another of the clones was simply following Kushina around helping her clean her armor, while the final clone was actually wearing an apron and sweeping off the back porch.

"Really!" shouted Naruto seeing the last of the clones, causing all of the occupants around the room to look up at him, along with all of his clones to stop what they were doing and turning their bright purple round eyes his way with a gentle humming noise.

Over the past week they had learned that for some reason the clones he had created were unable to talk, Juubi and Kushina had guessed it was because they were effectively just shells for the chakra to move around, and as a result didn't really have all of the necessary parts to actually create speech. They did however, seem to hum slightly in response to questions. Whether this was due to a simple energy release of actual attempts at communication however remained a mystery.

"What is it Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata looking up from here work and towards her pouting boyfriend.

"Nothing Hinata-chan, it's just I create this awesome new move, and now look at it, he said gesturing around to the room, while the occupants looked around at the clones suppressing a smile at the one in apron with effort.

"I don't know Sochi these seedlings of yours are pretty handy." Replied Kushina smiling as the seedling beside her turned his large eyes upon her and hummed in apparent enjoyment.

"Seedlings?" asked Naruto hoping that he didn't hear what he thought he did.

"Ya well Juubi and I thought it would be a good name for them, you know seeds and seedlings." replied Kushina with a small shrug as she looked around at the seedlings who were looking around at Naruto.

"Oh come on Kaasan that's the name Juubi use to call me when I was a kid, you two did that on purpose." fired back Naruto.

"**Well I thought it was a great idea for a name." **shot in Juubi.

"You know Naruto-kun I think it's a nice name." spoke up Hinata with a small smile as her seedling handed her another of her vials.

"Ya man these things are great they are super strong and can help with chores and stuff, what's the big deal." Piped up Kiba from the chair he was relaxing in.

"Come on they are an awesome Jutsu not some kind of housekeepers." replied Naruto with a hint of pleading in his voice.

"Well I think their cute." spoke up Tsunami as he ruffled the black hair of the seedling beside her extracting another low hum form it.

"They're not cute they are dangerous amazing warriors who are going to help me change the world." fired back Naruto. As the wide purple eyes of the dubbed seedlings looked back and forth between those that were talking.

"Oh come on Sochi," replied Kushina actually putting her hands on her seedlings shoulders and turning it to face ahead towards the blond, "you should be proud of them, they are so helpful and cute." smiled Kushina as the seedling looked up between her smiling face and Narutos pouting face.

"Stop saying that, they are not cute seedlings they are awesome warriors!" said Naruto trying to keep what little dignity his newest Jutsu still had.

"I say we take a vote." Spoke up Kushina, looking around.

"It's my Jutsu I'm not voting!" spoke up Naruto trying to argue his point, but before he could continue Kushina interrupted him.

"All those in favor of naming these little guys Seedlings?" shouted Kushina raising her hand high in the air. Naruto looked pleadingly around at the group, but what he saw made him feel a sense of hopelessness. All of team elevens hands along with Tsunamis were in the air, but what made it worse was that the seedlings had looked around at the hands up and raised their own in an attempt to mimic them.

Over the past few days team eleven had been working out the logistics of the seedlings and had learned several things about the new Jutsu Naruto had created. The first thing that became apparent about them was that they were in fact not draining Naruto of any chakra. Thanks to their creation they were completely self-sufficient, but that didn't mean they were completely cost free. It turned out that unlike their seed form the mental strain of coordination was extreme, and was going to take time for Naruto to get used to. Another thing they learned was that without direction the seedlings evidently seemed interested in learning things on their own, and would follow the nearest person simply following basic directions and mimicking their actions. As it turned out the seedlings didn't get Narutos experiences or memories so Kushina had taken a few out to practice the standard katas so that Naruto could direct less concentration to them in combat, and hopefully make them a little more independent in the fight.

At the moment, however, Naruto was looking around with teary eyes as he saw his creations all siding with the rest of his team.

"Y-You traitors, this is mutiny I've been betrayed!" shouted Naruto pointing at all of them, while Juubi roared with laughter in his head.

"**hahahhhahh well congratulations Naruto yo-ou've created your own fighting force heheahha that has now turned traitor hehahahahaa."** Laughed the Juubi absolutely rolling from what she was witnessing.

Naruto simply lowered his head back down to the table with an unceremonious grunt, as the rest of the group broke out into small chuckles and giggles which was soon joined by some humming from the now officially dubbed seedlings. Moments later joined by the rhythmic thumping as Naruto began beating his head against the table.

A day later found all of team eleven standing on the land end of the newly finished bridge along with the majority of the people of the wave with Tazuna's family right at the head.

"We can't thank you enough for saving us from Gato." started Tazuna before Inari stepped forward grinning up at Naruto and Hinata.

"Hey Naruto, will you come back to see us some time?" asked the boy with a hint of clear hope in his voice. The rest of team eleven smiled over at Naruto bent down on one knee to look into the younger boys eyes.

"It's a promise Inari, we'll see each other again, and I expect you to have changed this place into your very own wave." Naruto said smiling into the boy's face as Inari's face split into his own smile.

"Hai, I will no problem, and when you get back you'll be proud of the wave I've helped make." replied Inari looking back at the crowd behind him.

"You know it, we are going to make wave shine once again in this world." bellowed Tazuna stepping forward to place a hand on Inari's shoulder as he did so smiling to match the boys.

"WHAT DO YOU SAY PEOPLE LET THIS BRIDGE BE OUR START TO A BIGGER AND BETTER WAVE, AND LETS HEAR IT FOR OUR HEROS ONE LAST TIME!" shouted Tazuna extracting an uproar of cheering and celebration from the crowd behind them. As the cheering continued team eleven began to move away waving and yelling calls of thanks until the bridge and the group was out of sight of one another.

A few hours later the group was taking a small rest before they continued on, and Kushina took this time to discuss a matter that she had been considering over the past few days.

"Team there is something we need to clarify before we get back into Konoha." Kushina said from her seat beside Kiba on an overturned log directing the rest of the team's attention towards her.

"Hai sensei what's that?" asked Kiba looking up from where Akamaru was chasing one of Narutos seeds around a tree attempting to catch the elusive orb. During their travel Kushina had suggested that Naruto reseal his clones, so as to make them faster, so at the moment Naruto was simply leaving them in their seed form, while Juubi ran drill with him as they ran.

"It's about this mission, I want to know if you all are willing to allow most of the events surrounding this mission to remain just between us?" replied Kushina simply, looking around into the questioning faces of her team.

"Kushina-sensei what do you mean keep it quiet, I thought we had to provide a mission report?" asked Hinata wondering what Kushina was talking about. Naruto in the meantime was looking at his Kaasan with a sad little smile on his face.

"It's because of me Hinata-chan." Spoke up Naruto, prompting both Hinata and Kiba to turn their gaze upon the blond.

"She is trying to protect me, and my… well my condition from getting out and making me a target." continued Naruto looking around at the group and getting a small nod form Kushina as their eyes meet.

"Wait what about us facing down Zabuza, or Naruto and Hinata fighting on the bridge, what are we going to say about everything that happened?" asked Kiba looking around.

"I have been thinking and I've come up with two choices, either we come forward and tell the whole truth. Or we bury it, and I give a false report on the Zabuza fight leaving…leaving out Narutos work." Kushina finished with a bit of a bitter note in her voice. She had been thinking about it ever since she had learned of Naruto's new condition, and what she would be putting in her report. Naruto and Juubi had suggested that they simply be left out of the report all together which Kushina was at first angry at.

She had argued that this was Naruto's chance to be seen as just as good as his sisters by everyone, but that hadn't gotten the reaction she had expected.

-flashback-

"Haahhahahaah re-really is that all hehahah what do I care about that kind of thing, besides if it was attention I wanted I would have signed that scroll we found on the bandits as soon as I saw it?" laughed the blond as Kushina asked him why he would throw away this chance.

"B-but sochi-kun why, it doesn't have to tell about your powers we can just say you did it with what you already know?" Kushina tried to reason, but Naruto only waved her off slightly.

"Oh come on Kaasan we both know that it will seem odd that some standard shinobi like me was able to turn the tide of a battle, all that will get us is a mind reader jumping into our heads, and then they find out anyway." said Naruto smiling.

"Besides what do I need with popularity or fame those things just fade away with time, and I care about things that are going to last, after all I'm going to change the world I can't be worried about little things like that." continued Naruto raising his arms to gesture around him.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Kushina as she looked at her sochi.

"Hai don't worry Kaasan I'll show everyone in time, I just don't want it to cause problems right now kay." replied Naruto.

"Ok Naruto I understand." replied Kushina with a small nod.

-flashback end-

"Are you sure Naruto you were awesome, I would tell everyone." said Kiba in a surprised voice.

"Ya Kiba I'm sure, besides," here he had his one seed transform into a seedling that Akamaru immediately began running around excitedly, "think how awesome it will be when I bust these guys out in front of people and they don't see it coming." Naruto said smiling as Kiba looked between the seedling and a slightly larger than normal scroll that stuck out of Naruto's traveling pack.

"If you're sure buddy I guess I'll keep quiet, but if my Kaasan and Neesan find out I kept this secret you, me and your seedlings will be cleaning out the kennels for the next month, and I still think you should try out those fuzz balls." Chuckled Kiba as he stuck a thumb over to the seedling, who without direction had taken to chasing Akamaru around in circles as the pup barked happily and then over to the scroll in Naruto's pack.

"I won't tell anyone either Naruto-kun… but what are you going to tell Mito?" asked Hinata wondering how he was going to be able to keep his abilities secret from the redhead as she was basically attached to them at the hip while they were in the village.

"Oh I figure I'll have to tell her when we get back, but all I have to do is promise to take her and Hanabi out for ice-cream and they won't talk." smiled Naruto turning to Hinata.

"Besides," spoke up Kushina, " even if those two were to talk them being kids makes it pretty unlikely that it will be taken seriously chuckled Kushina imagining Mito telling people about a group of big black Naruto dolls running around.

The team look from the seedling who was now rolling around with Akamaru on the ground whistling with the pup, and then back at each other nodding.

"Ok Kaasan, but make sure you don't get in trouble with the Hokage ok." said Naruto looking over at the redhead.

"Don't worry, it's him who should be worried about getting in trouble with me." replied Kushina slamming on fist into an open palm with a loud smack. And with their conversation over, team eleven gathered themselves up and headed back towards the village. What they didn't know was that another team was also on their way back from their mission, and was traveling on a road much like theirs on the way to Konoha.

It had been a few days since team seven had battled their way through the land of snow, and managed to stop a warlord set upon creating a military powerhouse. After their arrival team seven had been attacked by a group of snow ninja, that they managed to drive off, before they could capture their target. From there the entire journey became a touch and go battle for the princess where everything from military trains to flying dreadnaughts was involved.

In the end, however team seven had managed to drive the snow ninja back and allow the princess to not only save her kingdom, but also herself in the process. The team had stayed briefly to see the princesses inauguration before heading back to towards Konoha, having started back a full week before the group from wave.

At the moment the team was walking down a dirt road in fire country with Kakashi and Sasuke up front, the sensei still with his face buried in his orange little book. Bringing up the rear were the Namikaze sisters, who were again having a quiet heated discussion via their mental link thanks to the Kyuubi.

-mindscape-

"Naruko I'm telling you if you just went up and tried with Oniisan and didn't make everything a competition he would open up to you, and so would Mito." said a concerned Minami as she tried to get her sister to see reason.

"And I'm telling you that I've tried with Mito already and it doesn't work, look Minami I'm tired of talking about this, it's just not going to happen, besides I tried apologizing and nothing changed." Fired back Naruko.

"That's because you only apologized to Mito, you never actually tried with Oniisan, why, you know you were wrong Naruko just admit it and move on." said Minami continuing the argument she had been having for the past few weeks.

"Like he would care, you know Naruto is just a goof most of the time, besides like I told you already it's not important right now, I have to focus on getting stronger I have a duty to the village now that I'm a shinobi." Replied Naruko falling back into the comforting words of her father, and ero sensei used so often.

"You sound just like ero sensei when you talk like that Naruko, don't you see there's more to life than just getting stronger." fired back Minami.

"And what's so wrong about that? Both Ero-sensei and Tousan have always known what's best, so what does it matter." Responded Naruko continuing on before Minami could speak again.

"Look I know I made some mistakes, but there will be time to work on that later once I've gotten to become a chunnin, then I'll be able to talk to them and it will all work out you'll see." continued Naruko with an air of confidence.

"Naruko this isn't something that you should let wait, if you wait too long then it may be too late." pleaded Minami.

"I don't want to see you lose your chance at getting closer with our siblings." she finished softly.

"Minami, you worry too much, I know I broke down on the ship but I'm ok now, just think if I hadn't focused so much on my training we may not have made it out of that mission alive, and then where would we have been?" stated Naruko.

"What good will it do to be closer to them if I end up dying on a mission, once I get strong enough to be able to take care of myself I can work on repairing our relationship, but until then I have to focus on my training." finished Naruko with a tone of authority.

"Dying would make it impossible to get to know them, but at the rate you're going I think you are likely to kill the opportunity, and what would be the good of being strong if they won't give you a chance?" asked Minami looking to make Naruko see her side of the argument. This comment caused Naruko to dead stop in the road actually causing Minami to look at her sisters face. What she saw was pure determination.

"It would mean I was strong enough to protect them, even if they hated me for it." spoke Naruko out loud drawing looks form Kakashi and Sasuke who had only heard this last comment. Minami looked worried at this statement, while Naruko only nodded and continued forward past the two males of the group and off down the road.

Minami in the meantime looked at the retreating back of her sister, and could only worry even more.

_Neesan…. don't you see we love you, we don't want a hero we just want our Naruko, I..I just want us to be a family again. _Thought Minami sadly as she waked forward.

"**It's ok Minami-chan I'm sure that it will be ok, I know why don't you talk to Naruto about it, maybe he will be willing to help?" **spoke up Kyuubi in the girls mind having heard the whole conversation.

_Maybe Kyu-kun I just hope that Naruto will be willing to try I hate seeing the family split like this. _replied Minami as she moved forward.

"**I'm sure he will, and if not I'll prank him until he says yes, that'll work!" **Kyu happily said while Minami shook her head.

_Not going to happen Kyu-kun Naruto and Mito are more than enough pranksters for one family. _chuckled Minami allowing a small smile to spread across her face.

"**You're no fun." **pouted the Kyuubi as the redhead and the rest of team seven moved forward.

It was a few hours later that found team seven reaching the gates of Konoha, and as they neared the gates a familiar group of people became recognizable at the gates. The figures of team eleven stood before the gates as Kushina was silently cursing while filling out the necessary paper work for them to reenter the village. Of to the left the rest of team eleven was gathered around joking and talking. Hinata stood in her usual long sleeve shirt and vest, Kiba in his trademark grey hoody although at the moment the hood was pulled back allowing his hair to blow lightly in the breeze. It was, however, the final member that caught both Naruko's and Minami's interest.

Naruto stood with his back to team seven with his orange jacket with its tree insignia facing directly at them. From where they were they could see the black bodysuit that he now wore under it, as well as what looked like two sets of headbands one tied over each arm right above the elbow. As the sisters watched they saw Hinata motion in their direction prompting Naruto to turn to face them his blond hair falling slightly over his forehead without his headband to stop it, but what caught the sisters most were his eyes.

Gone were the familiar blue and purple swirling pools, and in their place were two deep purple and black eyes that seemed wrong coming from their nissans face.

_What happened to niisan? _thought Minami seeing their brother change even as she lifted a hand to wave at her sibling seeing him return the gesture with a small smile.

Naruko on the other hand was simply looking at Naruto with a curious look on her face as though trying to figure out what had happened by just focusing on the blond in front of her.

However, before either girl could make a move to inquire more, Kushina spotted the girls and threw the clipboard she had been holding into an unlucky chuunins face before running out to greet both of her girls with a bone crushing hug.

"Naruko! Minami! Oh it's good to see you, where are you coming from, don't tell me you had your first c-rank how did it go, are you both ok?" Kushina said firing off questions while both girls slowly turned different shades of blue. Luckily for the sister Naruto called to her a moment later.

"Hey Kaasan I think you need to let go or you might not even let them be conscious for much longer." called Naruto chuckling slightly at the sight before him. Kushina looked over to Naruto before looking down at the girls and adopting an embarrassed face as she loosened her grip on the girls allowing them to catch their breath.

"Oops sorry girls, it just good to see you, it really is great to have everyone back, tell you what I have to go report on my mission but later at home I want you two to tell me everything ok we'll have a big family dinner to celebrate everyone's missions ok." said Kushina looking back and forth between Naruko, Minami and Naruto who had walked up with the rest of team eleven. The girls nodded smiling up at their mom as Kushina moved back to the gate accompanied by Kakashi who also began the paperwork to reenter the village. Once completed the two Jonin sensei's proceeded to head for the hokage tower to hand in their reports telling their teams they were dismissed.

At this Sasuke, Kiba and Hinata all headed out to see their families Hinata giving Naruto a brief kiss on the cheek before heading off leaving the three triplets standing just outside the gate.

"So niisan what's with the new cloths, they look brand new?" started Minami hoping to get a conversation going with Naruto. Although she and Naruto had been getting to know each other better prior to the wave mission the redhead still found it hard to talk to her brother sometimes.

"Ya they are, I got them during the mission, what do you think?" asked Naruto stepping back and striking a small pose that showed off the new cloths.

"I think they're a big step up from that stupid jumpsuit you use to wear." chimed in Naruko causing Minami to shake her head slightly. Naruko had all the subtlety of an explosive tag most of the time, and even her complements were brash. Naruto turned his head slightly to look over at Naruko with his purple and black eyes, which prompted Naruko to continue.

"But hey who cares about cloths, what happened to your eyes, did you start wearing contacts or something?" asked Naruko not seeing the look on Narutos face as she asked. Minami looked between the two expecting a fight to start but what happened instead surprised her. Naruto just gave a small smile while allowing his eyes to form little smiles of their own before leaning in slightly to Naruko before speaking.

"I'm sorry Naruko but you see I'm trying to talk to Minami here, and I would really appreciate it if you didn't interrupt us, or at least learn to speak in a bit more of a civil manner." Spoke Naruto and a friendly tone, that somehow radiated confidence. Naruko looked like she had been smacked across the face, and glared at Naruto while gritting her teeth together, but before she could speak Naruto turned back to face Minami.

"But since I know Minami here is curious to I'll go ahead and answer your question, no i'm not wearing contacts, my eye color just changed, at first I thought it had some kind of meaning like an ocular jutsu but it turns out it just changed color, still I like the new look." Naruto finished with a smile directed at Minami who was staring between Naruko and Naruto not being able to keep up with what she had just seen happen.

Naruko simply glared angrily at her brother with a small bit of moisture appearing in her eyes before she pushed past the two and headed into the village without so much as another word or glance back.

Naruto saw the small tears forming in his neesan's eyes as she push past him, and felt a small pang of guilt upon seeing them. True Naruko and him had been distant from each other to such an extent that he could hardly even see her as a sister anymore, but that didn't mean he liked the idea of hurting her. Still if she was going to throw out such comments she would be getting the same back from him in kind. His acceptance had done nothing but have them move further away, and in his new world one thing he would not do is repeat the mistakes he had made in his old one. At this point Naruto turned his eyes back to his other sister who was looking at him with a worried little look.

"Sorry Minami I didn't want to hurt her, but I'm not willing to just let things like that slide anymore." said Naruto to his other sister.

"I-it's ok Nissan, I guess it just caught me off guard, I mean you show up with different cloths different eyes, and now your even acting a bit differently I guess I just didn't think your first C-rank would change you this much." replied Minami.

"Ya I guess a lot did happen during the last few weeks." said Naruto looking back down the road and starting for a moment, as a thought reentered his mind.

"Hey Minami will you come with me really fast, I need your help with something?" asked Naruto turning to face the redhead with a small smile on his face. Minami looked back at him before nodding deciding that it was a step forward in getting to know her niisan, and maybe learn what had happened to him.

Naruto proceeded to lead her a small distance into one of the training fields a small way off from the village. As they moved Minami saw what looked like small marble sized black orbs falling out of Narutos coat, but dismissed it as her own imagination as when she looked the next moment they were gone. After a little distance the siblings were standing in an open field in a deserted training field. Once they landed Naruto turned to Minami with an excited little look on her face that Minami could not help but feel a little nervous about.

"Great this should be far enough, and the pollens don't sense anyone either." Spoke Naruto with a smile.

"The what? What are you talking about?" asked a confused Minami wondering if her niisan had gone mad while he was away. Naruto looked at her for a moment, before smacking himself on the forehead chuckling to himself.

"Oh ya I forgot you don't know, I need to remember that." Naruto said allowing one of the marble sized orbs to float out of his coat and up between the two where it hovered causing Minami to stare at it questioningly.

"Wh-what is that?" asked Minami serious wondering what was going on all of the sudden with her niisan.

"Hum you know I think I'll just skip to what I was planning, it will take less time." said Naruto after a moment of thinking calling a seed from his back to float over to his hand drawing his sisters eyes.

"Ni-niisan what is that, and what do you mean planning, what's going on?" asked Minami feeling very unnerved by what was happening all of the sudden. Naruto looked at Minami tilting his head slightly looking between her and the seed in his hand, and back.

"Look I know this seems odd but trust me it'll all make since soon, just let me put this on your head." Naruto said lifting up the seed. This of course prompted Minami to leap back from her Niisan with a small panicked look on her face her mind racing to try and figure out what she was seeing and hearing.

"**Nice going you baka, way to sound like you're crazy to her!"** Berated the Juubi from inside Naruto.

_What did I do? _Asked Naruto not quite seeing what it must have looked like to his poor Neesan.

"**Baka you might as well have started drooling saying "JOIN US" for all the good you did!" **shouted Juubi looking at the situation before her. As Naruto thought of what she had just said he replayed the events and had to stop from smoking himself in the face.

_Ok ya I could have handled that better, but what am I going to do now, she is freaked out, and I can't have her running back to Konoha yelling about this. _asked Naruto.

"**Damn your right…. I guess there is nothing for it, you're just going to have to pull her into the mindscape by force, but be carful we both know she's no pushover." **Spoke Juubi in a serious tone.

Meanwhile Minami was having her own mental debate.

_What the hell is going on… I MEAN WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, FIRST NARTUO SHOWS UP DIFFERENT, ACTS DIFFERENT, NOW HE HAS STRANGE BLACK ORBS COMING OUT OF HIM AND TALKING ABOUT MAKING IT ALL MAKE SINCE. WAIT IS THIS SOMEKIND OF JUTSU, OR TRAP. OH KAMI WHAT IF HE IS CAUGHT BY SOME KIND OF ENEMY TRAP, WHAT IF HE ALREADY GOT THE REST OF HIS TEAM I NEED TO TELL SOMEONE I NEED TO HELP HIM! _ Shouted Minami inside of her head trying not to panic even as her mind raced.

"**It's ok Minami-chan I'll help you get your brother back, all we have to do is subdue him first then take him back." **spoke of Kyuubi trying to help the girl.

_Thanks Kyu-kun, your right, hold on niisan I'll take care of this. _thought the redhead as she sank into a battle stance before her brother.

Naruto seeing this took a step back and allowing the seed to float up behind him softly.

"Whoa Minami it's ok I know what I said sounded weird but I can explain really." Naruto tried to say.

"Naruto I need you to come back with me to the village now, it will be ok we'll get Tsunade and fix whatever this is." Spoke Minami not taking her eyes off her brother, even as she began channeling chakra through her body.

"What no I can't Minami, please really I'm fine it's not what you think." Naruto started.

"It wasn't a question Niisan, I'm sorry but you need help, and I have to get you back to the village now." spoke Minami as she began going through hand seals quickly before the blond.

_Oh crap!_ Thought Naruto as he leapt back allowing the other five seeds to fly out of his back as he landed forming their circular formation behind him.

_Damn he has more of whatever those things are I need to take care of this fast…sorry niisan but I might have to get rough with you. _Though Minami as she landed on the final hand seal before leaning back before spitting out several shots of concentrated water with a cry of Water Style Great Cannon Ball Jutsu.

Several balls of water each the size of a cannon ball shot forward towards Naruto across the field. Before they could reach the blond, however, they were impacted halfway by Naruto's seeds and exploded into light showers of water that fell to the ground between them.

_What they hell?_ Thought Minami seeing her attack fail before she formed a cross shaped hand seal and called up some of Kyuubi's chakra to summon a small army of shadow clones. With a popping sound the field was now host to around fifty some copied of Minami all taking out kunai and look at the blond they now surrounded.

"Sorry Niisan but this is for your own good." called Minami as she and the shadow clones rushed forward. Minami stopped, however only after a few steps as she began to get the memories from her shadow clones nearest her brother. Images of strange black figures with purple eyes kept flashing in front of her, and from where she stood on the edge she could see the periodic burst of smoke that signaled a dispersed clone. Before she could act however, one of the figures burst out of the group rushing towards her. Acting on instinct Minami slapped the seal located on the inside of her wrist, and moments later she had a windmill shrunken in her hand that she was hurling towards the oncoming figure.

As she let the weapon fly she got a moment to see the figure before her clearly. It looked like a solid black version of her brother with two round glowing purple eyes set in its face, even as it rushed towards her. She watched as her Shuriken flew true and caught the creature in it left shoulder squarely. But before she could calibrate her heart sank as the windmill shrunken cut through the creature arm without even slowing it down. The arm flopped to the ground as the shuriken continued on, but the creature seemed not to even have registered the hit as it closed in on her. Leaping back she flew through handsign before firing off another blast of water from her mouth that impacted the creature squarely in the face, causing it to halt its advance for a moment. Again, however her victory was short lived as she saw the creature merely shake its head slightly before turning to look at her before once again charging forward towards her.

_So Justus don't slow these things down, must have something to do with those orbs. _Thought Minami slapping both her wrists calling fourth more windmill shrunken to launch one after another towards the creature that was again upon her. However, the creature seemed to have learned from its earlier assault and was now actively dodging the oncoming attack as it closed in only taking glancing blows. What alarmed Minami more, however was that as she watched the creatures arm seemed to be growing back from the stump of a shoulder she had created. Seeing this Minami cursed slightly under her breath.

_Damn it they heal too, what they hell are these things, I guess I have to get in there to put it down for good. _Minami thought as she summoned her final sealed weapon. What she now held were a pair of four pointed collapsible shuriken. Unlike their windmill brothers however these shuriken blades were straight and looked more like elongated strait swords with smooth handles polished to a shine. Without a wasted moment Minami charged forward and with a flick of her wrists both shrunken with blurred spinning disks of steel, that stayed on her palms held by a miniscule amount of chakra.

As the two figures closed in on one another Minami leapt into the air twisting her body as she did so spinning to add her weight behind her spinning blades as they cut into the figure before her. Her first blade proceeded to cut through the body of the creature cleanly gouging a large mark into its chest. Causing it to fall back slightly. Minami allowed herself to smirk a little at finally causing the creature to fall back.

The creature in the meantime looked over a Minami and tilted its head slightly before doing something that frightened Minami to her core. From the creatures remaining hand what appeared to be a web of black vines began to erupt from it forming a strange outline that slowly began to take shape. A moment later Minami looked on in shock as the creature held what was obviously a crude version of one of her windmill shuriken in its hand before it hauled its arm back heaving the creation towards her.

"SHIT!" yelled Minami as she saw the shuriken whip past her a few feet to the left. So happy was she that the creature seemed to not know the proper way to through a shrunken, Minami didn't notice as another of the creatures came rushing out of the battle towards her. She only took notice in time to make swift slice towards it. This creature, however didn't stop its charge, and the momentum it had built up served to increase the damage of her hit causing the blow to literally slice the creature in half its two sides falling to the ground a few feet past her carried forward by its own momentum. As she turned to face forward, however the original creature had closed the distance and was now stretching its hand forward to grab hold of her head. Before she could do more than shout the creature had reached forward with its remaining hand and poked her squarely in the forehead, and next thing she knew everything went black.

**Ok I was really thinking about leaving it here but I decided you've had enough cliffhangers for one week so I'll cut you a break…..for now**

Minami opened her eyes looking around her suddenly seeing a peculiar sight, behind her was the outstretching blackness of her mindscape with its familiar cage and the Kyuubi peering out at her and around. However, before her and slowly working its way forwards was what looked like a grassy meadow and blue sky. As she watched the blackness of her mindscape was slowly eaten away by the new green and blue right up to the very edge of the Kyuubi's cage. Then small vines began to work their way up the red bars of the cage wrapping themselves around and growing on them small purple flowers. As she watched this she nearly missed the approach of a figure from behind her. What alerted her was the small voice of the Kyuubi.

"**Ma-mama?" **spoke Kyu with a soft little voice heavy with emotion and hope as the women that Minami had seen during Naruto's exam stepped forward with bare feet across the grass up to the red cage before her.

Her purple hair swayed gently as she moved forward, and her face was covered by a happy smile even as small cascades of tears fell from her eyes as she walked forward into the cage. As she approached the Kyubi began to shrink in size until he was about the size of a large tiger, his red eyes never leaving the form of the women before him.

"H-hai sochi-kun.. it's me." spoke the Juubi in a soft scared little voice. For decades she had waited for this moment, a chance to see her children, to speak with them, just to hold them, and now she could not help but fear what would happen if her sochi would not accept her.

Her distress did not last long, however, as with an excited cry the Kyu leapt forward with an excited call and began nuzzling his face into Juubi while wrapping his tails around her and pulling her close.

"**Mama! It's you mama!" **called Kyu happily as he and Juubi embraced each other. Minami in the meantime was looking on feeling like her head was about to explode at what she was seeing. Before she could do more than stand, however a hand found itself on her shoulder prompting her to look to her left to find its source.

What she saw was the sheepishly smiling face of her Nissan, who was rubbing the back of his head has he looked at her.

"Sorry about that Minami but it would have kind of ruined the surprises for Juubi, still sorry that I scared you." The blond said towards his sister.

Minami looked at her brothers smiling face, before looking back at the cage and its inhabitants with a questioning look on her face.

"B-but you, she, where, how?" started Minami before she descended into a fast passed bit of gibbering.

"I think I might have broken her." chuckled Naruto looking at his clearly lost redheaded sister with a smile.

**OK Done, and no that is not a cliff hanger it is just an ending. Ok a few quick comments before I say goodbye. First if you are having trouble picturing the seedlings then just think of what a heartless looks like then shape it like naruto and replace the yellow eyes with purple and you get close enough. Also for an idea of what Minami's weapons looked like go and look up Vampire Hunter D bloodlust and one of the hunters is where I got the idea for her weapon. For those who wanted to see Minato get his ass chewed out then sorry you'll have to wait a bit longer. Also you might notice some more character development for the sisters, this is important as I am trying to keep an even spread throughout the family, meaning Mito is next to get more development. Ok a small point you may be asking yourself is about how Minami hurt the seedling so much, but that will be answered in time. Also the little buggers are really strong so don't think you know everything about them yet. Ok contest is still going on so guess away and thanks for reading.**

**Yay big 100,000**


	11. Chapter 10

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Contest is coming to an end sooner than you might think, the cut off with be during the finals of the Chunnin exams, so you're looking at it coming up fast.

Again yes there will be a summoning type Jutsu for Naruto, so guess away; I will say that so far one person has actually gotten it. So hurry and be the next to get it right and claim a prize.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them.

Ok the seedlings are going to become a more important part of the story as it goes so here is a little extra explanation of them.

Seedlings are basically animated chakra formed into simple bodies that resemble who they create. The seed that acts as their head is the only spot that is as durable as the previous seed version the rest of the body is created from more malleable chakra that allows for movement and easier manipulation. Although they can do shape manipulation it is less focused and less solid than the seeds version and what Naruto can create, but it does have a larger range at the moment than Narutos. Seedlings are created without any memories or experience from their creator. Without combat they simply observe others and can be easily put into any work, or position. In combat they follow simple commands and tend to mimic their enemies in order to improve their own combat abilities. Although they are easily lead their creator does have control over them over anyone else, in simplest terms they see him as their creator as well as part of them. Directing these seedlings costs a great deal of strain equal to the amount of instruction given. Think of it like trying to move each of your fingers in a different direction or way than any other. At the moment seedlings have not been explored much, but their potential is obvious.

Finally thank you to all who have Followed, Favorite, and Reviewed, as well as those who have taken time to PM. It really does blow me away that this story is only a month old and I have so many readers, I hope that you continue to enjoy the story and hope to see a lot more of all three of these in the future.

I do have a quick question though; I have gotten a lot of questions via Guest tags, or simple tags I can't respond to. Um I can't help but wonder why you are asking a question when I can't answer them? Don't get me wrong I appreciate your questions and support but I really don't see what I can do to answer them if you don't have an account, so this is my call to action, go out and get an account. Trust me I got one and next thing you know I'm bored one day and start writing, you would not believe how easy it is to get going when the option is there. Get out there and write it's fun.

**Chapter Ten**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-So this is the new world-**

"Um Minami….Hello Minami?" Naruto spoke softly poking his redheaded sister slightly on the shoulder, trying to snap his sister out of the mental shock she had found herself in. Naruto turned his gaze from his sister to the cage that his neesan still found herself facing.

The red wooden bars of the cage were now completely entangled in a thick bramble of vines that were dotted about with large purple flowers the shape of an iris that released a soft light that seemed to fall on what was now a soft carpet of grass, that now stretched all the way into the cage, and into the surrounding.

Still standing in the center of the cage only a few feet from the bars were the figures of Juubi and Kyuubi. From where he stood Naruto could see the smiling figure of Juubi had lowered herself to sit upon her knees allowing Kyuubi to rest his head upon her lap as she ran one pale hand through the deep red fur of the fox. Kyuubi was actually purring as he listened to a soft melody that Juubi was humming as she simply embraced this moment of being reunited with her son. At seeing this Naruto found himself unable to suppress a soft smile, was well as a happy feeling that built in his chest. He couldn't bring himself to interrupt such a moment of pure happiness, and chose instead to gently help his still stunned neesan to her feet and slowly guide her towards the great white tree that stretched up on the other side of the mindscape.

Minami registered on some level that she was now walking but beyond that her mind was still desperately trying to piece together what she had just witnessed. First she had seen her Niisan arrive back at the village, not only dressed differently, but having different eyes, and most of all acting very different than she had ever seen him act. Then he takes her off away from the village, and summoned some weird black orb that he tries to get her to touch. Then there was a fight, with these weird black creatures, and then she saw the same women that Naruto had henged into walk forwards and start hugging Kyuubi…

_What is going on here? Come on Minami think, think everything is just going crazy all of the sudden what is happening!? _Thought the desperate girl, but her thoughts were interrupted by a quiet voice from her right.

"You know I expected you to be shocked but I have to admit that a total shutdown wasn't really what I expected." spoke Naruto, more to himself than to his sister as he arrived at the base of the tree, and plopped down a few feet from it with his back towards the cage and looking up at the shimmering foliage above him. Minami seemed to focus on the voice beside her as she looked down at the smiling face of her niisan as he looked up at the tree above. She found herself compelled to lower herself beside him, her gaze never leaving his smiling countenance.

"Who…I mean, what. What is all this?" asked the confused girl hoping that she might actually gain some kind of insight into what was happening around her, and why her world had gone crazy.

"You mean Juubi?" Naruto started gesturing towards the cage behind the two. This action prompted Minami to nod her head slowly allowing Naruto to continue.

"Well you see she is the mother of the tailed beasts from the old story of the sage." Began Naruto as Minami's eyes bugged out of her head.

"T-their mother!" spoke Minami softly.

"Yep, you see on the night that Kyuubi was split between you and Naruko, the Juubi was able to leave the moon and seal herself into me." continued the blond, as the redhead could only stare at him with a surprised look on her face.

"B-but how, how long?" started Minami.

"How long have I known?" finished Naruto to which Minami nodded? "Not to be mean Minami but I'm afraid you're not really ready to know that." replied Naruto causing the girl to look confused.

"Or more accurately, neither of us are ready for that little story, you and I have been trying to become a family recently but I'm afraid we are still far from it." Spoke Naruto with a sad little tone to his voice as he turned to look into Minami's eyes, purple into red.

"W-what do you mean?" asked Minami a little scared of what she might hear.

"Minami come on," started Naruto with a little shake of his head, "you were always the smartest of us, you know what I mean just think for a moment." replied Naruto still with that small sad note in his voice.

So Minami thought back, images of her and Naruko's childhood. As memories passed one after another before her eyes, she began to see the absence of her brother. The time where he was simply left out or abandoned, the times where he was shepherded off to take care of Mito while she and Naruko were given some new training or Jutsu. When their godparents would come to pick them up for a day out, and she would turn back to see a crushed looking Naruto looking out from his second story room window as he watched them leave. All those time where he had been standing apart from the family, all those times forgotten or overlooked, all those times that she had seen and done nothing.

Then something worse worked its way to the surface, her own actions. Those times she had simply dismissed her brother's efforts, telling him to stop goofing off and try and act like a real ninja. The flimsy reasons she had constructed to somehow justify all those absences of Naruto just so she could feel guiltless for her actions. As memories continued to surface one particular one worked its way to the surface, and Minami could not help to have her mind drawn fully into it.

-flashback 4 years-

Minami and Naruko had just finished up training with Kushina and had decided to spend some of their free time before Jiraiya's lesson to go to the park and see if they could find some of the other clan heads. When they arrived Naruko had immediately run off with Sasuke because he had challenged her leaving Minami to wonder around the play yard to try and find someone.

As the young girl had rounded a trails end she came out facing the open lake located in the center of the park. As she cast her eyes out over the still water the wind blew her rusty red hair slightly over her solid black loose shirt and pants that she wore for training. As she stood there a voice came to her on the wind, one she recognized.

"So then I set off another couple paint bombs on him and he chased me all around school shouting about flames of youth or something, I'm telling you Hinata it was crazy." came a happy voice from a blond headed figure that sat beside a blue haired girl on the bank of the lake both talking while letting their bare feet sit in the water.

As she heard her niisans conversation with Hinata, Minami could not help but bit back a small bit of annoyance at what he was talking about.

_Darn it Niisan why do you insist on pranking so much, if you would put forth that effort into training you would be with Naruko and Me instead of being separated from us. If you don't start getting your act together you're going to tear this family apart. _Thought Minami as she slowly approached the couple by the lake. As she neared closer she called out a greeting to the two prompting them to turn to face her.

"Hey Hinata, Niisan what are you two up to?" Minami asked keeping a calm tone in her voice.

"Oh hi neesan what's up? I thought you and Naruko were busy training?" asked Naruto with a slight bit of puzzlement in his voice. What only Hinata noticed was that there was also a very strong bit of longing mixed in with that puzzlement.

"Hai, Minami what brings you here?" followed up Hinata, silently hoping that Minami's presence wouldn't upset Naruto too much.

"Oh ya, well we have a little break before we continue so we thought to come out here and relax a bit, not all of us get to all the time." Minami finished trying to hint to Naruto that he was taking everything to laxly. Her comment, however, instead of being inspiring instead came off as an insult that Naruto shrunk away from slightly.

Hinata seeing this looked from Minami to Naruto with a bit of anger on her face. She knew all too well what it was like to be cast aside for someone else for training. The sadness at seeing your fellows trained and praised while you were left alone, wishing hopping with all of you might to be allowed to join in while knowing that it was never an option. Minami couldn't see it, Naruto wasn't being lazy, he was being abandoned…but the redhead couldn't see that….those in the light never could look to the shadows where the abandoned were cast.

Naruto for his part looked down momentarily fighting back anger and sadness before turning his face back up towards his sister with a forced smile upon his face.

"H-Hai Neesan, sorry I guess…" replied Naruto while standing to walk away slowly with Hinata falling in beside him while sending a quick glare back at Minami that shocked the redhead for a moment.

_Huh why is Hinata angry? I don't get it all I'm trying to do is show Niisan what he needs to do, what's wrong with that… oh well I better get back to Naruko before she gets herself into trouble. _Thought Minami turning to walk away from the lake and back towards the other end of the park.

Hours later at home Minami once again found herself becoming annoyed at Naruto for his actions. It seemed after her conversation with Naruto at the lake he had decided to go and prank the Anbu headquarters. Now Kushina and Minato were out back with him arguing with him about his actions. They had been out there for more than an hour before Naruto entered silently and without acknowledging anyone slowly made his way upstairs to his room. As he passed Minami saw traces of tears in the blondes' eyes, but she remained resolute in her displeasure of her brother. Moments later Minato and Kushina walked into the house apparently still arguing between themselves.

"Minato I know what he did was stupid, but he didn't do any lasting harm, leaving him home tonight is too much, and I won't hear of it." Spoke an obviously emotional Kushina as the sliding glass door that lead to the back yard was opened.

"Kushina-chan I know you don't like it, but this wasn't just some prank he shut down the operations of Anbu for a whole hour, that's the kind of thing that can't happen, he has to be punished." replied Minato trying to sooth his wives anger.

"Minato I'm not say he doesn't need to be punished, but with you and I with the girls he's out there by himself most of the time, he is bound to get into pranks, I did the same thing at his age he's just lonely." Kushina tried to reason.

"Kushina you know very well why that is, we have talked about this." replied Minato reminding her of the conversation that they had shared every year that Naruto's training had been put off. Over time Kushina's arguments had slowly become fewer and fewer. Maybe it was guilt at her own weakness, maybe it was her simply trying to distance herself from her own failures and not wanting to see the proof of her actions. Whatever the case it remained that after so long Kushina could no longer mount more than a token defense for Naruto, and usually simply ended these arguments, with a small tearful nod.

Without the context to what her parents were talking about all Minami could see were her Tousan and Kaasan sad or angry. Always in conjunction to Naruto somehow. On that point Minami exited the living room and headed upstairs after Naruto to try and talk to him.

_Naruto don't you see what you're doing, you're hurting the family with your actions, and yourself. If you would just try harder then maybe this kind of thing wouldn't happen. _Thought Minami as she approached Narutos door and nocked lightly on the door.

"Naruto open the door, we need to talk." spoke Minami in a commanding tone. After a brief pause the door opened slightly to reveal her brother standing in front of her looking confused as to her presence.

"Hai what do you need Minami?" asked Naruto his voice soft, while his eyes still boor signs of tears.

"Naruto what is wrong with you?" Minami began pushing forward into Naruto's room while turning to face her niisan before continuing. "I told you, you need to start trying harder, and what do you do, you run off to prank again, are you even trying to become a member of this family? Why don't you ever listen to us?" continued the redhead. Even as Naruto's head continued to droop lower, as the redhead half berated half pleaded with him.

"Well Naruto..why? tell me why Tousan and Kaasan have to fight and argue, and why it's always about you?" fired off Minami a bit of tears leaking out along with the clear amount of emotion present in her voice. Silence hung in the air between the siblings for a moment before Naruto stepped to hold the door open indicating for Minami to leave. Minami only shook her head slightly as she made her way past her Niisan having given up finding the answer to her question.

However, just as she began to leave the room she heard her brother whisper something softly just as the door swung shut.

"I- i tried neesan..i'm always trying." whispered Naruto as the door shut with a low click.

Minami could only stand looking back at the smooth white door of her brothers door, and wonder what he could have meant by his words.

-Flashback end-

As the memories faded Minami felt a small trickle of tears begin to flow down from her eyes. Had it always been that way, had she and the rest of the family truly always cast Naruto aside, and then blamed him for their mistakes. Naruto had always been there to help them, there to help looking after Mito, there to help them move past being jinchuuriki, and what had they done for him…what she had done for him. Looking over she found the sad little smile of her niisan waiting for her.

"H-how?" started Minami, pausing for a moment, before Naruto nodded for her to continue. "how can you smile after everything you've been through?" asked Minami looking at her brother. Naruto sighed upon hearing her question and looked up into the tree above them for a moment.

"I guess that is the big question isn't it….I guess I just kept hoping, no matter what happened, I just kept hoping I could be just like you and Naruko." started Naruto looking over at Minami's confused face. Seeing her confused face, he chuckled slightly.

"Yes I was jealous of you and Naruko, I wanted to be just like you two, strong, happy, having the Hokage and Kaasan praise them for their hard work…I guess after a while I just talked myself into believing that if I waited and trusted in them I would eventually get my chance. Kami I was so trusting." said Naruto with a shake of his head.

"Y-you talk l-like it's too late." Spoke up Minami the fear and sadness evident in her voice. There was a small pause following this where Naruto slowly rose to his feet and turned to face her. As Minami looked up into Naruto's eyes she saw a deep sadness in them, coupled with a grim kind of determination.

"Well I guess it is in a way, I lost something recently… I really don't know where I stand with our family anymore…I don't think I can just sit back and smile anymore.." spoke the blond in a calm voice. Minami looked almost heartbroken upon hearing this but before she could despair Naruto continued. "But the Naruto who desperately wanted us to be a family again is still here," he said gesturing to himself, " he is just going to need help from now on, he isn't strong enough to do it alone anymore." Finished Naruto as he stretched out the hand he had gestured with to offer to Minami.

The redhead looked from the hand up into the hopeful face of her niisan, and stretched out her own hand. As Naruto pulled her up she noted a small smile upon his face grow a little larger.

"I'll be there naruto…i'll do whatever I can please." Spoke Minami now looking into Narutos face.

"Thanks Minami I knew I was right to trust you." chuckled Naruto as he looked out over the vast grassy expanse of the mindscape. They stood there for a moment before Minami spoke up again.

"Um Niisan, if you can, can you tell me what is all of this." she asked looking around.

"This," replied Naruto looking around, "this is my mindscape, and I have to say it's a lot better than the sewer you had." Naruto finished unable to suppress a chuckle at the look on Minami's face. Minami at hearing Narutos jab had actual broken into an angry little smirk looking at her brother.

"Hey that's not my fault the seal just made it that way." fired back the redhead folding her arms in front of her chest.

"Suuurrreee." Said Naruto while putting his hands behind his head and walking slowly back towards the bright red cage with, before taking off in a dead sprint as Minami began to chase after him laughing the whole way.

"NIISAN GET BACK HERE!" she shouted as she took off after the blond.

As the two neared the cage both of the kids came to a complete halt at what they were seeing. For a moment both simply stared at the scene before them, before Minami couldn't take it anymore and actually fell backwards in a fit of giggles while Naruto just began chucking while smiling at the happy scene before him.

Inside the remodeled cage the Kyuubi's yin chakra or Kyu had returned to his previous mountainous size, and was currently lying flat on his stomach with his paws folded under his chin, while his tails waved lazily behind him. Accompanying this scene was the obvious sound of purring coming from the giant beast, accompanied by a happy bit of cooing that was coming from the figure on Kyu's head. Looking up the kids saw that Juubi was half laying on Kyu's head her legs folded gracefully under her, with one hand gently petting the great fox's bunny like ears, while humming a gentle tune. What made the scene priceless, however, was that along with the purring Kyu's other ear was twitching slightly in tune to his mother's melody, while his nine tails seemed too wave in graceful sweeps. The same tails that could shatter mountains, and building to nothing, now looked so gentle in their course just lazily swiping back and forth through the new grass of the cage.

"Maybe we should leave them alone for now." Spoke Naruto calmly as he turned to his sister and stretched out his hand. Minami gaining her breath took Naruto's offered hand, and again felt a small tug from the back of her mind. The next thing she knew she was standing in the middle of the training field that Naruto had brought her to. The entire area still looked like a battled field, with shuriken and water lying all about, along with great chunks of the earth gouged out in some areas where attacks had landed. It looked like one of her clones had even tried a rasengan, and practically detonated a bomb over in one area. What drew her eyes more than anything, however, were the several black faces that seemed to be peering at her from a few feet away five in total, and they seemed all to be gathered around something at their feet.

Naruto then appeared in her vision, walking slowly towards the group, obviously interested in finding out what was causing the odd looks. Once he arrived he seemed to stifle a chuckle before looking over at Minami and then back at the ground before motioning her that it was ok to approach. As she approached the five black figures all stepped slightly away from her with soft little humming noises, and one even seemed to hide behind its fellows in something akin to fear. As she approached she saw what they were all looking at.

On the ground lay what was unmistakably one of the black figures, but something seemed to be off about it. It was a moment before Minami realized that this was the one that she had cut in half during the fight. It seems that the creature had crawled over and reattached itself to its legs. This would have been impressive if the sad guy hadn't affixed his legs backwards, so the seedling was at that moment desperately trying, and comically failing to get off the ground. Naruto shook his head slightly before moving his hand over the seedling, and with a small pulse of his chakra allowed the creature to recede back into a solid ball of black and purple chakra once again. Minami stared transfixed as the ball hovered for a few moments before gently sailing over beside its fellows and extending once again into a full copy of the others, with its legs thankfully back in the correct position. At this the newly formed Seedling looked around at its fellows humming happily before catching sight of Minami and jumping behind the others to join the other hiding figure there.

Minami looked at this and quirked an eyebrow up at the Seedlings actions turning to Naruto to get an answer.

"It would seem that they are a bit frightened of you after your fight." Naruto commented looking over at his neesan with a sly little smile on his face.

"afraid but, wait what are they?" asked Minami realizing that she still didn't know what exactly she had been fighting the entire time. Naruto seemed to think a moment before replying to the question.

"Well I guess I can tell you about them, it looks like Juubi and Kyu will be busy catching up for a bit longer, so it can at least help pass the time." replied Naruto finally beginning at explaining the basics about his chakra and the seedlings to her, leaving out some of the details that he didn't feel he owed her quite yet.

A few hours later found Naruto and Minami walking in front of the gate of the Namikaze home. Both smiling as they did. It wasn't much but the past few hours had been a step forward for the pair. It didn't hurt that Juubi and Kyu were having the best day they could remember in the last hundred years just seeing each other. Juubi had also made it so that she and Kyu had a permanent link in their mindscapes separate from their hosts so that they could remain in contact even if the two were separated. It helped that they were effectively the same chakra so that this link happened almost instantaneously.

As the two stepped onto the stoop Naruto suddenly halted while a strange shiver went down his spine as he reached for the door knob. Minami noticed this and couldn't help but question her brother's actions.

"Um niisan what's up?" spoke Minami wondering what seemed to be bothering the blond.

"I just realized something," Naruto started as he turned the knob and allowed the door to gently swing open, "Mito should have gotten home about ten minutes ago." he finished just as the door opened fully.

Before Minami could even register what Naruto had said, she heard a familiar voice and noticed out of the corner of her eye a gold and red figure running towards the pair yelling the whole time.

"ANIKI! NEECHAN! YOUR BACK!" shouted an excited redheaded comet known as Mito as she launched herself forward at the pair courtesy of two golden chains she seemed to have fixed to either side of the door to fling her forward at them. As the girl flew forward towards the pair both for a moment had the same though run through their head.

_So this is how I'm going to die…..first c-rank my ass._

Meanwhile on the other side of the village from the crash site a fiery redhead and a man with gravity defying grey hair were standing at attention before their Hokage. Or at least what passed for attention as Kakashi still had his face buried in his little orange book, and Kushina twitching slightly at the sight of the orange book in her presence.

Minato for his part could only shake his head at the scene in front of him. Although he was overjoyed to see his wife again after such a long break the report had to come first, and both he and Jiraiya were particularly worried about this particular report, wondering if anything towards the direction of the prophecy may have happened. To that end he addressed Kakashi first.

"Team Seven's captain Kakashi I would like a report on you mission to escort the actress Koyuki to snow country?" asked Minato in a calm voice directing his attention to the man before him. At this Kakashi closed his book before placing it inside of his vest and taking a step forward.

"Sir we began our mission promptly by meeting up with….." Kakashi began his report detailing their run in with the princess turned actress and the trip towards snow as well as the reasons behind the journey. As he continued he explained about the group's first run in with enemy snow ninja, and how the team was able to defeat them quickly enough due to the combined abilities of the girls as well as his and Sasuke's sharingan. After the three suit wearing ninja had been dealt with they had proceeded to escort the princess Yuki further into the nation, while learning of the dictatorial rule that her uncle had installed upon the nation. Thanks to Naruko's and Minami's efforts the uncle had been defeated, but not before activating the hidden treasure of snow, which turned out to be an artificial summer. Once the head had fallen the rest of the snow ninja, and solders quickly surrendered and Yuki was reinstated as the new Queen of Snow. It seemed the only thing that team seven had not managed to fix in snow was Yuki's attitude, as it seemed that even after her ascension to the thrown the girl turned ruler, seemed to be missing something of herself, that she seemed to have left to freeze in the cold of snow.

As Kakashi finished his report Minato had to admit that he was astounded at what team seven had accomplished. Not only had they saved a nation, but the team was now seen as heroes by the land of snow. In fact their success had been so great that Yuki's advisors had decided that she would be making a visit to Konoha during the upcoming exams so as to both view their nations hero's in action as well as establish a lasting treaty with Konoha. While Minato smiled proudly at the teams accomplishments, and was busy making mental notes to congratulate the girls, and think of what he could get them as congratulations another figure of the room was less pleased with what she had heard.

_What the hell were you thinking Kakashi, that wasn't a c-rank mission; it was at least a high b-rank once you knew that you should have at least called for backup! Damn it Kakashi this isn't one of your glory day missions, this is the kind of thing that can lose you a team. Sure my mission turned bad as well, but there at least I was going in informed and was within a rapid response team's area from Konoha, you were half way across the continent! _Thought an angry Kushina, while she may have been just as proud of the girls as Minato, she also was able to look past her pride and see that Kakashi had knowingly endangered his team, and that kind of sensei was a danger to himself as well as his team.

"Very well Kakashi, I expect your report within the week, and I have to say congratulations are in order, I will be increasing the rank of the mission to an A-rank for you and your team. Be sure to pass along the good news to your team the next time that you see them, I will leave it to you to tell them the good news." spoke Minato with a clear amount of happiness and pride in his voice as he did so. After saying this he turned his attention over to Kushina as Kakashi left the room in apparent happiness.

Once Kakashi had left Minato stood up from his desk and walked around to hug his wife. While Kushina was still angry at Minato she could not deny that it was good to see him as well. It was not an easy thing to not see someone that you had known, and loved for over 13 years and not feel something at seeing them once again. So the couple stood there for a moment simply embracing each other, before Kushina broke their connection by stepping back slightly and clearing her thought before speaking.

"Team eleven's captain reporting on a successful mission to wave." spoke Kushina, in a professional tone. Minato hearing this once again assumed his Hokage position and walked around the desk to once again seat himself.

"Very good, please give me a verbal report of the events." replied Minato settling in to listen to Kushina's report. Needless to say Kushina followed up with the events exactly until they reached the Zabuza fight, here she altered the story to reflect that Naruto's "death" and abilities remained hidden. When she reached the bridge engagement she also omitted the information pertaining to Naruto's ability's simply listing that he and Hinata had held the bridge until she and Kiba could come and help with the cleanup procedures. By the end of the briefing Minato was beginning to wonder if all of the c-rank missions would be turning out so hectic in the future. The news that team eleven had managed to stand against Zabuza had been surprising, but Kushina was an A-rank herself so their victory was not impossible. The only thing that seemed off was Kushina's unwillingness to go into great detail about either battle, as if something was off.

But then again he supposed if she had been in a life or death battle with Zabuza it is unlikely she had time to collect details on the entire event, and just like that he brushed away his questions and returned his attention to reviewing what he had heard.

"Well Kushina it seems that your team also had an adventure for themselves." spoke Minato once Kushina had finished.

_Oh Minato if you only knew….no I guess it is closer to say if you only cared. _Though kushina with a small bit of sadness in her heart. It hurt her to see Minato like this, he had been the greatest love of her life, but now she couldn't look at him without thinking about Naruto. She felt helpless watching the man she loved become a monster in her eyes, and hated herself for being seemingly powerless to stop it. But she could try.

"Hai Hokage-sama but my team stepped up to the challenge, Naruto in fact has shown remarkable improvements over our training, and it seems the other members of team Eleven have nominated him for their leader." spoke Kushina hoping against hope that Minato might start to take an interest in their son before it was too late.

Kushina's words struck Minato for a moment.

_Naruto a team leader, but Kiba's report said he had a competitive attitude, how could Naruto have handled that…maybe it was Hinata, no that couldn't be, I suppose Kushina could have been focusing on Naruto more than the others but that doesn't seem like her….no that isn't her at all is it….that's me. _thought the blond hokage a pang of guilt echoing around before being suppressed like all of its fellows in Minato.

_Enough Minato that kind of thinking isn't helping anyone, focus. So Naruto is improving well that's good, maybe if he keeps getting better we can risk letting him train with the girls a little. I know that's what Kushina really wants for him, and I'm so tired of seeing her look at me like I'm some kind of monster… I guess I have to tell her soon, but not tonight…maybe during the exams when we are alone…maybe then. I guess I can at least offer Naruto something as congratulations for his first c-rank along with the girls…I just hope that I can be forgiven when all of this is over. _Thought the blond hokage as he looked up into his wives face forcing a smile upon his face before speaking.

"Really, well that's good to hear, it seems all three of the kids have had their first A-rank mission before we thought they would, we will have to find a way to congratulate them, what do you think?" asked Minato. Kushina visibly relaxed at hearing this as though a small weight had been lifted from her. She was still not totally at ease but at least it was a step in the right direction.

"Hai Minato I think that's a good idea, I already planned to have a big dinner tonight, so I'll go ahead and head home, if you could please stop by Tsunade's and invite her to if you can, I need to get home and get started." Kushina replied bowing slightly before spinning to leave the room. With a little sigh Minato turned his attention back to the work in front of him, his mind settled slightly thanks to what had transpired. At least to him the situation seemed to be heading back into where it was supposed to be.

At that same moment on the other side of town our blond hero found himself wrapped in a bone crushing combination of golden chains as well as the arms of his younger sister. After balling the two of them over at the doorway Mito had proceeded to start firing off questions at them faster than they could even keep track of before wrapping the pair up in her chains and proceeding to direct them inside like they were some kind of bizarre show pets while still firing off questions as she went. At the moment Minami was mercifully being allowed to breath after having her own squeezing experience with Mito moments before. Meanwhile Naruto was currently turning an interesting color like a mix between purple and blue.

_Juubi help I think she might actually be trying to kill me! _Shouted Naruto inside his head.

"**Now now Naruto there is no need to be hysterical, I mean you've only got a minor crack on a few bones, that nothing to whine about." **chuckled the Juubi still in such a good mood from her recent episode with her youngest that she seemed unwilling to even consider anything bad at the moment.

_Darn it Juubi is still in lala land, and she has already taken out Minami….crap crap crap… I'm doomed! Wait that's it! I'm saved! _The blond thought calling forth as much concentration as he could at the moment.

On the outside Mito was still nuzzling her face affectionately against her Anika's chest unaware to the peril she was putting the poor boy in. Her two chains in the meantime were simply reacting to her desire to hold onto her brother, and doing so a bit two enthusiastically, thus resulting in the boys current predicament. Just as Mito was about to step back something happened that she could not have expected. With a small pop she found herself no longer holding her orange clad Anika, but rather what appeared to be a solid black copy of him with bright purple eyes, that looked down at her before looking around questioningly. Mito responded quickly with all the grace and dignity that one could expect to see from a six year old.

"AHHHHHH!" shouted the petite redhead as she shoved the black figure back, not even noticing that her chains had disappeared, before she dove headfirst over the couch behind her. After a moment one could see a bright tuft of red hair poke up from the top of the couch soon followed by the forehead, and wide violet eyes of the young girl.

On the other side of the couch the Seedling having seen Mito's reaction had chosen to dive behind the closest cover, which just so happened to be Minami, and was currently peaking its own head out from over the redheads shoulder.

Mito looked at the black figure suspiciously before raising one hand over the couch to wave slightly at the being, her curiosity momentarily taking a larger precedence over her worry. The seedling who was still watching in turn raised its own hand to wave slightly back. Just as Mito began to relax she leapt about a foot in the air as a voice spoke behind her.

"So Mito-chan are you making friends with my Seedling?" asked a bemused Naruto from behind his youngest sister. A moment before he had released a seedling and substituted with it in order to escape the vice like grip of his sister. At that moment he was thanking Kami that the skills he had learned before the merger were still with him, otherwise he might have actually passed on just then.

As Mito landed she turned quickly to see the smiling face of Naruto, as she saw him she turned her face back and forth between the Seedling and Minami, and Naruto before finally speaking.

"Aniki that's not funny!" she started putting on a pouting face for a moment. However, her pouting face soon broke out into a wide grin before she jumped off the couch to wrap her arms around Naruto's neck and pulling her face up so that she was nuzzling her check against his giggling as she did so. This touching scene lasted briefly however, as Mito's attention was soon drawn back towards the Seedling that at that moment was in quite the situation. The Seedling at seeing Mitos action had suddenly wrapped his arms around Minami before proceeding to rub his own cheek against the unsuspecting Redhead's own cheek. Needless to say Minami had not been expecting this and had immediately grabbed the seedlings arm and proceeded to flip it over in front of her so that what Mito saw was a disheveled Minami looking down at a confused Seedling that was humming softly as if in confusion.

Seeing this Mito detached herself from Naruto before jumping down to the floor to run over to get a better look at the Seedling.

"Aniki, what is it?" asked Mito as the Seedling sat up slightly to look over at her cocking its head slightly as she approached as if not sure what to make of her.

"Well imouto that's one of my seedlings, it's a new move I've been working on, why don't you say hello." said Naruto looking over as the Seedling slowly got to its feet and stood facing Mito never letting its gaze leave her. Mito for her part was a little hesitant at the new creature, but as it is with most kids her curiosity won out over her fear, and soon she had started to introduce herself.

"Hello Seed-kun, I'm Mito and Anika says you're a new move he has been working on, what does he mean, you don't look like a jutsu, are you a clone, why don't you have a mouth, you have big eyes, do you blink?" what had started as an introduction soon devolved into a stream of questions fired off by the young redhead, that made both Minami and Naruto burst out laughing as the seedling looked around at them as if asking for help with the girl.

Several hours later found the Namikaze/Uzumaki family seated at a table laden down this dozens of handmade dishes made by Kushina. With a little help from both Minami and Naruto she had managed to make enough food for everyone, and just finished setting the table as Minato and Naruko accompanied by Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune arrived at the door. Naruto had been informed via his pollens that Hinata and Kiba were both having their own celebrations with their clans, all of team eleven had offered their own congratulations to the others before their parties began.

So as the dinner went on Naruko was just finishing telling everyone about their adventures in Snow.

"So after me, and Minami hit his armor with a rasengan he went flying into the ice wall and then boom the whole thing came down. Then the machine started up and it was awesome all the snow and ice melted and it was like spring. After that we brought the princess back and she became queen of Snow, isn't that awesome." Finished Naruko, as everyone at the table smiled at the story. Say what you will about her personal skills Naruko had a kind of energy about her that was almost infectious.

"Well Naruko I think I speak for everyone when I say, we are very proud of both of you for all of your hard work in snow. It just goes to show how hard you have been working that you were able to handle such a difficult mission." Spoke Jiraiya from one end of the table smiling around at the table. The only people who didn't smile back at him were Tsunade and Shizune, but they understood that this was not the place or time for a conflict so they decided to simply hold their piece.

"Girls I am so proud of you, to think all three of my children have become heroes of other nations, oh, come here you." Spoke Kushina sitting up to go and give both of her eldest girls a tight hug, which both accepted happily. Mito in the meantime was happily clapping at the end of the story while looking at her sisters with stars in her eyes. It was no secret that Mito loved Yukie's movies, and the idea that her sisters had not only met the women, but actually helped her become a queen had the little girl star struck.

Naruto in the meantime was simply smiling at the scene before him. He may have not had the greatest time with his family, but to see those he counted among his precious few so happy was all he needed to be happy. And for that happiness he would do anything just as long as it could last. His only wish was that someday they could all be sitting like this without the baggage that those at the table were dragging around. But for now he would simply watch this small part of his world happily. His musings were interrupted, however, by another voice at the table.

"Hey Kushina," called Tsunade from her end of the table getting the Mother's attention, "you said that all three of you children are now heroes, what happened on your mission with Naruto, last time I checked you were just escorting a bridge builder, don't tell me he turned out to be a princess too." said Tsunade in a cheerful tone obviously having fun with the women. Kushina smiled at the women's words before moving back to sit, and give a quick glance over to Naruto who simply sent a small pulse to the pollen that she had sitting concealed in her hair.

"No Tsunade he wasn't a princess hehahahah, but that doesn't mean we didn't help him save his country." began Kushina throwing a good natured jab back at the blond, before going into the modified story of what they had encountered on their mission. To say the rest of those present were shocked was an understatement. The thought of a fresh team running into a member of the legendary seven swordsmen and living was nothing short of a miracle. As Kushina reached the part about the battle at the bridge someone finally spoke up.

"Wait you mean that Gato actually assaulted the bridge with a full army?" asked Minami looking between Kushina and Naruto for confirmation.

"Yep he had hired every mercenary that he could find, must have been about eighty of them in total, anyway Naruto and Hinata were on the bridge at the time, while Kiba and I were headed there to relieve them. When we arrived the battle was already underway." continued Kushina noticing a curious look from Minato and Jiraiya at this part of the story.

"Wait Kushina so Hinata and Naruto held the bridge against a small army," spoke Minato looking over at Naruto with a mixture of confusion, and a small bit of pride at his sons' actions, "how did you and Hinata manage to hold the line till Kushina arrived Naruto?" asked Minato speaking to his sochi for the first time since the brief greeting they had shared when Minato had arrived. All eyes turned to Naruto at this question. While Kushina and Minami knew how Naruto had held the line, the rest of the table including Tsunade and Shizune could not help but wonder how the two genins had pulled such a feat off.

As the eyes turned to Naruto his eyes turned only to look right into the eyes of Minato. The look he gave was neither, angry or curious, at best is seemed to be simply surprised as though the other blond had said something particularly odd, or was nothing more than an interesting picture in a book. There was a clear since of detachment as he spoke.

"We did everything we could to hold them back from the workers, but after we put a few of them down for good the rest seemed less willing to charge headfirst in, so we managed to stall till the rest of the team arrived… there really wasn't anything glorious about it like Naruko and Minami we just did what we had to do to stay alive." said Naruto in a voice of half calm half lighthearted confidence, like he was simply responding to a complement he had been given. Everyone at the table went silent at this for a moment; Kushina was simply glad that Naruto had worded it so that Mito wouldn't catch on. The rest were in true shock, Naruto had effectively told them that he and Hinata had performed their first kill and not just one but several, and continued to fight, and it didn't seem to faze the boy in front of them at all. The first to actually speak was Mito.

"But Anika you saved the bridge builder and all those people, aren't you happy?" asked the little redhead obviously unaware of what Naruto had had to do to protect them. The rest of the table flinched slightly at this, but before they could react Naruto beat them to it. Naruto simply put on hand onto Mitos head and playfully ruffled her long red hair, causing her to giggle.

"Oh I am Mito, you see I was able to protect those that mattered to me, knowing that I couldn't be anything but happy, besides" at this point he raised his eyes to look around the table, " I wasn't going to let people like that ruin my world." finished the blond with a small smile that Mito mimicked. While these words comforted Kushina, Tsunade and Shizune, the rest of the table could not help but be slightly worried at the way he had said the final part.

_Oh Naruto how much longer until I'm able to understand you like I should? _Thought Minami looking at her brother briefly.

_What the hell was that about his world….oh well I guess it isn't important, but something about that sound familiar, but I just can't think for where? _Thought the toad sage moments later brushing the idea off and just assuming it was Naruto misspeaking.

_N-naruto killed….and Hinata two….h-how can he be so calm? _Thought Naruko looking over questioningly at the blond across from her.

The most concerned, however, was Minato.

_Oh kami Naruto had his first kill, was he ok, did Kushina help him…wait why wasn't I told that, or was I, I was so obsessed with the girls I missed it… but why wasn't I told, and why he is so ok, I was devastated after my first kill…Naruto…sochi kami just how much am I willing to lose… kami I don't know anymore. I need to talk to him after dinner at least…damn it what am I becoming? _Thought Minato with another stab of guilt thrusting into him.

After that brief pause the meal continued thanks to Mito trying and failing to grab a bowl of ramen from Kushina and the two engaging in a small chain battle over the table before Tsunade and Naruto bopped the redheads on the top of their heads causing the rest of the table to burst out laughing at the mirrored looked on the two redheads faces. After dinner the guests took their leave, and Kushina went to take Mito to bed and tuck her in, happy to be home with her youngest. Minami had decided to wait up to talk to Naruto after dinner, but found herself talking to Naruko about the wave mission they had learned about. Meanwhile Naruto had gone out back for a moment to have a silent talk with Juubi.

_So Juubi how is the link with Kyu working out? _asked Naruto as he set himself down on the grassy lawn.

"**It's great, my little kyu is so cute, and fluffy, gah I just want to hold him!" **spoke Juubi the joy obvious in her voice as she spoke.

_Well that's good to know…hey just to check but this doesn't mean that Minami has a link to my mind does it? _asked Naruto a clear note of concern in his voice as he spoke.

"**What..oh no it doesn't work that way this is just for Kyu and me, think of it like a private channel if you get my drift." **replied the Juubi.

_Oh ok good to know thanks. _Thought the boy, before taking notice of another figure in the yard.

As Naruto looked around he saw the tall figure of Minato standing a few feet from him gazing down at him as he sat on the grass. For a moment the two simply stared at each other, Minato had been told about Naruto's eyes but for some reason he could not help but suppress a tiny shiver as he looked into his sochi's new eyes. Finally the silence was broken by the older blond.

"Hello Naruto, I just came out to ask you something if that's alright?" asked Minato trying and failing to sound anything but professional when addressing the boy. After years of trying and succeeding to separate yourself from someone it was difficult to suddenly take a complete one eighty towards the person.

"Ask away Hokage-sama." replied Naruto in the same tone he had used earlier at the table. Minato could not help but feel a small bit of sadness at hearing Naruto address him so simply…first Naruto had dropped his last name, and now it seemed he may have lost even more from his sochi than he could have imagined. Never the less Minato gathered his nerve and continued forward.

"Well I was wondering if you needed to talk to someone about your first kill, I know how hard it can be for a new ninja to take a life, and I just wanted to see if you needed help." Spoke Minato feeling stupid even as he spoke the words. _Why would he come to me if he needed to talk, what the hell am I doing._ Thought Minato as he looked down at Naruto.

Naruto for his part simply looked up at Minato without twitching so much as an eyebrow at the blond man before him. It was funny just a year ago Naruto might have jumped at the chance to at least talk to his father…to be the center of his attention outside of his pranks.. In his own way those pranks had been Naruto's desperate attempts to gain his father's attention…even if it was in disapproval it had at least been something. Now Minato stood before him, and Naruto could not bring himself to feel anything towards the man. No hate, no longing, nothing, like the man was just a stranger to him.

_Hum maybe that's what it is, I mean neither of the other Naruto's really had a connection to him, and as far as I'm concerned I don't even know the man… oh well, might as well answer the man otherwise he'll never leave. _

"Thank you Hokage-sama but that won't be necessary, I don't regret my actions, nor do I need comforting on the matter." Started Naruto continuing before Minato could interrupt, "besides Kaasan was there for me already, and I have simply accepted that if I want my world and my precious people to go the way I want some obstacles will have to be eliminated, and I've come to terms with it already." finished the blond standing as he finished lightly dusting himself off as he did so.

Minato looked as though he had literally been punched in the face by the way he was now looking at Naruto. It was the way he spoke, as if this was just an inconvenience he had to endure, not something to enjoy, but also something that he wasn't going to shy away from. The way he spoke was so matter of fact it was as if the very notion of taking a life came down to such a simple idea for the boy before him that it hardly worth notice. This frightened the blond Hokage to his very core, and as he watched Naruto walk past him towards the house he could not stop himself from calling out to him.

"Naruto… Wait, you sound like killing is something you're fine with?" called out Minato with an edge of fear in his voice, as the words echoed around the yard. His words caused Naruto to pause slightly at the door before opening it and turning his head slightly to look back over his left shoulder at the Hokage. As Minato looked on he noticed for the first time that a headband with an odd symbol was tied around Naruto's arms, and as he watched seemed to glow a faint purple color for just a second. When he blinked the light was gone, but his eyes were now drawn to the single eye of his Sochi that looked back at him; simple, calculating and brimming with a silent power. After what seemed to be an eternity Naruto finally spoke.

"Hokage-sama I don't intend to allow my world to be threatened just so others can go on with their own selfish desires. I don't relish the idea, but make no mistake," here a soft wind blew through the yard ruffling the boys jacket so that it appeared that the tree on the back was swaying gently in the wind, "I will not suffer those that threaten my world to continue living in it." finished the blond before turning and entering the house closing the door silently behind him.

Minato simply stared at the spot that Naruto had been standing for a few minutes letting the words Naruto had spoken echo around in his mind. As the cool breeze continued to blow through the yard Minato could not help but shiver as he stared up at his home, sure that his discomfort had little to do with the cold night air.

-The Next day-

The afternoon sun found Naruto, Hinata, Mito and Hanabi in the back yard of the Senju residence, with Shizune and Tsunade sitting on the back pouch with Naruto and Hinata sitting across from them. A simple tray of tea sat between them, as Hinata and Shizune set about serving the drink. As the four watched Hanabi run up the side of tree with Mito hot on his heels Tsunade finally broke the silence.

"So Naruto are you and Hinata going to tell us what really happened during your mission, or do you really think we are as stupid as the hokage and pervert?" asked Tsunade between sips of her tea. Shizune for her part looked from her sensei to the two unable to disagree with her sensei on this point. Both women knew something was being kept from them, but they were still not quite sure at what it was.

Meanwhile Hinata and Naruto looked at one another for a moment before turning to face the older women, and setting down their drinks.

"I guess I should have known better than to think we could fool you, Shizune-sensei." spoke Hinata softly with a small smile on her face as she looked at her unofficial teacher. Naruto in the meantime had raised one hand to scratch the back of his head slightly with a bemused grin on his face.

"Ya I guess we should have seen this coming, oh well." spoke Naruto as he stood up from his seat and took a few steps out into the yard. Before Tsunade could ask what he was doing the blond spoke again.

"OYE GRANDMA TSUNADE YOUR'E LOOKING A LOT OLDER THAN USUAL, DID YOU ALWAYS HAVE ALL THOSE WRINKLES!" shouted Naruto at the top of his voice looking straight into the sages face as he did so. The entire backyard went deadly quiet at this even Mito and Hanabi stopped their playing to turn and look at the two blonds that were staring each other down. Shizune was about to jump up to subdue her old master, and hopefully save the poor boy who was about to be killed, but as she was about to stand she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Hinata looking at her. As she watched Hinata lightly shook her head before indicating that she should look forward.

Tsunade in the meantime had simply frozen her tea halfway to her face just being held there as she processed what she had just heard. A full minute passed where no one moved, then there was a soft cracking sound heard. The next second it was accompanied by several more cracking sounds before the glass in Tsunade's hand shattered as she clenched down. Her face transformed into a look of pure rage, while both her hand had balled themselves into tight fists. The next moment she was up and flying towards the smiling blond with her fist cocked back as she did so.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME GAKI YOUR DEAD!" shouted Tsunade as she leapt before the boy her fist thrusting forward towards the blonde's smiling face. However, her fist never reached its target, just before she made contact a black orb that seemed to have come from nowhere had materialized before her fist taking the full mountain splitting impact without budging, causing her to grind to a halt as her blow fell.

Tsunade could only stair wide eyed at the orb before her. True the blow had not been her strongest but for it to simply be neutralized like that was unheard of. Before she could do more than stare, however she took notice that there were suddenly several figures standing around her all seemingly made out of the same substance as the orb she had just hit. Before she could remark further a familiar voice spoke up.

"Sorry about that Tsunade but I figured it would be faster if you just saw it instead of me explaining it." spoke Naruto as he peaked around the Seed that had blocked Tsunade's attack.

"B-but you, what, how?" began Tsunade, but before she could get started she was interrupted by a squeaking voice from the pairs right where the trees were growing.

"Yay Seed-kuns back, over here seed-kun come over and meet Hanabi!" shouted Mito happily, waving both her arms as she did so. As everyone's eyes looked on the Seedlings turned first to Mito before looking at one another, and with a soft amount of humming started to walk over to the girl who was giggling as the seedlings drew closer leaving only the one seed behind.

As Tsunade watched this occur she saw Naruto move slightly off to her left. As she turned to face the other blond she saw that he was smacking himself over and over on the forehead while muttering something about traitors, and ruining the moment.

Tsunade in turn looked back towards the deck where Hinata was giggling softly into her sleeve while Shizune seemed to be in a similar state of shock to her old master. At the same time both women mouthed the same three words to one another.

What the hell?

**Ok done, yes I know the ending is a little weak but the chapter is running long and I wanted to get it out on time so I decided to just leave it here for now. The next chapter signifies the beginning of the chunnin exams, so next week we will be seeing several new faces for the story. Look forward to seeing people you know well, and how they may have changed for my story. I would like to thank everyone for all of their support and hope that this chapter is what you were all hoping for. With that said I will say to all of those who said it yes, yes I did do the perfect 100,000 on purpose. The chapter was sitting at putting it at 99,987 when I first finished so I added the last thirteen words to make it the perfect 100,000 how could I not. Oh a quick note here I believe I have responded to all of you who have reviewed, but the number is getting larger so if I somehow miss you or you have a question please PM me.** **I'm hoping to see 300 review before the next chapter so if you can help on this please do. Thanks again till next time Charity's' Songbird out.**

**P.S. watch out user "somthingreallystupid" is psychic he knew when this chapter was coming out with his mind, protect your thoughts people he's in your heads.**


	12. Chapter 11

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Contest is coming to an end sooner than you might think, the cut off with be during the finals of the Chunnin exams, so you're looking at it coming up fast.

Again yes there will be a summoning type Jutsu for Naruto, so guess away; I will say that so far two people have actually gotten it. So hurry and be the next to get it right and claim a prize.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them.

Ok the seedlings are going to become a more important part of the story as it goes so here is a little extra explanation of them.

I've had a few people wonder if Naruto is crazy, the answer is yes and no. He isn't a crazy killer, he is just saying he is willing to do whatever he needs to do so that he can protect who he cares about. Besides killing is common in this world, they are all basically really cool mercenary's, sure most kids won't kill until they go on high C-ranks, but hey maybe that's just me. This is a boy who has lost the love of his family, and his own life over his relatively short life. As a result anything that threatens to destroy "his world" as he sees it will be destroyed, and kami help you if you hurt those he cares about.

For a small prize to be given next chapter try and guess who I have mixed Naruto with from another anime to get his personality where I would like it. I will give you a hint, the character appears in one of the anime I have listed on my page as a favorite. Although I kept naruto mostly the same I did draw a great deal of inspiration from this other character and I think it is about time I gave the credit to where it was due. Good luck guesses can come from pm or review and I will be answering these unlike the summoning as it is such a short contest.

So guess away at summoning and inspiration

Also very small not no Naruto won't be getting elemental jutsu's or any new jutsu's for quite a while. Look most if not all of those abilities are all fine and good, but let's face it, if someone has to many cards to play, some become forgotten, either he had the abilities and didn't use them, or I wrote in a reason to not have them. That's about the long and short of it, and no I'm not budging on this point, if you want to see Naruto with all the elements, or master over just a few look around the site is literally littered with them, and most come up with really fun ways of using it, this just won't be one of them.

**Chapter Eleven**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-Here comes the family-**

So here sat Tsunade and Shizune both holding cups of tea and looking across their patio table at the smiling face of the boy who had just finished explaining that he had died. For a moment all they could do was stare blankly before finally Shizune spoke up.

"You died?" Shizune asked setting down her tea cup and despite herself adopting a doubting tone and look on her face. Naruto paused in the course of telling his story for a moment before lightly shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head before replying.

"Well kind of Zabuza shoved a sword through my chest….for that matter I really suggest avoiding that it hurts a lot." shivering slightly as if remembering a paper cut.

"B-but how…you...well." here Tsunade could only gesture sheepishly towards him as if asking how he could be standing there.

"Well wait a second and I'll explain it." replied Naruto with a scolding tone that had both women exasperated.

As Naruto continued to walk the two women through the events that had lead him towards where he now was Hinata was enjoying her own little distraction out in the yard with her Otouto, Mito, and the seedlings, who at the moment were a little occupied at the moment.

"Ok Mito-chan your next." said Hinata with a kind smile as he nodded towards the redhead. Mito squeaked with excitement and jumped forward between Hinata and one of the seedlings. This particular seedling had created a long rope like appendage from its hand that Hinata now held the other end. As Mito stepped in-between the two Hinata and the seedling proceeded to swing their arms in a wide ark in time letting Mito jump rope between them.

"One, two, three, watch this seed-kun I'm going to beat your score!" called the small girl giggling as the other five seedlings and Hanabi looked on, a small amount of happy humming coming from them as Mito giggled.

"Better concentrate Mito-chan or you're going to mess up." Called Hinata, but she was too late. Just as Mito was turning back from her calling she caught her feet in the rope and went head over heels onto the ground with a small cry of shock.

"EEP!" shouted Mito as he became acquainted with the ground. For a moment the entire group was silent until Hanabi couldn't hold it in any longer as he started to chuckle soon joined by the happy humming of the rest of the seedlings. Even Hinata could not help but giggle at the little spectacle before her. A moment later Mito had moved her head to look up at all of them with a cute little pout on her face, as well as quite a bit of grass. Unfoturnutly whatever look she was aiming for was ruined by her appearance, and soon the soft humming and laughter had grown to a chorus.

Mito only lasted a moment longer before she too was giggling away while standing up and brushing off the lose grass form her clothing. During the last few weeks she had taken to stop wearing her white dress anymore and had traded it in for a new set consisting of a yellow battle kimono with a fishnet undershirt that only showed around her neck and shoulders, along with this she wore a pair of black pants that only reached to her knees and that were currently covered in grass.

Soon Mito had skipped her way over to the gathered Seedlings and grabbed hold of one's hand leading it forward.

"Come no Seed-kun it's your turn to try, hurry!" called the excited girl as she pulled and pushed the seedling into the position. Once the Seedling was in position Mito ran back to stand beside Hanabi to cheer for the next jumper. With a nod Hinata and the Seedling that had formed the rope began to swing the rope in large arks, and sure enough the Seedling began to jump as the rope came round mimicking Mito's actions exactly. This, however, meant that the Seedling in the shape of Naruto was now jumping with both its knees raised along with both of its arms bent upward like the tiny girl had been doing. The sight was too much for Hinata who could not help but let go of the rope while laughing at the sight before her.

Mito and Hanabi soon joined in while the seedlings looked around at one another, as if trying to piece together why the others were laughing the way they were.

After a few moments Hinata dismissed herself to return to the table with Naruto and the two women, as the conversation seemed to be running down. This left Mito and Hanabi alone with six seedlings that simply watched the two children with what almost appeared to be anticipation.

"Hey Hanabi-kun, what should we do next with Seed-kun?" asked the redhead turning to look over at her best friend. Hanabi in the meantime looked over at the seedling, and took on a thoughtful posture as he began thinking. Mito had not been the only one to undergo some wardrobe change recently, as the young Hyuga was now dressed in a black pair of training pants, typically worn by the Hyuga residence, over which he wore a long-sleeved white shirt that seemed to be made to look like the top part of a kimono for lords of state. Unlike Mito who had allowed her hair to grow out into one long pigtail that fell forward over her front, Hanabi had decided to keep his hair cut short, only reaching to around his neck where it was drawn into a small warrior brad.

"Don't know, but didn't your Aniki say they will mimic whatever they see?" spoke Hanabi as usual being the calmer of the two.  
"Huh….oh ya you're right!" replied the excitable redhead while Hanabi's head drooped slightly.

"You didn't listen at all did you?" asked the boy looking over as Mito put on a little smile with her tongue sticking out.

"Whatever Hanabi-kun come on!" fired back the redhead reaching forward and grabbing the poor boy and dragging him towards the seedlings with a huge smile on her face.

Meanwhile back at the patio Hinata had just stepped up on the back at the moment Naruto seemed to have finished his story.

"So that's it, Juubi just wants to see here kids again, and I'm just looking to make sure nothing happens to anyone I care about, so ya nothing much has changed." finished the blond boy as he turned a smiling face to Hinata as she approached.

"Oh ya except that you have the mother of all of the tailed beasts living in your head, you have a hither to unknown kind of chakra, you were until recently two people, and oh ya the big one YOU DIED!" listed off Tsunade finishing with a little more force than she may have meant causing both teens to stare at her wide eyed, and even Shizune to lean a little bit away from the obviously emotional blond sage. Tsunade seemed to take notice of this and take a moment to brush back a loose strand of her hair, and take a sip of her tea before speaking again.

"So I guess the real question is what you plan to do now?" spoke Tsunade after she had composed herself. Naruto seemed to think about his for a moment before responding.

"Oh that's simply, I don't have one." replied Naruto with a large smile on his face as Hinata shook her head slightly looking a little exasperated.

"Naruto-kun I think she meant what do you plan to do about that." Spoke Hinata jabbing a thumb back over her shoulder at a group of seedlings that seemed to be looking up at something overhead. As those at the table looked up they saw that Mito had somehow managed to snag onto the only seed, and was now flying around over the heads of the seedlings while chasing poor Hanabi around the back yard.

"Oh ya that." replied Naruto sheepishly as he watched the ensuing chaos happening behind him.

"Well it's not like I will be able to keep it a secret forever, but at the moment I'm just letting those I trust in on It." chuckled the blond looking back at the three women before him.

"And who besides us do you trust?" asked Shizune having a feeling that she knew at least one person not likely to be on that list.

"Hum, oh well there's Kaasan, Hinata-chan, Kiba, Mito, Hanabi, Minami and yourselves," spoke the blond counting them off on his hands as he did so "Oh, and Akamaru." finished the blond looking over at the rest of the table's occupants.

_So I see Naruko, Minato and Jiraiya don't show up on that list. Probably for the best at the moments, still something strange is going on with them…. I guess I should tell Naruto to keep his eyes open _thought both Shizune and Tsunade analyzing what they had heard.

"Naruto there is something you need to know." Spoke up Shizune looking over at Tsunade who nodded for her to continue, as Naruto and Hinata looked at their old sensei.

"Something is going on with Jiraiya concerning your sisters, and whatever it is it doesn't involve you at all," started the black haired women seeing a lack of the usual pain that such conversations used to cause Naruto as she pressed on "we don't know what's going on but if you want to keep your secrets you need to be extra careful around him." Finished Shizune, as Tsunade picked up on the conversation.

"She is right, my teammate may be a lousy pervert, but he is an amazing spy, so you will need to be careful around him, stuff like what you said at dinner is sure to at least tip him off to something being up." said Tsunade looking over at the pair of teens. Surprisingly it was Hinata and not Naruto who answered.

"Thank you both very much for worrying about Naruto-kun but it will be ok, he and I have been out of the eyes of those closest to use for as long as we can remember, staying there for a little longer won't be very hard." spoke the young Hyuuga girl in a sad little voice. However, before the moment of sadness could continue Naruto had sprung up from his chair and leapt up onto the table turning to face the surprised Hinata who had not been expecting his sudden movement.

"Now what's that face for Hinata-chan," stated the blond as he reached down a hand towards the girl, which she gently took allowing him to hoist her up onto the table with him "didn't I promise you that I'd make a world where we wouldn't have to frown anymore." Spoke Naruto who had pulled the girl into a soft embrace as he pulled her up onto the table.

"Come on Hinata-chan trust me it's going to be just fine." Spoke Naruto before gently twirling with the blushing Hyuuga held tight in his arms. Whatever else the change had done to Naruto, making him any less open with his feelings was surely not one of them. As the two teens held one another just smiling, Tsunade and Shizune exchanged a moment's glance with one another.

"As cute a moment as this is may I ask that you get down off my patio table." spoke Tsunade as she looked up at the two teens. Both Naruto and Hinata stopped their slow spin to gaze down at Tsunade for a moment before they both broke into huge grins before laughing softly at their current position.

"Sorry lady Tsunade." spoke Hinata through her giggles, while Naruto only shook his head.

"Ya sorry Tsunade, but I can't get down from here at the moment without a little help." chuckled Naruto as he whistled back towards the yard. As Naruto did so the rest of those on the patio looked back towards the yard as the seedling that had been serving to fly Mito around stopped dead, before zooming back towards the patio. Unfortunately it caused the redhead to go flying off as it made its sudden departure. Luckily for her Hanabi ran up to catch the girl before she could hit the ground, the entire time giggling as she flew through the air. What Hanabi hadn't been expecting was velocity to take both him and Mito to the ground rolling away before the both rolled into arms to two of the seedlings who had taken to try and catch them as well. Mito and Hanabi untangled themselves the redhead still giggling as she hugged her friend in thanks as she looked over at where her transportation had headed. Soon Hanabi and the Seedlings were also looking over towards the deck where the seedlings had headed.

As they and the two women still seated watched the Seed came to a halt before the table before slowly appearing to melt outward while still hovering slightly. As the orb faded what was left was a large black disk like shape that moved its way over to the edge of the table where it halted as if waiting for something. Before anyone could make a move, Naruto had stepped out onto the disk holding Hinata's hand as he did so, turning to smile at her as he situated himself upon it.

"Come on Hinata-chan it's alright." Spoke the blond motioning for the pale eyed girl to join him. For a moment Hinata seemed to hesitate, but after another welcoming smile from Naruto she took a small step over onto the disk where Naruto was waiting to embrace her. Once she had stepped onto the disk it slowly floated away from the table and out towards the yard where Mito and Hanabi, as well as the remaining seedlings watched. Mito and Hanabi were looking up with stars in their eyes as they saw their siblings slowly descend to stand in front of them, both smiling at each other.

"Awesome Aniki you have to let me and Hanabi take a ride; please, please, plllleeeeeaaaassssseeeee!" called Mito unintentionally allowing her two chains to sprout out and wag about happily giving her the look of an excited two tailed puppy.

Beside her Hanabi was in a struggle with himself. On the one hand his Hyuuga training and upbringing told him to remain focused and cold. However, thanks to his mother and sister, as well as Mito had kept him from becoming to reserved, and this was flying, there was no way that he was going to be able to stay calm.

"Neesan please, you have to let us, I promise I won't tell anyone about Naruto, just like Mito I promise!" spoke up Hanabi standing right beside Mito while making sure to keep just out of range of her chains. Best friend she may be but he was still convinced she was a red devil.

Looking at the two Naruto and Hinata smiled over at their siblings while taking a step back from the disk so as to allow the kids to step forward.

"Ok, but be careful I'll just have it circle the yard for now." replied Naruto waving the two forward.

"Now otouto be careful." spoke up Hinata as the two kids ascended on the disk as it began to move around the yard in a wide ark going at a pretty stable clip. While the kids roared with delight Hinata turned to face the smiling face of Naruto.

"Hinata," spoke Naruto softly causing her to turn her pale eyes to look into his bright purple gems, "this is the world I'm going to make, one where you and everyone else can always be smiling, so please smile for me always." finished the blond looking down into the smiling face of the girl he cared so much for. Hinata could feel some small moisture build up on the corner of her eyes as she smiled up at the blond.

"Hai, Naruto-kun, I promise." she replied as she nestled herself closer to the boy who simply held her close while allowing one of his hands to gently stroke her soft hair she still had in her Hime cut.

The two slowly moved back to sit at their original seats before the two women who were giving them happy and knowing little smiles. Tsunade could not help but remember her first encounter with her godson, just a few months ago.

-Flashback… with a vengeance!-

Only a few days after her discussion with Shizune and Kushina Tsunade found herself standing outside of the Namikaze residence looking forward to trying to make some kind of a connection with her godson Naruto.

Before she could reach up to ring the bell the door swung open with a voice emanating from the hallway.

"Kay Kaasan, we'll be back before dinner!" shouted Naruko as she looked back over she shoulder past her sister Minami and back towards her Mother in the living room. As Tsunade looked on Naruko and Minami looked up to notice her standing in front of them in the doorway. Both girls smiled at seeing her

"Baa-chan Tsunade, what's up!" called a smiling Naruko as she stepped forward to hug her godmother.

"Hello Tsunade." spoke up Minami offering a soft smile and embrace.

"Hi girls." replied Tsunade given both girls back their own hugs, "where are you two off to in such a hurry?"

"Ero-sensei, is giving us some training today, wait can you come too." asked an excited Naruko looking up at the blond women with a large smile. Minami also look up at Tsunade wondering what she would say. Tsunade, however simply gave a soft shake of her head before responding.

"Sorry girls but not today, I'm here to see Kushina…and, and Naruto." replied Tsunade seeing a look of understanding blossom across Minami's face while a small look a confusion cross Naruko's.

"Huh, but why do you want to see Naruto?" asked Naruko trying to understand why she was being overlooked for her brother. Over the last few days she had noticed that her Kaasan had been spending more and more time with Naruto than she had done previously. Now Tsunade was too, she couldn't help but wonder what was going on with them.

_Oh well I'll just ask Ero-sensei after training he'll know, _thought Naruko giving Tsunade a quick hug before waving goodbye as she headed out to train, followed by Minami who gave the blond women a small knowing look before she departed.

As the girls departed Tsunade stepped into the entryway spying a movement in the living room. As she walked down the hall she could not help but look left and right as she did so. From picture frames she saw the smiling faces of friends and family alike. Photos that showed the girls and Jiraiya training, or Minato doing the same. Still others showed birthday parties, where she and most of the guests were huddled around the girls, while Naruto was either on the edge of the frame, or absent completely. In fact the few photos that seemed to have a smiling boy seemed to be from years past when he was only a child…when he looked so much like her own precious Nawaki. With a small pang of guilt she noticed that every time her face appeared on the walls there was a blond boy's face absent from the frame.

_Kami was I that afraid so that I couldn't even take a picture with him? _Thought Tsunade as she passed down the hall and emerged into the living room where a redheaded woman sat calmly waiting for her. As Tsunade walked into the room Kushina raised a hand to motion for the blond to take a seat on the couch opposite her. As Tsunade did so Kushina spoke.

"Hello Tsunade, from the look on your face I'm not the only one who hasn't been having an easy time the last few days." spoke Kushina with a soft sad little smile on her lips. Tsunade could only stare at the women across form her in silence as she contemplated her words. After a moment the redhead spoke again.

"It's the same for me, every time I walk down that hall I see all those photos…all those times I could have been making him smile, and just left him….all of my failures." finished the redhead in a quiet voice that threatened to break.

"Kushina, it's not.." began Tsunade looking to comfort the redheaded women before her, but before she could say more than a few words Kushina shook her head violently silencing the blond before her.

"NO!" shouted Kushina taking several heavy breaths as she did so, "n-no Tsunade this is my failure, and I won't have you or anyone else let me forget it. T-that's the least I can do until I can see my Sochi smiling at me." spoke Kushina in a firm voice with an edge of determination to it.

Tsunade for her part simply looked over at the sad but determined form of Kushina and offered a small smile as she did so.

"I guess we better get started then, so where is the gaki?" spoke Tsunade in a questioning tone as she moved to stand. Kushina also stood and motioned for Tsunade to follow her, as see moved to the back of the house with its large sliding glass door that opened out into the back yard where she could vaguely see Mito and Naruto running around the yard, Naruto using substitution to avoid the one golden chain the little girl was attempting to catch him with.

As the two women stepped out onto the patio the laughing voice of Mito reached their ears.

"Aniki no fair stop log hopping!" giggled Mito as once again her chain closed around her niisan only for him to poof into another log.

"Sorry Mito but you're going to have to be faster than that if you want to be a kunoichi." Laughed Naruto from a tree where he had disappeared to right above his little redheaded sister. Mito looked up smiling trying to jump up and reach her brother with her golden chain while calling out to him between her giggles.

"Aniki no fair come down, Aniki!" called the happy little redhead.

Kushina and Tsunade could not help but smile happily at the scene before them, before Naruto seemed to notice their presence and looked up to meet their eyes. When this happened Naruto looked with a welcomingly little smile at Kushina, and a confused little look towards Tsunade. Naruto proceeded to hope down from the tree. What Naruto seemed to have forgotten was that Mito happened to be waiting for him? Just as he touched down a bright golden chain wrapped around his feet and pulled him backward causing him to face plant in front of the two women with a soft thump.

Before either women could look more than simply surprised Mito leapt onto the downed boys back with a cry of joy settling herself right onto the small of his back.

"Got you Aniki, now you have to take me and Hanabi to the new princess Gale movie!" cried out the Mito in triumph, not even noticing the two women before her. As she celebrated her triumph she happened to take a look up and see Tsunade and Kushina before them. However, the six year old took it in stride.

"Hi Kaasan, Hi Baachan, I caught Aniki!" spoke up Mito smiling. Kushina stepped forward and gently lifted the six year old off of Naruto before gently swinging her around allowing the two redheads to giggle in conjunction.

"Well my little Mi-chan has defeated her first shinobi I say that calls for a treat, why don't we let Tsunade take care of Naruto for now." Spoke Kushina as Mito nodded excitedly, as Kushina gave Tsunade a small smile before turning to take Mito inside and the other two sometime alone.

As the two redheads departed Tsunade found herself looking down at the still inert body of Naruto in the back yard. For a moment she stood there trying to think of what she could say or do, to even begin to form a bond with the boy. As time passed, however, her thoughts shifted to wondering if Mito might have accidently killed the poor kid.

"Um Gaki, you still alive down there?" spoke Tsunade actually wondering if he was alright. The boy stirred slightly at the voice before a muffled response came.

"Hai…..I just can't believe I forgot she was down there….now I won't have money for ramen cause I have to take Mito to her movie." replied Naruto tilting his head slightly to look up at the other blond who could not help but suppress a smirk at hearing his complaints.

_Hum I guess Shizune was right, he does have his mother's attitude. _Thought Tsunade as she listened to her fellow blond.

"Well that's too bad, but tell you what, if you want I was going to meet Shizune for lunch in just a bit so how about you tag along, and we can get you some ramen?" spoke Tsunade kindly hoping the boy would be accommodating. What she hadn't counted on was Naruto jumping up immediately and look at her as though she was a gift from Kami.

"Really you'd do that?" asked Naruto excitedly as he looked up at the women before him with a large smile on his face. Tsunade could not help but feel another small stab of sadness at how much Naruto looked like her dead otouto, but just as Kushina had done she pushed back her pain.

"Hai Naruto, Shizune has told me all about you, and I'd like to have a chance to get to know you myself." Replied Tsunade as she turned back to the house Naruto walking along beside her.

"Um Tsunade-san I really appreciate it, but why are you doing this all of the sudden?" asked Naruto as he walked with the slug queen towards the house. Tsunade paused for a moment looking down at the puzzled look on the boy's face.

_Damn I guess I don't get to get away from it that easily do I….oh well it's my own darn fault for creating this situation, and I'm through running._ Thought Tsunade as she looked down at Naruto with a soft smile spreading across her lips.

"Well gaki I wasn't the only one who realized how much she has failed you recently, and I want to have a chance to try and get to know my Godson." Started Tsunade as Naruto looked on, "that and you remind me a lot of my own little brother….so very much." finished Tsunade softly with a hint of sadness playing out over her final words. For a moment the two walked in silence before Naruto spoke up again just as they had reached the sliding door.

"Um Tsunade-san," he started causing Tsunade to look down at him, "i-if it's not too much trouble could you tell me a little about your brother?" asked Naruto looking a little uncomfortable brining the subject up. For a moment Tsunade only stared down at the boy. Her eyes traveling over the boy's hair, down his face, and coming to rest on his blue and purple eyes; eyes that held the same hope and strength that Nawaki's had so long ago. As she looked into his eyes, she felt a soft breeze caress her cheek, and her mind turned to those happy time she had spent with her little Otouto, all those years ago.

As the memories faded and a small tear came to her eye, she smiled down at the boy who was now looking at her with a mixture of concern and worry.

_Well Nawaki….. it looks like your Neesan has finally figured out how to keep you alive. _thought the slug sage as she finally spoke smiling softly as she did so.

"Hai Naruto…I think I'd like that," she began as she opened the back door and stepped inside, "His name was Nawaki, and you remind me so much of him." started the blond as the pair moved inside.

For the rest of the day Naruto and Tsunade had talked. And for the first time since those horrible days Tsunade could see the smiling faces of Nawaki and Dan smiling down at her.

-End of Flashback-

The four continued their talk at the table while the pair of children flew around in the yard playing with the seedlings at the same time. This continued for several hours before Hinata said that it was time for Hanabi and her to be getting back to the Hyuuga compound. With that Naruto and Mito also headed out.

The following day found team eleven sitting around training field eleven just waiting for Kushina to arrive.

"Hey Naruto, what up Kushina-sensei never has been late before?" ask Kiba looking up from Akamaru.

Naruto who was currently resting against a tree looked over towards his team mate with a small shrug.

"Sorry Kiba, but I really don't know, she just said that there was something special she had to get ready for us and that she may be a little late." replied Naruto adjusting himself into an Indian style position and resting his chin in one open palm. As he looked over towards Kiba he couldn't help notice where Hinata was dancing on the small lake a few yards away from them.

After wave Kushina had shown Hinata another style of water walking that would help her learn to better control the current and water of her new element. To that end Hinata had taken to practicing whenever she was able to, eager to master her new element. It didn't hurt either that Hinata loved the way Naruto would sit and watch her practice with his soft smile and genuine look of happiness. Seeing Naruto's gaze shift Kiba turned to see what his focus was on shaking his head as he saw is other teammate who had currently performed a graceful little twirl.

"Hinata, that's not fair, how can I talk to him when you're doing," here Kiba paused simply gesturing towards her for a moment, "well that!" he finished. Naruto only scratched his head slightly at this while Hinata had to stop herself from falling into the water with a bright blush on her face.

"…Sorry Kiba," replied Naruto as Hinata walked back towards her team with a small blush still present on her face. Kiba only waved his hand dismissively at this while chuckling slightly to himself.

"Relax you two, I'm only messing with you, besides my Kaasan and Neesan would have my head if I…how did they say it? "Messed up the cutest couple in Konoha!"." finished Kiba with a smile on his face seeing the other two blushing slightly at his words.

"Ok Kiba you've had your fun." came a voice from behind the group. As they turned they saw Kushina had arrived.

"Hai sensei." replied Kiba with a chuckle.

"Kushina sensei, could you tell us what delayed you?' asked Hinata having heard Naruto's earlier statement. At this Kushina turned to face Hinata with a small smile.

"Hai, Hinata you can know. You see I was planning to hold off on this until you were able to receive a few more C-ranks, but really I saw you all perform better than I could have hoped for." At this the team looked around at each other smiling happily. "With that I decided to give you an option to participate in the chunnin exams that will be hosted this year in Konoha" continued Kushina with a large smile on her face.

Naruto, Hinata, and Kiba all looked almost dumbfounded. Sure they had performed well on their last mission but to get to join the chunnin exams after only half a year of active service. Before they could start firing off questions, however, Kushina continued.

"Now I know you are all thinking the same thing so let me fill in a few of your blank spots kay." smiled Kushina as her team nodded their heads excitedly at the prospect.

"Now I know we haven't been a team long, but this isn't just about a possible promotion. Heck the chunnin exams are just a public way of being recognized, I got mine via a battle promotion, and I think Kiba your sister got one after finishing her medical training." continued Kushina Kiba nodding in response to her statement.

"What the exams do offer, however, is a chance to see how you are advancing alongside your fellow shinobi and kunoichi. It also gives you experience dealing with foreign operatives in a controlled environment. This is a chance for all of you to compete, and possible fight new abilities and styles in a more controlled environment. Now I won't lie to you people do die in these exams, but being an exam the chance of dying is much less than that of a mission; still this isn't something to underestimate. So I leave it up to you team, if you want to participate here are the forms." finished Kushina pulling out three sheets of paper from behind her back as she finished speaking.

One by one each of the members of team eleven looked first at the forms and then at each other all wondering what they would decide. Hinata was the first to speak.

"Um sensei, this is a great opportunity, but what about Naruto's new abilities," Hinata said looking over at her boyfriend as she spoke, "I mean how will he be able to keep his abilities secret if he is on display in the exams?" finished Hinata seeing Naruto look first to meet her eyes, and then over to Kiba, and finally to rest on his mothers. Kushina for her part looked at her sochi wondering what he would do. During this she could not help but think back to earlier when she was suggesting her team for the exams.

-Earlier that day…..does that count as a flashback?-

The Jonin sensei's of teams seven, eight, nine, and eleven had just exited the Hokage's office, along with the forms for their respective teams.

"So Kurenai, you think that your team will be ok?" asked Asuma as he lit up a cigarette, and turned to face his fellow sensei. Kurenai turned to face Azuma before reaching up to swipe the cigarette from is face before tossing it over her shoulder. As Asuma looked back sadly at the now ruined stick Kurenai spoke.

"Hai Asuma, my team is perfectly ready for the exams, and they have been itching to prove themselves. Sakura in particular expressed a desire to see how she matches up against other genin." responded Kurenai with a hint of pride in her voice. Kushina couldn't help but comment on.

"So Tsunade is rubbing off on her, I guess we should have seen that coming." chuckled Kushina while seeing Kurenai nod in answer.

"Hai, but you can't fault the results, that girl takes to medical justus like a fish to water, she is going to something special in no time, Besides her Shino has also gotten a new hive recently, and Yakumo is looking to be the future genjutsu master of Konoha." finished Kurenai with pride.

"Yosh! Your team may be great, but my team is going to dominate these exams with the power of youth!" shouted Guy from behind the group drawing their attention.

"I wouldn't bet on it Guy, my team is the ones that are going to dominate this time." replied Kakashi looking over the brim of his orange book at his rival. Before Guy could respond Azuma spoke up.

"Don't you think your giving your team a little too much credit, I mean Guy's team has already had a year of experience, my team may have taken a lot of steps forward, but experience is something you can't replace." finished Asuma.

"Hai hai, but you are forgetting that Minami and Naruko both have extensive training from not only the Hokage, but two the sages of Konoha. Besides that Sasuke is a prodigy, and is already moving towards their level. Heck all I've had to do is keep them in check and give them some teambuilding exercises, this exam will only be a formality." finished Kakashi with a smile. The other sensei's, however, were less impressed.

"I wouldn't sound so proud if I were you Kakashi, it sounds to me that your students may be amazing but you're not really responsible for their progress." spoke up Kushina giving the grey haired Jonin a harsh look. The rest of the sensei's could only agree with Kushinas assessment, before continuing on.

The group continued to bicker back and forth as they moved forward, but back in the office two men were having a heated debate.

"Relax Minato it will be alright." Jiraiya said trying to calm the hokage down.

"Relax Jiraiya, relax the girls are entering the exams, with the prophecy I could be sending one of them to their death!" spoke up Minato.

"Gaki the exams are monitored, and besides after all of the training they've gone through they are already chunnin level, these exams won't be an issue for them." fired back Jiraiya trying to calm down the Hokage.

"And what if you're wrong? What if we're wrong, for kami's sake Jiraiya things are changing, we can't know if it turns out fine, Damn it Jiraiya this is my family!" shouted back Minato rising from his desk slightly as he yelled back at his sensei.

"And what happens to your family if the prophecy fails Minato, what happens then, they die, we die, hell the whole damn world may die. Minato your daughters are shinobi, they're lives are going to be at risk, but we have to have faith in them. No it's not easy but it has to be done!" shouted back Jiraiya, almost pleading as he finished.

Minato's mind was racing in the meantime trying to rationalize the seemingly impossible choice that he was now faced with.

_Kami I wish I'd never of heard of this damn prophecy! Damn it Naruko and Minami haven't been getting along as well as of late, Kushina still is keeping distant. Thanks to this blasted exam I haven't even had time to spend with Mito….o-or Naruto. _At the thought of his sochi, Minato could barely keep his composure.

_And then there's Naruto…..damn I haven't even been able to talk to him since he got back from his mission….what am I going to do about him. I mean I know that he wasn't going to just run back into my arms, but. But I guess I just wasn't ready to lose a part of my family so soon. _Thought Minato sadly.

_Damn it but will I ever have time to try and fix any of this…time…I guess that's what this is all about. I'm just buying time for a future I'm beginning to think I won't even want to live in… but that's what I decided, even if I'm miserable, it's all I can really do now. _Thought Minato nodding slowly to Jiraiya.

-end of scene-

Back with Kushina in the present Naruto had decided to speak up.

"It will be ok Hinata-chan the exams are as good as any place to let it out, I mean it's not like I can keep it a secret forever, I just want to make sure it's on my terms when it comes out." spoke Naruto while looking around at his team.

"So what do you think? What do you say team eleven take this exam by storm." cheered Naruto with both of his teammate nodding in turn as well.

"Ya Akamaru and I are ready to show our stuff right Hinata!" called out Kiba while Akamaru barked happily.

"Hai," replied Hinata looking over at her team happily.

"Well I guess it's settled, team eleven is headed to the chunnin exams." said Kushina smiling around at her team. After a brief lunch the team headed their separate ways to prepare for the coming exam.

The few days later found the members of team eleven each rising to begin preparations for the exam.

The first of the team up happened to be Kiba, thanks to a not so subtle wakeup call from his sister, and her canine friends. As Tsume was just setting the final plate for breakfast, she heard the unmistakable sound of her son's wakeup call.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!, let go of that, you have no idea where it's been….what no let go of that its mine I tell you, mine! Don't you give me that Hana, get her to see reason!" came the unmistakable voice of Kiba in quite a bit of distress. What followed was the mocking voice of Hana.

"Oh come on fluffy if you can't handle the triplets playing then maybe I should call your team and tell them you're not ready for the exams." spoke up Hana from the second floor while Tsume only shook her head at her children's antics.

"Oh ya I'll show you who's ready just watch me!" shouted Kiba. What followed was a series of bangs and shouts accompanied by several barks and other sounds of a struggle. A few moments later a series of thumping sounds was followed by the door to the dining room being suddenly opened revealing an odd little sight. Hana stood in the doorway her hair slightly disheveled as well as her chunnin vest looking like it had been hit by a windstorm. Here three companions all looked like they had spent an hour in a wind tunnel with all of their fur standing on end and being blown back from their faces. Behind Hana was a makeshift sack that seemed to be made from bed sheets that was softly groaning as Hana dragged it into the room and dropped it beside her as she took her seat at the table with a small smile playing across her face.

"Hana I asked you to go and wake your Niisan up, not perform a kidnaping." chuckled Tsume as her sochi slowly disentangled himself from his makeshift prison, and looked around obviously disorientated. Akamaru soon popped out of the sack beside Kiba looking just as lost as to his location as him partner prompting a small chuckle from Tsume.

"So pup bought time you got down here." joked Tsume seeing her son finally managing to recognize where he was.

"What the heck Kaasan?" started Kiba starting to stand up from the table. Unfortunately he only managed to trip himself up in the sheets under him before falling forward towards the table only stopped thanks to Hana's quick movement that caught him by the scruff of the neck.

At this Tsume slammed her fist onto the table causing the two children to stop before they could get back into their battle, and possibly ruin her hard made breakfast. As a result both children froze and turned scared faces towards their mother even as the dogs all flattened their ears, and snuck under the table to join Tsume's companion.

"OK YOU TWO YOU WILL SIT DOWN THIS INSTANT AND ENJOY A NICE BREAKFAST OR SO HELP ME I'LL HAVE BOTH OF YOU SCRUBBING THE KENNELS FOR THE NEXT YEAR!" shouted Tsume, causing both of the children to immediately take their seat with their back straight and with scared looks on their faces.

As the kids began to eat Tsume's companion Kuromaru chuckled softly as he emerged from the table.

"humph I guess you still got it partner." smiled the great dog as he gave a doggy grin to match Tsume's own happy look.

After a large breakfast Kiba and Akamaru gave Hana and Tsume a quick embrace before he was off down the road. As he disappeared down the road Tsume turned to Hana with a sly little smile.

"So I noticed that you weren't able to bag him so easy this time?" asked Tsume looking over at her eldest. Hana smiled as she looked down the road.

"Ya the pup is growing up, few more years and he'll be too much for me to handle, now all we need to do is find him a girl." joked Hana as she turned to head back into the compound patting her mother lightly on the shoulder as she did. Tsume looked stunned for a moment, before turning to call after his daughter.

"Hana just go look after the puppies and leave my pups to me!" called Tsume with a kind but firm voice. As a mother she was going to have full say in when and who her sochi would be seeing.

While this was occurring at the Inuzuka compound over at the Hyuuga compound Hinata had risen and was currently approaching the dining room where her Kaasan and Niisan were waiting to see her off for the coming exam. However, before she could reach her destination she was stopped halfway across the yard by the call of an unfriendly, but familiar voice.

"So have you decided to do the smart thing and step down from the exams?" spoke a figure a few feet to the left. As Hinata turned she saw a figure wearing a frown upon his face.

"Hello Neji." replied Hinata sadly as she turned to face her cousin and one of the few members of the Hyuuga clan that she still felt uncomfortable around. While Neji's tousan and her own were having a continuing competition between Hanabi and Neji, Hinata had become a target for mocking and a punching bag for her cousin. Neji was a prodigy and a source of pride for the branch house of the Hyuuga clan. Unfortunately he had been told this from his first days at the academy, and the competitive nature of the respective heads of the houses Hiashi and his brother Hizashi had caused Neji to become actively combative towards Hanabi and Hinata.

"I asked you a question Hinata, when are you going to stop playing as a kunoichi and start recognizing your place in this world and in this family." continued Neji attempting to get a rise out of his cousin. Despite everything he tried Hinata had always refused to get involved in the families competitive nature. That translated to something that Neji couldn't defeat, and as a result Hinata was a sour spot for the boy.

"I'm sorry Neji but I don't play anymore, maybe it's about time that you started doing the same." replied Hinata curtly before turning to head towards the dining room. Neji became infuriated at this and made a move to stop Hinata, but stopped as he saw someone he knew would be able to break through the girl's defenses.

"Hinata, you need to stop taking Hanabi with you to play with your boyfriend, or he is never going to be able to match up to me." called Neji, causing Hinata to pause for a moment to wonder why he would be saying something like that? Before she could question, however, she heard another voice from off to her right that made her question suddenly pointless.

"I have to say I agree with Neji, Hinata your own desires should not endanger Hanabi's future." spoke Hiashi from the deck of the home, where he was now standing looking down into the garden where the two teens stood. For a moment Hinata did not speak or move, only take a second to suppress the sadness she was now feeling.

Ever since Hanabi had been born Hiashi had become colder and colder towards her. His unending competition with his brother led him to shun her more and more. Hinata had been effectively cast aside by Hiashi, simply to watch as her Tousan had worked and trained the boy to beat Neji. Hinata had her Kaasan, but with her injuries there was only so much she could do to help Hinata along the path of the kunoichi. Still without Hitomi Hinata would not have been able to hold on to her happiness long enough to meet Naruto, and discover a bond with her otouto, and for that Hinata was forever thankful. The only times that she remembered the pain of her lose was when Hiashi turned his eyes upon her, and spoke in the same disapproving manner that had defined her last six years of her life. Slowly she turned to face Hiashi while steeling herself to respond.

"Hanabi niisan comes with me so that he can play with Mito-chan, they are working together to become better shinobi. If I am not mistaken you yourself commented on how his dogging abilities have improved during your last session, and I have to say Mito-chan is prominently to thank for that." replied Hinata softly to Hiashi looking right into the man's eyes as she did so. Hiashi for his part thought back and could not find fault with his daughter's words.

"True enough, but the fact remains that Hanabi has responsibilities that you have to realize." continued Hiashi, as he turned to leave. As he made his way across the compound he heard Hinata speak up causing him to turn around to face her.

"His responsibilities should be to have the life he wants, and not the one you've decided for him." said Hinata in a calm voice, as she turned towards the dining room. While she still may feel sadness at her fathers and Neji's behavior her time as a silent sufferer was past. Like Naruto she had seen what such actions lead to, and like him had decided to start changing herself just as Naruto had.

Hiashi for his part simply starred that the back of his daughter as she made her way into the dining hall where she was greeted by an excited Hitomi and Hanabi. Moments later he shook himself before heading back to his office. Neji in the meantime simply scowled for a moment before heading out on his own to meet up with his team, before the exams.

A while later found Hinata standing in front of the gates of the Hyuuga compound sharing a hug with Hitomi as the mother softly stroked Hinata hair simply wishing never to let go. Hanabi in the meantime was standing a little to the back of the exchange having been the one to wheel out Hitomi's chair. As Hitomi let go of Hinata the girl took a step back smiling at the two members of her family.

"Now look after yourself and make sure to tell Kiba-kun and Naruto-kun that we are cheering for them as well." spoke Hitomi smiling at the kunoichi before her that she was proud to call her daughter. Hanabi spoke up a few second after Hitomi.

"Hai Neesan good luck me and Mito are looking forward to seeing you and Naruto in the finals." smiled Hanabi as Hinata bent forward to give him a brief hug before heading out.

"Of course otouto, we'll make it all the way promise." replied Hinata smiling as she departed her home giving the two a soft wave as she did so.

Across town at the Namikaze house the final two members of team eleven were standing in the entryway just about to depart, except for a minor hiccup.

"Mito you have to let go of Naruto or he won't be able to go to the exam." Spoke Kushina trying to console her youngest. Mito had wrapped herself securely around Naruto's leg and secured herself to the banister via her chains, and was refusing to let go. As Kushina spoke the little redhead shook her head quickly.

"NO I changed my mind Naruto niisan is staying here!" replied the redhead in a strong but sad little voice.

"**I told you that letting her know that the exams were dangerous would backfire, but no you just had to tell her the truth, now you're stuck here." **chided the Juubi as she watched the scene unfold.

_Ok fine maybe it wasn't that smart but what was I supposed to do lie to her? _fired back Naruto while summoning a small sliver from a pollen to cut the chain holding Mito to the banister. Once cut he bent down to unwrap the girls arms from around his leg and brought her into a tight hug while running one of his hands softly through her long red hair.

"Ssssshhhhhhh Mito it's ok I'm not going anywhere," spoke Naruto in a calming voice as Mito looked up at him small tears in her eyes, which he wiped away gently with one hand. "Remember I promised that I wouldn't be going anywhere," continued Naruto as Mito nodded slowly, "beside I have seed-kun with me right I'll be just fine." finished Naruto with a smile, as Mito seemed to brighten up at this a little herself. "Besides I'll give you something that will let you check up on me and Seed-kun no matter where we are, he may not be as fuzzy as our other friends but he will have to do." continued Naruto directing the pollen he had used to float gently onto the girls hair braid so that it simply appeared to be a decoration. Mito giggle as she felt the small hum from the pollen allowing her to notice its presence. Kushina took this moment to reach down and lift Mito up into a hug of her own before speaking.

"Your niisans right Mito he will be just fine, now come on you need to say goodbye to your sisters too." Spoke Kushina getting a small nod from the redhead as they both looked back at Naruto. Kushina gave a small nod telling him to go ahead and head out, while she took care of Mito. Mito in the meantime was not so subtle.

"ANIKI you better make sure that you and seed-kun are carful so that we can play later!" called Mito as Kushina carried her back into the house. Naruto could not help but smile happily at his sister's words before calling back to her before the two departed.

"Hai Mito I promise and don't worry Seed-kun and I are going to take this exam by storm!" called naruto as he turned to head out the door.

As Kushina entered into the living room she saw her two daughters finishing loading up their equipment and turn to face her and Mito. Mito quickly hoped down to give both of her sisters a hug and start wishing them luck. Kushina in the meantime turned to see Minato stepping forwards towards the girls with something clutched in his hands.

"Naruko, Minami," spoke up Minato as he neared the two, making them turn to face him. "I want to just say how proud I am for you two heading to the exams, and I wanted you two to have these to commiserate this day." The blond finished as he revealed two of his signature kunai with the sealing array present on the handles. Both girls happily accepted the gift and the quick hug that followed before turning to head out and meet their team mate. As they left, however, Minami paused for a moment before turning to face her Tousan, with a questioning look.

"Um Tousan," began Minami causing minato to look over at her.

"Hai Minami, what is it?" asked Minato looking into the red eyes of his daughter prompting her to continue.

"I was just wondering did you give Niisan one of these as well?" asked Minami. As the question left her lips she could immediately see the shift in Minato's eyes. For a moment there was a flash of guilt, but moments later it was gone, replaced by a kind look.

"Well Minami this is for all of the hard work you two have been doing with Jiraiya and me," started Minato looking more and more uncomfortable by the second as his daughters eyes were joined by those of his wife's. "but yes I have one for Naruto as well, I was only giving you yours first, don't worry I'll catch him before the exams start." finished Minato with a small smile that seemed to settle Minami's questions. Kushina in the meantime seemed more suspicious as to the true meaning of the gift and was determined to discuss this later with him.

In the meantime Naruto had met up with Hinata and Kiba and the three were currently making their way towards the school where their first exam was scheduled to occur. As they walked they caught sight of another trio of individuals who seemed to be making their way in the same direction.

The trio was off to the left of the group as they walked they could not help but take in a few details of the other trio. The one closest too them was a girl who looked to be a year or two their senior and who's blond hair was pulled back into four pony tails while her black eyes were rolled back in a look of annoyance at the words of her compatriot. Besides that she was wearing a white dress slash fishnet combination as well as what appeared to be an oversized fan of sorts. The second figure the one who seemed to be speaking was dressed in a full black bodysuit, along with an odd wrapped bundle that sat on his back. His face also was covered in purple war paint that made him appear a little offsetting compared to the final fellow.

It was the final figure that drew Naruto's attention however. He had short scruffy rust read hair that was cut short so that one could see the clear carved word love that adorned the youths face. Along with this the boy's teal eyes were bordered by a clear black outline that gave him the appearance of a raccoon. To complete this look the boy carried a large gourd on his back that was almost as large as the boy himself. As the two groups walked closer two things happened. First their conversation became noticeable, and secondly that an odd feeling crept up through Naruto.

"Look Temari I'm telling you, you should have let me just pop the kid. He shouldn't have been mouthing off so much in the first place." Spoke the boy in the war paint, as he spoke to his fellow.

"And I'm telling you to shut up before I am tempted to see if they will let this team compete with just Garra and me." replied the identified Temari in a commanding tone, that caused the other to go silent.

While Hinata and Kiba could not help but listen to the conversation occurring beside them, Naruto was busy having his own conversation.

"**S-shukaku-kun….oh kami it is you." ** whispered the Juubi as she looked over at the redheaded boy, with tears forming in her eyes.

_Hu shukaku…wait as in your first born? _asked Naruto with clear fear in his voice as he turned to look at the red headed boy who was now level with his own group as they approached the school courtyard.

"**H-hai, oh Naruto this exam has just become more dangerous than you can possibly understand." **Finished Juubi, just as the redheaded boys eyes turned to so that his teal crazed eyes looked directly into Naruto's purple ones.

**And done, ok starting next time we have the chunnin exams going in full force. I know this chapter may have seemed a little slow, but I needed to set everything up, as once the exam begins all hell is going to break loose in Konoha. Also to those who were wondering what the prize is for guessing the aforementioned character it will be an exclusive hint to help narrow down for the other competition, I will be eliminating four more possible summonses to help narrow the field down so guess and good luck to all of you. Also a small suggestion might want to use PM for this so that you all have an even chance.**


	13. Chapter 12

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

I would like to give a shout out to those who have reviewed, followed and favorite my story in the short time it has been out. I can't believe I have so many followers and favorites, it is just crazy. Also a big thank you to all of those who have reviewed, I have made it a point to try and answer every one of your responses, and hope I haven't missed any.

Again yes there will be a summoning jutsu for Naruto, so guess away; I will say that so far one person has actually gotten it. So hurry and be the next to get it right.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them.

Ok well the winners have been given their prize and for those of you that haven't guessed on the Naruto's character influence. For those who haven't gotten it is Clair Stanfield or Vino from Baccano. If you don't know who that is then I really have to say give the show a watch it is a little hard to get started but once you get in you will only wish for more. With that said here we go with the chunnin exams.

Oh there happens to be a comment I will be deleting soon after this chapter is posted. But I wanted to call attention to it because I really feel it is one of the most failed attempts to insult people I've ever seen. The note by one "I rule your mom" asked me to go and "fuck your shelf"….what the hell did my shelf ever do to him . Also it will be deleted because it attacks two other authors or reviews and that I will not leave up on my story simple as that. Also it brings up a really stupid thing happening on fanfics in general. People all parings are valid. Hell if you want to pair Madara with Naruto it is fair game… granted I won't read it, but if it is well written there is nothing wrong with it. If you don't like a pairing then just avoid it or keep it to yourself, it costs nothing to be polite to one another on this site. Let's all try and get along ok .

**Chapter 12**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-Meeting the new and old alike-**

While Hinata and Kiba could not help but listen to the conversation occurring beside them, Naruto was busy having his own conversation.

"**S-shukaku-kun….oh kami it is you." ** whispered the Juubi as she looked over at the redheaded boy, with tears forming in her eyes.

_Hu shukaku…wait as in your first born? _asked Naruto with clear fear in his voice as he turned to look at the red headed boy who was now level with his own group as they approached the school courtyard.

"**H-hai, oh Naruto this exam has just become more dangerous than you can possibly understand." **Finished Juubi, just as the redheaded boys eyes turned to so that his teal crazed eyes looked directly into Naruto's purple ones.

As the two's eyes meet both of the boys stopped dead in their tracks followed soon after by their respective teams. As the others looked form the two boys the members of team eleven noticed that the other group aside from the redhead seemed more than a little afraid at the current interaction between the two boys.

_Hum that's odd the girl and that guy in the black suit seem worried about their teammate wonder why. _Thought Kiba as he looked back and forth between the other members of the team across from him. Hinata was also thinking along the same lines, only her concentration was also on Naruto.

_Naruto-kun what's wrong, I've never seen you like this before…and what's with this team something just feels off about them. _Thought the pale eyed girl as she surveyed the situation. Temari and Kankuro were also concerned but for a very different reason.

_Oh shit first that Sasuke guy and now Gaara's found someone else I swear if I make it through till the end of the day it will be a freaking miracle…. I just hope Temari can calm him down before he gets out of hand. _Thought Kankuro sweating slightly at the almost hungry look that was adorning Gaara's face. Beside him his sister Temari was thinking along the same lines.

_What the heck is with these Leaf ninja, are they just predisposed to trying to tempt fate by getting Gaara's attention crap he is already riled up from that Sasuke guy and those two girls, now this guy on top I don't know if he will be able to stay calm. Crap what can I do here. _ Thought a frustrated and genuinely scared Temari as her eyes flew between her brother and the leaf shinobi.

After what seemed like an eternity one of the boys finally spoke.

"Mother says that you are one to watch, but she does not say why…..you just may be worth killing." spoke Gaara as he surveyed the blond boy standing before him. Naruto for his part seemed to have overcome his initial shock, and was simply looking at the red headed boy before him with a note of curiosity.

"Sorry but I don't intend on dying anytime soon, so your mother and you will have to take a rain check." Naruto replied simply gracing the sand siblings with a confident smile that reached all the way to his eyes. To say the sand siblings were shocked at this was an understatement. Kankuro seemed to have gone completely catatonic simply staring forward in complete shock obviously thinking that this was the end of his life. Temari was slowly backing away from Gaara as if expecting him to explode any moment. The final member Gaara actually seemed to blink at this for a second before giving a horribly unnerving grin that twisted his face into a feral look not unlike one seen on a beast right before it stuck.

The smile Gaara was now giving was unnerving enough to genuinely unnerve three of the members of team eleven.

_What the heck is up with this guy, he looks like he's getting ready to pounce or something? _Thought Kiba, Akamaru also thinking along the same lines, and giving off a small whimper as he retreated farther into Kiba's coat. Hinata in the meantime was going through her own little mental debate trying to stave off the fear she felt.

_w-why is he looking at Naruto-kun that way, it's like he wants to feed on him or something, darn it girl get it together, you need to stay strong for everyone. _Thought Hinata. Unknown to the girl, from deep within her there was a faint pulse at her words, as if something old, had begun to awaken, but had stopped just short of opening its eyes.

For what seemed like an eternity the two teams faced each other Naruto with his happy little smile of confidence, and Gaara with his fanged predatory grin. Finally after a time Naruto spoke again.

"Well I guess we could stand here smiling all day but we," here he gestured back at his team, "have to be getting to the exam, and if I'm not mistaken so do you." Finish Naruto as he turned to leave with his team. Gaara simply nodded at his words before turning to continue his progress to the exam. But as Naruto and the rest of team eleven began to get ahead of the sand triplets Gaara spoke up once more.

"What is your name?" called the redhead in a tone that made it obvious that this was not a question but a command. Hearing the boy Naruto stopped his progress and turned once again to face him still with a small smile upon his lips.

"You know it's polite to give you name first, here let me show you my name is Naruto, and to my left here is Kiba," at this he gestured to his right side where Kiba stood, "and the lovely girl on my left here is Hinata-chan," he continued this time turning a hand to gesture towards Hinata who blushed slightly "now it's your turn." The blond boy finished turning back to face the sand trio. For a moment the sand team just stood there staring…well Temari and Kankuro stared Gaara seemed to be leering but after a time he spoke up.

"My name is Gaara of the sand, and these are my siblings Kankuro and Temari…pray we do not meet in the exams or the next time I will let mother feast on your blood." Spoke Gaara in a threatening tone, never taking his eyes off of the blond boy before him. Naruto seemed to pause for a moment as if listening to something the others couldn't hear before smiling slightly and responding for a final time.

"Well I'll keep it in mind, but I will tell you this your mother, and her mother need to have a sit down at some point." Spoke the blond cryptically as he turned with his team to enter into the academy building they had finally reached. Gaara and the rest of the sand team simply stood puzzled for a moment trying to decipher the blonde's words.

While the trio was still attempting to understand their meaning Shukaku was in a state of barley suppressed excitement.

"**So it is as I thought, Kaasan has returned at last….together we may be able to make these filthy apes pay once and for all." **chuckled Shukaku to himself from his nest within Gaara's mind, smiling to himself as he thought of what was to come.

In the meantime team eleven had made its way into the third floor of the exams, seeing a couple of chuckling chunnin pass them going the opposite direction and muttering something about a good group of participants, but the team paid them no mind as they approached the final landing before the classroom. As they arrived on the final landing, they all caught sight to two figures standing in the hall facing them.

The first figure was the familiar face of Kushina who was smiling at the team with obvious pride on her face. The other was the figure of Minato who seemed to be at a bit of a loss as to what his face should be settled on. The end result looked like a man trying to be giving a welcoming look, but failing to completely capture the emotion, as though he had lost the ability to express himself like he used to. Kushina stepped forward first still beaming around at her students.

"Well team it's great to see you all here." started Kushina as the four members of team eleven smiled at one another, before looking back at their sensei.

"Anyway I'm just here to tell you that I expect you to clean up in these exams!" cheered the redheaded women, as she excitedly raised a fist in triumph. All of team eleven also let out calls of celebration mirroring their sensei's before giving her a happy salute. As Kushina moved to give final bits of advice to Kiba and Hinata, Minato stepped forward toward Naruto with that same almost lost look on his face. As Minato's blue eyes meet his son's bright purple ones, Minato could not help but repress a small shiver. It had been like this since Naruto's return, and the change he seemed to have undergone.

Despite his best efforts Minato had not been able to pry what had transpired out of Kushina, but something had definitely occurred during the wave mission that he was not being told. The sad thing was, however, that he had started to doubt whether or not he was even worthy of knowing anything about Naruto. It always came back in full force when he saw his son's new eyes, as if somehow their shift encapsulated all of his failings towards the boy in one simple color shift. Never the less he steeled himself as he looked on at his fellow blond.

"Um Naruto I, well I wanted to wish you luck in your exam and give you a little something for progressing this far." stated Minato lamely as he extended his hand holding one of his customized Kunai out to Naruto. Naruto for his part only blinked down at the kunai before looking back at Minato with obvious confusion on his face.

_Um Juubi, is it just me or is the world just decided to go crazy today, first Shukaku and now the Hokage giving me a gift….did someone working for kami just lose their shit? _Asked Naruto wondering what exactly he had done to have the world go so crazy so fast.

"**Hey don't talk about Shukaku-kun that way!" **replied the Juubi heatedly with a touch of annoyance in her voice. Naruto only mentally rolled his eyes at this.

_Well if you would tell me what's up with him maybe I would but all you've done so far is give me cryptic statements, Juubi how am I supposed to understand if you won't fill me in. _Questioned the blond in his mind. Juubi sighed heavily at this giving her head a little shake as she mulled over what blond had said.

"**Fine I guess you have a point, I'll tell you everything soon enough but for now, your zoned out in front of the Hokage, just thank him and get it over with maybe Akamaru can use it as a chew toy. The sooner he leaves the sooner you can get on with the exam." **finished the Juubi in a bit of a dismissing tone, directed towards the Hokage's name.

Back in the real world Naruto seemed to come out of a deep thought still looking at the Kunai that Minato was holding out to him. With a small gesture Naruto reached forward and took the blade form the Hokage's hand before looking back at the man.

"Thank you Hokage-sama." spoke Naruto simply with no real emotion behind it either positive or negative. If anything his tone only announced his total disinterest with the interaction. This did not go unnoticed by Minato who had another stab of sadness hit him as he heard his sochi's reply.

…_.h-he doesn't even call me tousan anymore. _Thought a saddened Minato before his thoughts continued. _Though I suppose that I really haven't been much of a father to him….maybe someday he will understand that I'm doing this to make sure that the world he lived in would be safe._ Minato thought trying to reassure himself. However, even as the thoughts crossed his mind they sounded feebler, and hollower with every recitation, and a small voice in the back of his mind spoke up. _A world for him that lacked a father…even in that world what place could you possibly have in his life? _The voice questioned again causing Minato a brief moment of discomfort, before both the voice and moment had passed and he simply watched as Naruto and the rest of team eleven marched off down the hall.

While Kushina smiled after her team and Minato simply looked on lost in his own thoughts, Naruto and the rest of his team pushed open the doors to the examination room and entered. As team eleven looked around they found themselves standing in a large classroom area, along with what looked like at least sixty or so teams ranging from kumo to sand, thought the majority remained leaf. Before the team could give the room more than a quick glance a call from their left caught their attention.

"Hey Naruto, Hinata is that you?" called a pink haired girl that was waving the team over to her.

"Sakura!" called Hinata happily seeing a familiar face across the room from her where Sakura and her team stood, the pink haired girl waving at her to catch her attention. Team eleven followed Hinata over to where team eight stood. As they reached each other Sakura and Hinata briefly embraced smiling at one another. The two had become closer through their apprentice ship with Tsunade and Shizune, and the two were becoming both friends and rivals.

"I knew I'd see you guys here," smiled Sakura looking around at the four members of team eleven as she stepped back from Hinata.

"Oh course, we wouldn't miss this for the world." replied Kiba smiling as Akamaru yipped happily in agreement with him. Yakumo giggled at the pups' antics as she stepped forward bending down to scratch behind Akamaru's ears, after he had hoped down from Kiba's coat. As Yakumo giggled slightly as Akamaru had decided to start licking her face affectionately Naruto turned to the final member of team eight with a smile.

"Yo Shino what's up?" called Naruto waving to the more stoic member of their gathering. Shino in turn gazed at Naruto for a moment before speaking.

"I am doing well Naruto…. and you seem….well." with a hint of curiosity, his insects were at that moment warning him that something was very wrong about the figure before him. While Naruto may have seemed a bit off sometimes this was the first time that his kikaichū had openly warned him away from someone. Still Naruto didn't seem too far off except his eyes seemed to have changed color…odd.

"Ya I'm doing great just looking forward to this exam to get going and show my stuff." responded Naruto smiling as he did so. Although his smile seemed the same something did not sit the same with Shino, and soon Sakura was also looking over at Naruto with a curious eye. Sakura was the first to speak up.

"Hey wait Naruto what happened to your eyes?" asked Sakura having just noticed the change in Naruto's look. As she said it both Hinata and Kiba stiffened slightly, this did not go unnoticed by Shino and Yakumo. For a moment the team just looked at Naruto wondering what he was about to say. What he said was not expected.

"…wait what happened to my eyes?" asked Naruto in mock concern, as he looked around at them all, "wait am I going blind, AKUMARU HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME!" yelled Naruto picking up the pup and gently shaking him in an exaggerated manner, as all those who had been on looking could not help but laugh as the pup simply gave him a doggy grin and licked his nose lightly. Meanwhile the rest of team eleven and eight could not help but chuckle at the Naruto's performance.

"hahaha…ok Naruto all kidding aside what happened, I mean well," here she lazily gestured at Naruto's new appearance, "it looks like you've changed a bit and what's with that other headband." she finished a bit lamely. Yakumo and Shino who had also stifled their chuckles looked curiously over at Naruto who was currently holding Akamaru just a foot from his face while both Akamaru and Naruto looked over at the rest of the group. As he set Akamaru down and raised one hand to scratch the back of his head he couldn't suppress a nerves chuckle.

"Ya well during our mission I got hurt and for some reason after the medical work, my eyes changed." started Naruto having all of team eight's full attention. "I asked Tsunade about it and she said it had something to do with hormones or something, but whatever I like them." replied Naruto pointing to his new black and purple eyes. "And the headband was just a gift from a someone close to me, I just decided to wear it so I wouldn't forget them." Finished the blond smiling over at his pink haired friend.

"Huh well that's odd." stated Sakura a little disbelieving, but if Tsunade had explained it then she supposed that she would just have to trust it for now. Besides she had known Naruto long enough to trust him if he wasn't making a big deal about it.

"Oh sorry I almost forgot this is Yakumo," called Sakura raising a hand to indicate the pale brown haired girl that stood beside her. Yakumo was still dressed in her own more modest version of Kurenai's gear, and had never attended the academy with the rest of them. She simply gave a small bow of greeting as Sakura called attention to her. As the members of team eleven greeted the girl one by one, Shino could not help but take the moment to slip one of his kikaichū silently onto Naruto attempting to get a better gauge of what exactly had the insects so riled up in the first place.

The insect flew silently over to rest on Naruto's back while he was shaking hands with Yakumo. Shino only had a moment to recognize the danger, before the poor insect had taken its first bit of Naruto's chakra. The result was a little more explosive than he would have guessed. The kikaichū effectively exploded in a little pop of chakra that drew no one's attention except for Shino. If the others had been paying attention to the stoic boy they would have seen him stiffen suddenly before seeming to shake slightly. Whatever was going on with Naruto all he knew for sure was that he wanted to stay clear of it no matter what.

As the teams were catching up and getting to know one another better, a few sets of eyes from across the room were currently affixed on them. Team seven, was standing just a few feet away gazing over at the discussion between team eleven and eight. Minami was looking over at Naruto and his team, and was smiling slightly at the happy discussion they seemed to be having. Naruko and Sasuke were simply looking at the other teams trying to size up what would be coming next for them, and worrying about the coming examination.

"Hey sis, Sasuke I'm going to go over and say hi to our classmates." said Minami looking at her team, in a questioning way, as if asking if they were interesting in joining her. Sasuke merely grunted and turned his head away from the group, his pride still damaged after his recent encounter with a rather enthusiastic Genin. Naruko in the meantime gave a small nod, not seeing the harm in seeing a few of their old classmates, and maybe even getting some info on their improved capabilities. After all if they were here they were the competition, and one of the first lessons she had learned from Jiraiya was it was never bad to have information on a possible enemy. So the two sisters set off towards team eleven and eight leaving the brooding Sasuke too simply lean himself against a nearby wall.

"Hey everyone how are you?" called Minami waving slightly as she approached the two teams alongside her sister. As the redhead approached Naruto turned with a welcoming smile to Minami and a small polite nod towards Naruko. He may not particularly care for his other sister at the moment, but this was not the time to spark conflict. The rest of teams elven and eight offered greeting before the groups began to converse.

"So Sakura how are your lessons going with Tsunade?" asked Minami smiling over at Sakura. While the two hadn't been able to spend much time together except in the academy the two had gotten along well. Sakura smiled as she turned to face the girl.

"Really great Minami, I even got to advance to the next level of medical justus, and Tsunade got me started on my stances for her personal style it's great." replied Sakura enthusiastically. "How is your work with your weapons going, are your star blades finally finished?" asked Sakura excitedly. From the time that Minami was a child she had talked about having a set of what she called star blades that would shine like the stars, and be her signature weapon just like her Tousan's kunai. Minami smiled at Sakura remembering her dream and with a flick of her wrist unsealed the twin blades only about a foot long but shining silver in the dim light form the windows, and lights of the classroom. As Sakura watched Minami gave a small twist of her wrist and the two blades seemed to distort for a moment before folding out to form the two four bladed weapons she had used to fight against Naruto's seeds.

"Ya I finally got them done, Kaasan helped with the seals on them, but they are awesome, aren't they?" half stated half asked Minami happily, obviously proud of her blades, and the work behind them. Interestingly enough it was Kiba who spoke next.

"Wow those are crazy, you made them yourself?" asked Kiba looking over at Minami as she resealed the blades into the seals on her wrist with another flick.

"Hai Kaasan helped a lot, but these are mostly mine." Smiled Minami looking over at Kiba, who was nodding.

"I hear you Kushina-sensei really helped me in making something of my own, I'd show you but it's a little cramped in here, but make it to the finals and I guarantee you'll see something awesome." replied the obviously happy boy, as he joked with the redhead, and drew more than one curious look.

"Hey you make it sound like we won't make it, we are going all the way and winning this thing." spoke up Naruko who till then had simply been watching the conversation. It was Yakumo who spoke up next.

"It isn't wise to just claim that you are going to take the exam by storm, I mean we don't even know what's going to happen here." reasoned the girl softly. Naruko flashed the girl a confident smirk before responding.

"Whatever it is team seven that is more than ready for it!" fired back Naruko practically overflowing with confidence.

While all of this was occurring Minami saw Naruto slowly move just out of the corner of her eye, and she saw a few of his pollens fall silently to the ground before rolling quickly over to each of them. As she looked up at her Niisan with a questioning look he nodded a little before he sent a simply mental message to her to help reassure her.

_Don't worry Minami I'm not looking to hurt anyone, I just feel better keeping an eye on everyone so we all have some backup… think of it as my way of looking after everyone. _Came the blonds voice inside her head as the boy outside smiled at her. Minami for her part offered a small smile of her own before nodding very slightly to him in thanks.

Before the teens could continue any further their attention was drawn back towards where Minami and Naruko had left Sasuke. It seemed that Ino had found the boy alone and taken her chance to wrap her arms affectionately around his neck and began nuzzling him with a happy cry. Hinata and Sakura actually face palmed at the scene, Sakura privately thanking Kami that she had gotten that part of her personality knocked out of her at a young age before she let it embarrass her. Minami and Naruko headed over to save their teammate trailed by the other teams who decided to greet team ten while they were at it. When they arrived Ino had finally be peeled off a now quite indignant Sasuke.

"Ino, I thought I asked you not to do that anymore troublesome blond." spoke the lazy tone of Shikimaru from where he stood a few feet away right beside Choji who was busy munching away at a bag of chips. Ino turned on Shikimaru so fast the rest of the teens felt like they had gotten whiplash just form watching the action.

"Shut up lazy, this is love, and so help me if you say troublesome one more time I'm pitching you out the window!" replied the blond girl in a threatening tone, that had Shikimaru shaking his head in mock surrender. Choji simply went on snacking as he looked between his teammates looking a little lost at what to do in the situation.

Naruko was in the meantime chuckling at Sasuke who was now silently fuming at his recent episode with Ino, while the rest of the teams suppress the urge to join in with the girl. As they stood there, however, Naruto stiffened for a moment along with Kiba and Hinata as another team entered the room.

The team was composed of three member one boy and one girl, as well as one figure that was hidden by an all too familiar mask. The boy on the left had bright white hair and his teeth were turned up in a shark like grin that made his purple eyes flash with a predatory gleam as he looked around the room. Besides his teeth the only thing that drew attention was the several water bottles and one large sword that were strapped to him. The second person looked almost like Minami at least in her hair and eye color. The girl had red hair and eyes, but both were of a darker shade that none the less carried the same brightness as the Namikaze girl's. In fact the girl looked so much like Minami they could have been mistaken for sisters. However, it was the final member of the team that had drawn team elevens attention. Standing there was the masked hunter ninja that they had engaged in their battle against Zabuza… the same battle that Naruto had died.

As they watched the team the masked figure looked their way and seemed to freeze in place just as they had.

_Oh Kami they are here, even him….how the hell is he even alive after what Zabuza-sama did to him? _thought Haku looking over at the familiar team across from the mist team. Haku's actions did not go unnoticed by the other two members who upon seeing their teammate's gaze mirrored it with a slight amount of confusion.

"Sup Haku you look like you've seen a ghost?" spoke the redheaded girl stepping forward to rest a hand on Haku's shoulder. The white haired youth simply snorted slightly looking over at team eleven and flashing them another fanged grin.

"Oh relax Karin they look like wimps to me, Haku's just acting weird again." Mocked the boy right before Karin slammed a fist into his face causing it to ripple slightly as thought it was a water balloon, that had refused to burst on impact.

"Shut it asshole, or you won't have to worry about the exams cause I'll kill you here and now!" fired back the now identified Karin her face contorted into annoyance at her teammate. Haku looked back at the other members of the team and simply sighed.

"Karin this isn't the time or place for a fight, keep yourself focused on the matter at hand, and Suigetsu try and not make me eager to allow you to spend another cold night outside." finished the masked figure with a note of authority in their voice.

Both teammates stiffened for a moment before offering small nods before following Haku into the room.

Meanwhile Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata were having their own silent mental conversation through their pollens.

_What the heck it that hunter ninja doing here? _asked Kiba as the group departed.

_No idea, but that is definitely the same one as last time. _Spoke up Hinata looking over at Kiba.

_Ya no question it's the same smell, that's the one. _Replied the Inuzuka.

_Well whatever the case we just have to keep an eye on the mist and sand team. _Spoke Naruto getting nods from both of his teammates as he shut down the mental link. Before the team could do more than turn back to the other gathered teams, another voice spoke out calling their attention.

"You know you newbies shouldn't be talking so much, it's drawing attention your way." Spoke a calm and friendly voice, coming from a silver haired Konoha shinobi who was approaching the group with a thin smile upon his face. As the boy stepped forward the rest of those present turned their attention onto the spectacle clad boy before them, with questioning looks.

While this was happening a few blocks away several Jonin were relaxing as they awaited responses on how their teams would be fairing in the upcoming exams. Asuma had finally managed to outmaneuver Kurenai long enough to lite a cigarette and was enjoying a quiet smoke while Kakashi still had his face buried in his orange book silent except for an occasional giggle. Guy was busy at the moment running around the village screaming about his teams flames of youth, and no one cared to chase the man down at the moment. Kushina was sitting down looking over some of the other Jonin sensei's lingering for a moment on a man with an eye patch and what appeared to be a yin yang pendent hanging from his ear, before allowing her eyes to drift to the window.

"So anyone hear what their first exam is supposed to be?" spoke up Kurenai after a few moments casting her eyes around at the gathered Jonin. It was Kushina who answered her.

"Sorry Kurenai we aren't told so we can't help them prepare ahead of time, but I did hear you friends boss was the one managing the test." replied Kushina looking over at her fellow female Jonin. Kurenai paused for a moment thinking before she blanched slightly looking over at Kushina.

"You mean they've got Ibiki?" asked the black haired women with a note of concern in her voice. Hers was not the only nerves present once the name was spoken. Several of the local Jonin and even a few of the other village's sensei flinched slightly at the news of who the first test giver would be.

"Hai that Ibiki is one sick bastard when he wants to be." breathed out Asuma as he let out a puff of his cigarette. Casting his gaze over to the two women, while folding his arms behind his head, apparently relaxed with whatever came.

"It will be ok, Ibiki won't be torturing them….at least not physically." spoke up Kakashi lazily from behind his book, as he flipped a page over with a small giggle. Kurenai and a few other Jonin turned to the silver haired man at this with questioning looks.

"What do you mean by that?" asked a sand Jonin with a turban, that had one swatch of the cloth hanging down to cover his right eye. Kushina was the one to answer this time.

"You see Ibiki is a specialist in mental torture, he doesn't need to resort to actually touching someone to get the job done, still if a team can't handle the strain then it just goes to show they aren't ready for the test yet." finished the redhead with a small shrug of her shoulders as she looked back out the window.

The rest of the Jonin seemed to relax at this and returned to their smaller conversations, or simply went back to waiting to hear word on their students.

Back in the exam room, the silver haired boy who had been identified as one Kabuto was currently puking onto the floor in front of him, having been assaulted by three shinobi from the village hidden in the sound. However, before things could escalate further the doors on both sides of the room slammed open and a figure draped in black entered flanked by what looked like several dozen shinobi all dressed in simple dust colored jumpsuits, and bearing leaf headbands.

Before any of the Genin could do more than looked surprised the figure in the black trench coat, and bandana spoke up as he cast his hard eyes around the room.

"Everyone shut your faces and listen up you sorry excuses for soldiers!" yelled the man in a commanding tone that left no room for argument. As the examiners filed in they took their positions on opposite sides of the room as Ibiki made his way to stand at the head of the class, as he observed all of those present.

"Your seat already have your names on them, I suggest you find your seats before I decide that none of you can follow orders and fail the lot of you." spoke Ibiki in a voice that seemed to lack any caring as to if any of the assembled Genin made it to the next part of the exam. The Genin rushed to find their seat amongst their fellows, avoiding tripping over one another in their haste.

As Naruto sat down he smiled at seeing that Hinata was taking the seat directly to his left. Hinata returned the blonds smile with one of her own, before both of them looked back to see Kiba sitting beside the blond girl Temari they had meet earlier, him giving them a small smirk and thumbs up before all three turned to face Ibiki once again. As the final Genin found their seats, Ibiki's voice rang out once again.

"Ok listen up, your examination starts now, the chunnin exams are officially underway as of this second, that means your job from now on is to simply follow our orders, while we see if any of you are worthy of become Chunnin." started Ibiki allowing a small bit of killing intent to leak out of him as he spoke. "Now with that out of the way your first exam is," here he seemed to shuffle with something behind his back for a second causing a few of the Genin to tense slightly, before he pulled from behind him a stack of white papers, "a written exam." finished Ibiki looking around at the assembled applicants.

As Ibiki began to explain the rules of the exam, Naruto found himself losing interest very quickly and decided to take the opportunity to get some answerers out of Juubi, on what she had meant about her oldest son Shukaku.

_Hey Juubi, mind telling me what was up with Shukaku now? _asked the blond with a note of curiosity apparent in his voice. His question seemed to rouse Juubi form some private thoughts of her own.

"**Hum, what?" **asked Juubi in a slightly distracted voice seeming to notice the boys voice with a note of surprise. Naruto was a little taken aback by this, true Juubi was not at his beck and call at any time, but this was the first time he had heard her sound so distracted, and unless he missed his mark worried.

_Um well I was wondering if you might be willing to tell me a little bit more about your son Shukaku? _repeated the boy softly, almost feeling a little worried at his question. Juubi paused at his question for a moment, before responding. When she finally spoke it was in a soft little voice as though the thought was somehow uncomfortable.

"**I suppose I can, but I'd like to do it face to face, if you don't mind?" **asked Juubi. Naruto thought for a second before mentally nodding to her simply.

_Hai that's no problem just let me tell Hinata and Kiba…and I guess I should do this test first. _He replied almost as an afterthought. Juubi suppressed a small giggle at the boy's absentmindedness before allowing her thoughts to once more drift towards her first son…and the burden he had born from the day of his birth.

As Naruto looked around he saw that most of the Genin were preparing to begin their work on exam. With a small feeling of stupidity he realized he had talked through the instructions for the exam. Luckily Kiba, and Hinata were able to fill him in through their pollens, and soon Naruto found himself simply looking down at his exam with a puzzled little look.

_Um Hinata-chan, Kiba, _Naruto shot over their mental link getting the other members attention.

_Hai Naruto-kun, what is it? _Hinata responded first, without allowing her physical body to give any indication of their mental exchange.

_Well I was wondering if either of you knew the answerers to this exam, because I don't have a clue? _Half asked half stated the blond boy, looking through the whole test for the second time. Kiba simply gave a mental sight of agreement with the blond.

_You and me both pal, I haven't got a clue, you Hinata? _asked the Inuzuka. Hinata seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before speaking.

_No I don't…but I don't think that's the point here. _ She said to the other two's bemusement. Both boys simply allowed the silence to continue waiting for the female member of their team to explain what she meant by her most recent comment.

_You see I think the point of this exam is to cheat but without getting caught…like intelligence gathering…S-Shizune-sensei, once told me that I would have to learn to spy as part of my medical training because getting an antidote, or poison ahead of time could mean the difference between saving or losing a life. _Finished the girl allowing a small bit of nervousness to leak its way into her words as they continued un-interrupted by her teammates. For a few moments after her proclamation there was silence which did nothing to help the girl's nerves. Just before she was about to apologize Naruto spoke up excited across the mental link.

_Hinata-chan you're almost as brilliant as you are beautiful, and you are very beautiful. _Spoke the blond across their mental link, while in the real world turning slightly to flash her a large smile as he did so causing the girl to blush slightly at the flirtatious comment.

_Ya Hinata smart thinking that's got to be it, ok Akamaru let's get to work! _said the excited Inuzuka over the mental link with a satisfied little bark from Akamaru echoing in the classroom that drew the eyes of Temari briefly, before she focused back on her own work again. So the team set about their cheating enterprise immediately. While Hinata and Kiba were perfectly equipped to start scanning their fellow Genin Naruto sat bored as thought his skills were handy for many situations this was not one of them. Hinata offered a little smile explaining that without his pollens the whole team wouldn't have been able to communicate, that seemed to cheer the blond up slightly. After not to long all three of them had a completed test and were simply waiting for the final questions to come up. Seeing this Naruto looked up to check the time, and saw he had little over an hour before the final question. With that the blond made up his mind to go ahead and have his chat with Juubi then and their…heck it wasn't like he was up to anything else.

Unfortunately it had slipped Naruto's mind that when he delved into the deeper mindscape to talk to Juubi face to face, his body usually went limp. Most of the time this was not an issue, but given his current position at the desk it had caused some interesting results.

With a loud WHAM Naruto's head slammed straight forward on to the desk before him with a slight crack. This had several effects at once. Most of the examiners gave a sudden jerk thanks to the sudden sound and looked over at the source with a bit of confusion in their faced. Ibiki himself had to fight to keep his face impassive as he wondered if he might have just killed a kid with his mental games alone…granted this had never happened but he wouldn't say he wouldn't be proud if he had actually managed it. A few of the Genin also looked over at the boy with various looks of confusion, before returning to their work. For one poor blond girl it threw off her aim enough that her mind leapt into a random examiner. Luckily for her the man happened to have a sheet with the answers so the jutsu worked out well enough. Naruto's two teammates simply chuckled at Naruto's actions before turning their attention to a little mental conversation the two had started up.

"**You know your amazing skill at this kind of thing never fails to amaze me." **joked Juubi as Naruto approached her from across the meadow that made up the mindscape. As he neared her tree she descended from on high sitting conformably astride one of the branches as she looked at the blond boy with a small smile. Naruto returned the smile as he took his seat in the soft grass leaning back and allowing his hands to support him so that he did not completely lay into the grass.

"Um Juubi, if you're not comfortable with this you don't need to if you're not ready, I mean I can always wait." Spoke Naruto with an air of concern in his voice as he did so. While he as dying to know what was going on with both Juubi and Shukaku, he wasn't about to make Juubi uncomfortable if he could help it. She had been his closest friend for as long as he could remember almost like a second mother. Juubi looked at the boy with a sad little smile on her lips. She recognized his concern and was thankful for it, but she needed him to understand as well.

"**Thanks Naruto but I… you need to know this. I guess I'll start with the obvious bit in that my eldest isn't really insane like everyone believes…he is just angry, and looking to hurt anyone he can for what happened in the past." **started Juubi looking over at the blond. Naruto gave this a questioning look but stayed silent waiting for Juubi to continue.

"**You see Shukaku was the oldest of the all of the children that were split from me, and as a result he was the first to know me, and his father. While he wasn't alive for very long what he was forced to see was…was too much for him." **continued Juubi this time prompting Naruto to speak.

"Wait I don't understand?" asked Naruto trying to follow what Juubi was saying. Juubi sighed slightly realizing that she wasn't doing the best job of explaining what she was trying to say.

"**Sorry Naruto, I guess it's a little hard to explain, but you see Shukaku was born with a great deal of my knowledge as well, and so he understood the world around him before his other siblings were able to." **Juubi started again trying to explain herself in a way the blond boy would be able to understand.

"**As a result he witnessed…..well all of his siblings being created." **Continued Juubi as a look of comprehension dawned across Naruto's face.

"Wait you said that the sage literally tore you apart to make your children…does that mean that he?" asked Naruto not being able to finish the sentence. Juubi slowly nodded at Naruto with the edges of tears in her eyes as she did so.

"**H-hai he was forced to see me being tortured, and torn apart right before his eyes by his father…. h-he never forgave the sage…or his kind for what he saw that day." **finished Juubi softly as she looking like she was fighting to hold back her tears with a great struggle. Naruto took the moment to stand and approach Juubi taking her in a soft hug, and allowing the women to simply hold him while softly sobbing into his shoulder for a moment. Naruto now had a better idea of what Juubi had meant when she said Shukaku wasn't insane; he wasn't he was angry, and what was worse he was apparently one of the smartest beings in existence, the combination did not brood well for anyone that came across him.

After a few moments Juubi was able to compose herself and straighten her seat once again upon the tree branch giving Naruto a thankful smile as she did so.

"**Thank you Naruto-kun..I…I needed that." **she said softly offering the boy a slightly larger smile.

"Any time Juubi, it's about time I was able to be there for you like you were for me." replied Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders and a little chuckle.

"**Hai I guess it is, but you have to understand has horrible as what happened to him was, he has chosen the wrong path, and I need to help him see that." **replied Juubi simply seeing Naruto look a little confused.

"**You see he blames not only his dead beat father, but all of humanity, he sees your kind as the cause of all of my and his siblings pain. He has seen his brothers and sisters used as tools of war for centuries, and watched as I was torn to pieces before him, and he wishes to have revenge on everyone he sees as responsible."** finished Juubi a note of warning in her voice.

"So I guess what you're saying is he is kind of how I could have turned out if I had let my hate control me, instead of listening to you back then." Naruto said as Juubi nodded slightly at his words.

"Well it sounds like I have some work to do then, I can't let one of your kids go down the same path you saved me from. Besides," continued the blond with a serious look, "we need to help his host as well that Gaara kid looked like Shukaku was giving him quite a rough time of it." finished the blond as he turned from the Juubi and approached consciousness once again.

"**Hai Naruto, we have to save both of these children….I-I won't be letting my son suffer alone again." **spoke Juubi as she saw Naruto fade from the mindscape.

As Naruto returned to consciousness, he became aware of several things at once. First was that several of his pollens he had been spreading around the room had returned to him signaling that many of the teams that had previously been in the exam had evidently failed. The second was that his face was in an extraordinary amount of pain from slamming it onto the table in front of him. And finally that someone was standing directly in front of him, as if waiting for him to notice their presence. As Naruto slowly raised his head from the desk he saw a long black trench coat that lead up to a scarred and frowning face with the many scars belonging to Ibiki.

"Well thanks for joining us," spoke Ibiki as he gazed harshly down at the boy before him who seemed unperturbed by the man's obvious annoyance.

"No problem happy to be here, so is it time for the final question or what?" responded Naruto lightly rubbing his head trying to nurse the small bump on his head where it had been acquainted with the desk. Ibiki for his part simply scowled slightly at the boys tone before deciding to have some fun with the youth.

"Well I was waiting to tell you that you have failed the exam!" spoke the man with a kind of pleasure in his tone that made it sound true even to those who knew of his true intentions. Ibiki was not seeking to actually fail the boy, or his team he was simply taking this chance to give the boy a scare, and play a few more of the mental games that he favored so. Naruto, however did not seem to even register what he had said, as he cricked his neck from side to side.

"Did you hear what I said?" asked Ibiki with a note of annoyance at being ignored by Naruto causing the boy to look up at him in a puzzled way. After a moment Naruto just leaned back in his chair slightly before speaking.

"And I suppose this would be for me not following your order that stated "no nap time during the test?"." Spoke Naruto in a semi mocking tone. Most of the Genin and Examiners face faltered at this. Not just at the tone, but due to the fact that Naruto had just openly mocked Ibiki of all people. A man who was well known as a sadist on the best of days. Before Ibiki could respond Naruto spoke up again.

"Or was it for getting all of the answers without giving away how I did it, or maybe you just are jealous because I still have hair, really I'm betting on the last one." finished Naruto leaning forward staring directly into the man's eyes his own purple ones flashing dangerously at Ibiki, who felt a strange pressure from the youth.

"You think some clever comments are going to help you, did you forget I'm the examiner my word is law here you may have missed it while taking your little nap but many of the teams here have already been eliminated what makes you think I won't do the same to you?" half questioned half threatened Ibiki, mildly enjoying the verbal debate they had going between them, and even suppressing a mild chuckle at the boys attempts to get a rise out of him. Naruto looked around the room for a moment before returning his gaze to the man before him with a smile.

"Because you see there is something very important that you don't know about me." spoke Naruto his purple eyes almost shining now as he stared into the black eyes of Ibiki without flinching. Ibiki matched the boys gaze without blinking before responding.

"oh and what would that be boy?" asked Ibiki leaning forward to place his hands on the desk so that he now dominated Naruto's entire vision even as he let out a large amount of his killing intent to try and unsettle the boy. At this Naruto burst into a huge smile as he looked over at the man.

"I know the answer to the tenth question!" replied Naruto with a confidence that could not be faked. The words slowly shifted around the room as Ibiki looked at the boy stunned at what he had said. Most of the examiners were now looking at the two, while several of the Genin were as well, wondering what the boy meant.

Ibiki was undergoing his own mental debate at that moment as he looked at the boy before him.

_What, he can't have that's impossible…unless it's a bluff, but his pulse his eyes, his tone nothing is forced he is telling the truth, or is he damn it what the hell is with this kid. I can't get any kind of read on him, I know he can't have known about the tenth question, hell it doesn't even have an answer…but why the heck can't I believe he is lying about it. _Thought Ibiki as he looked at the boy before him. He had interrogated hundreds if not thousands of Shinobi from Genin to Jonin in skill, and he could read a mind better than any Yamanaka, but something was just off about this boy. It wasn't one thing his whole presence just seemed to leak out confidence from every pore. Hell this kid could probably tell him he owned the world and Ibiki would have been hard pressed to argue the point with him. Something about the youth simply told you that he would have his way… no matter what he had to do to attain it.

"Well then I suppose you wouldn't mind me going ahead with the tenth question now would you." Ibiki said while making his way back to the front of the class a small smirk upon his face. Although he had been having fun with the boy, it was business first before pleasure and he still had an exam to run. As he turned to the class he cast his eyes around them once again before he began to speak.

"Alright all of you it's time for the tenth question, but first I have one condition." began Ibiki as he started to explain the stipulations surrounding their final test.

While this was happening Naruto was again engaged with a mental conversation with his teammates.

_Haha man that was great, so what were you and Juubi talking about? _asked Kiba through their link not paying much attention to Ibiki as he spoke.

_Oh just learning a few things, turns out that Gaara guy from earlier is holding the Juubi's oldest named Shukaku. _Replied Naruto as Kiba and Hinata became silent for a moment digesting what they had just heard.

_So does that mean he is like your sisters? _Asked Hinata wondering why the boy had looked so predatory earlier if he was just like Naruto's sisters.

_Well if I had to guess, I'd say no, _started Naruto with a mental shrug before continuing oblivious to Ibiki having finished his explanation. _It sounds from what Juubi told me that he is kind of blood thirsty, and worse he's smart and seems to have found a way to guide his host around without actually escaping. _finished Naruto giving Hinata a sideways look as he answered.

_So what does that mean? _Asked Kiba just as Naruko was slamming her hand down on her desk to start a speech at Ibiki about never giving up.

_It means he is dangerous, if we can lets avoid him for now, no since no sense taking a fight to him now before getting to know something about him. Jumping in head first is just going to get us hurt if we aren't careful. _Naruto finished as the other agreed. As the three shook themselves slightly and returned their attention forward Ibiki was just spreading his arms towards the class.

"All those of you that are left have passed the first exam." spoke Ibiki loudly with a small amount of pride in his voice as he did so. Naruto, Hinata, and Kiba blinked several times before looking around at the relieved and in some cases annoyed faces of their fellow exam takers and couldn't help but think that they had somehow missed something important. Before they could do more than look around thought their attention was drawn to a crashing sound from the window as a black ball of cloth burst through it and flying apart to present a large banner that a purple haired women wearing a tan trench coat and fishnet undershirt stood in front of smiling fear sly at the group before her.

"Better stop celebrating Genin because it's time for Anko to take over the exam, and I promise you I'm not going to be some pushover now LETS GO!" shouted the women raising one hand in the air in triumph. You could have heard a pin drop in the room, as the Genin and examiners alike simply looked at the apparently crazy purple haired women before them in a stunned silence.

"**oh I like her." **Juubi spoke with obvious enjoyment in her voice to the four members of them eleven. As most of the examinees continued to stare at the women Ibiki pushed aside her banner with a gone before looking at the women before him disapprovingly.

"Anko you baka you're early I haven't even explained why they passed the exam." said Ibiki while rubbing his temples with his free hand muttering under his breath about the women before him. Anko had the good sense to look slightly embarrassed by her actions as she looked around at the other examiners with sheepish expression on her face.

While Anko and Ibiki were hashing out the details of their schedule arrangement, Naruto was casting an eye over towards were Gaara sat his ringed eyes closed in apparent penance, like he was talking to someone. As Naruto looked the redheaded boy's eyes opened slightly to look over Naruko and Minami for a moment before shifting over to Naruto flashing him another predatory grin as their eyes meet.

_So what do you think Shukaku has done to him? _asked Hinata noticing Naruto's gaze. Naruto didn't answer for a moment before taking a small breath and turning to face Hinata with an equally confused look.

_Wish I knew to be honest, but I haven't got idea one what's going on, all I know is Shukaku is somehow controlling the boy, but how I'm not sure. _Answered Naruto as he saw a brief flash of fear cross Hinata's face before she pushed it back forcibly. The act did not go unnoticed to Naruto who move his hand slightly to cup her own, and gave it a gentle comforting squeeze that made her relax slightly.

_It will be ok Hinata, trust me. _smiled Naruto as he turned back to face the two arguing Examiners in the front of the class.

Hinata nodded at him a slight smile spreading over her face as she looked forward, but something besides Naruto's grip was giving her strength. That something that had awoken briefly earlier now seemed to rise again, in response to Naruto's contact with her. A small unbidden force had awakened inside of the girl, and seemed to be pushing to find its way out, but at the moment it seemed unable. Hinata noticed a small pressure somewhere near the sides of her head, but she ignored them with a small shake of her head.

_Probably just a headache, have to concentrate, have to be strong for them. _Thought Hinata to herself trying to reassure herself. The something inside of her seemed to pulse happily at her words and subside slightly, fading back into a dull thrum of power, that the girl could no longer feel. After a few little while longer of listening to the examiners debate team eleven found itself along with the rest of those remaining exciting out of the academy and heading towards the training fields.

When they finally arrived at their location Anko turned to face the group that same wide grin upon her face as she did.

"Well Gakis welcome to the stage of the second examination the Forest of death!" the purple haired women said as she raised and hand to jab a thumb behind her. The forest in question dwarfed those surrounding it by comparison. The tree's alone seemed to stretch up forever, and their girth made them all appear more ancient than even the village. Around the forest was erected a wire mesh fence that did not at first seem very secure. However, if one were to look close they would have seen that an unusual amount of seals covered not only the individual links, but were also plastered over in larger talismans. From the look of it nothing was getting above, under or through that defense.

Kiba could not suppress a small shudder as he felt the oppressive aura of the forest in front of him. Akamaru also gave a small bark before retreating deeper into Kiba's hood a little worried at what he smelled. Interestingly enough the sand team was still close enough for Temari to notice this action, which prompted her to speak.

"Hey what's up with you dog boy scared of a little forest." She said in a mocking tone as she looked over at Kiba, but her gaze softened for a moment as she saw the terrified dog as well. Stern she may be but it was hard to act superior to a small ball of fluff. Kiba growled back a short reply.

"If you could smell what we do you'd be a little scared yourself." The boy answered simply not looking away from the forest, where something had just darted from one of the tree's upper branches. This made Temari simply scoff before turning to face the forest with a smirk. Whatever dangers were in that lump of trees couldn't be worse than Gaara.

_Still I don't know if that's something to be comforted by. _Thought the girl in passing as she looked ahead again, to Anko who had just pulled out the forms and was explaining the necessity in signing them to the assembled teams.

Minami cast a small look over to Naruto as she threw him a small mental smile hoping to wish him luck before the match began. Naruto for his part took the compliment with a small smile before turning to find his redheaded sister and give her a small wave. Inside his head Juubi and Kyu were also having a small conversation.

"**Now Kyu you look after Minami and everyone, and don't mess with Shukaku if you can avoid it, your elder brother is still being…difficult." **Juubi lectured to the fox as she gently rubbed the great fox's ears.

"**Hai Momma, I will don't worry I'll look after everyone." **Mumbled Kyu between the purrs he was emitting thanks to the petting from Juubi. Juubi only smiled at this before giving the giant fox a quick kiss on the top of his head and hopping down from the head to slowly exit the cage with a small wave. Just as she was about to leave Kyu spoke up with a note of worry in his voice.

"**Momma," **called the fox causing the Juubi to turn to face her son, **"Kurama was asking about the changes to my cage, he seems to be suspicious what should I do?"** asked the fox with a tilt of his head as his large bunny like ears twitched slightly. Juubi paused for a moment collecting her thoughts and wondering if it was about time to confront the other half of her youngest son. Still with Naruko acting the way she was it wasn't likely to be happening anytime soon, the risk was still there….maybe after the exams were completed.

"**Don't worry Sochi –kun I'll take care of it, we just have to wait a bit longer." **replied Juubi to a nodding fox.

"**Hai." **replied Kyu just as Juubi faded away.

Back in the real world Naruto and his team had just left the tent after handing in their forms. They had decided to let Naruto carry the scroll as things like the Byakugan, and other sensory skills seemed to go haywire around him thanks to his unique chakra. Soon enough they found themselves standing before the large gates of the Forest preparing to enter into its depths.

"Alright Gaki's!" shouted Anko as she signaled for the horn to sound, allowing them to enter the forest.

"The second exam had officially BEGUN!" she shouted as the horn sounded and thirty six teams leapt into the darkening forest.

The final thought running through Naruto just as he was passing into the shade of that immense forest was curiosity as to why he seemed to have gotten such an odd feeling from the pollen he had attached to those grass ninja.

**And done, ok first off I know this chapter isn't exactly exciting sorry about that but the first exam has been done to death, and really I feel spending even this much time on it is almost a waste. So I just used it to set the stage for the second exam while setting up some characters for a few areas. Sorry if this made it long to read but this is the one flaw of a fanfics the boring parts of the story are still boring. Oh and for those who thought that Shukaku sounds like a lot of the more revenge orientated Naruto Neglect fanfics congrats that's who he is based on. In my view that kind of hate and revenge could only result in someone who was basically mad with anger, and who others saw as a monster, because really that's what I see happening. So for those who wanted to see an angry, kill crazy Naruto who was an utter bastard I give you Shukaku, believe It or not I've had this planned from the beginning. Thanks again for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows. **

**Also small point but I have made it a point to try and respond to every review I am given if I have missed one I am sorry, and for those who have responded frequently I hope you enjoy the little Mito scenes I keep slipping in to you. The next chapter will be a little longer than normal so it may be a little bit before it is out, but I'll try and get it out as soon as possible so please be patient with me. Thanks again Songbird out.**


	14. Chapter 13

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

This chapter is dedicated to every one of you who has favorite and followed my story from the very beginning. While I have tried to thank everyone who reviews personally I am not able to do this with favorites and follows so I have decided to dedicate this story to all of you. Know that I do take a look at every one of your pages and at least look at one of each of you who has written their own story. I'm also using this chapter as a call to action, reviews and the like are so helpful to a writer I can't say so enough so what I'm asking is for each of you to hop on my review chart and find a name of another writer and check out one of their stories for yourselves. They have given me so much help in continuing to write this story and this feels like the least I can do to repay them all share the love with your fellow members and lets all try and support one another. One is all I'm asking for five minutes of your time to help inspire another writer and their work I know you can do it . Anyone who does so and contacts me will get a hint towards the summoning technique question that is fast approaching.

Summoning technique coming up fast it won't be but a few more chapters before it's here so guess away there have been two so far to get it.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them

Oh small note that I'm really excited about I found a really great artist on Deviant Art named Zil-Zeki who is working on a personal cover for this story. The work is progressing well and I'm really excited to put it up on this site as soon as possible. If you have some time take the link from my page to go and see her site, she does great work for a fair price so show some support for her work. Thank you and enjoy the story.

**Chapter 13**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-A Forest of Problems-**

The final thought running through Naruto's mind just as he was passing into the shade of that immense forest was curiosity as to why he seemed to have gotten such an odd feeling from the pollen he had attached to those grass ninja.

Team eleven leapt from tree branch to tree branch into the forest a few minutes before they came to a halt on a particularly large tangle of branches that had knit themselves together to form a kind of supportive canopy where the team could stop for a moment. Kiba had taken point and was the first to land crouched over on all fours as he did so as his slitted eyes and sharp nose flicked back and forth for any trace of another team. Hinata was the second to land so softly that Kiba was almost unaware of her presence without the use of their pollen connection. As she landed a small breeze blew a stray lock of her deep blue hair across her face over her blazing byakugan eyes, as she acted as a second sensor for the group scanning the area for any detectable threats. Out in the forest for about a hundred yards in every direction she could see the faint sighs of Naruto's pollens drifting lazily around as if caught on the breeze. The pollens acted as a final level of detection for the team sending off small pings of chakra between each other, acting to feel out other chakra signatures like sonar, while also acting to disable any illusions that may have been present. Naruto landed a moment later looking over at his two teammates maneuvering over to crouch down beside the two on the branch.

"Akamaru and I can't smell anything, you see anyone Hinata?" asked Kiba turning to face Hinata with his white puppy peeking out of his coat. Hinata turned off her Byakugan and turned to face her teammate.

"Nothing that I can see, it looks like no one is anywhere near us for the time being. There seems to be a nest of some kind of bugs a couples yards in that direction," she said raising a hand to point off behind the boys left shoulder before continuing, "but that's all I can see." she finished giving Akamaru a small scratch behind the ears.

"Alright, how about you Naruto, picking up anything off your pollen?" asked Kiba looking over at Naruto the blonde shaking his head slightly before responding.

"Nope it looks like any of the teams I marked are too far off for me to locate, if they get closer I should be able to pick up on them thanks to the pollen net I have set up, but at the moment we seem to be pretty well alone." finished Naruto getting approving nods all around from the rest of the team.

"Well then this seems like as good a place as any to plan our next move." Kiba said setting himself against the side of the tree and allowing Akamaru to hop down to sit in the small area provided by Kiba's folded legs. Naruto ejected one of his seeds allowing it to nestle itself between the branches below him and allowing for the same soft root like vines that he had used to carry Kushina in wave to create something like a hammock for him to sit in. Hinata soon joined him allowing herself to lean into Naruto's shoulder a little as she did so. Naruto had managed to learn a way to allow the seeds to keep from zapping the chakra from individuals if he didn't want them to thanks to Mito's and Hanabi's constant requests for more rides on his seeds. Once they were all situated Naruto spoke up.

"So I guess the question is how do we want to proceed with this exam?" Naruto asked as he looked around at his team. After a moment Hinata spoke up to his right.

"Well the way I see it we only really have two choices, we either find a team and hit them early, or we wait and take out a team that has already gotten a pair and is headed for the tower." Spoke the girl looking around at her team who nodded in response to her.

"Sounds like our options are pretty limited." said Kiba with a small shrug of his shoulders as he did so. Naruto looked between Kiba and Hinata for a moment before speaking.

"Between Kiba and Akamaru's noses, Hinata's eyes, and my pollen I'd say we will have the best chance to find a team before anyone else, so I say we go ahead and find a team, and head straight to the tower. With Hinata-chan's eyes we can even check which scroll they have so we won't have to worry about engaging teams that don't have what we're looking for." finished the blonde giving his girlfriend a happy smile which she blushed at slightly. Kiba only rolled his eyes with a happy little shake of his head as he did so.

"Ok lovebirds I guess we know which plan we are going with, so which way you want to head?" asked the Inuzuka as he picked up his white puppy and stood up with a little stretch of his back. As he stood up once again. Naruto helped Hinata to her feet before he too raised reabsorbing his seed as he did so and sending out a pulse to the pollen net surrounding the team to get ready to move. Hinata after standing checked to make sure that her medical kit was secure before activating her Byakugan and scanning the area. Once the team was ready Kiba took the lead, with Naruto in the middle and Hinata bringing up the rear, as the group continually scanned for possible targets.

As team eleven leapt from tree to tree in another part of the forest team seven had just landed in a clearing to plan their own actions. Naruko was the first to land on the forest floor. She did a quick scan of the area before signaling for the rest of her team to join her. While the rest of her team was arriving Naruko took a moment to brush some stray leaves and twigs from her outfit. She still wore her Anbu style ninja pants with wrappings around her ankles. Her yellow battle vest stood out sharply against the black undershirt that stretched down to her wrists with two spare kunai pouches also yellow strapped to her upper arms. Her long blonde hair was tied into two pigtails with her hair held back by her forehead protector allowing her bright blue eyes to see her teammates land a few feet off.

Minami was still dressed in her read battle kimono, with her multiple sealing scrolls still held across her belt, and her long red hair still flowing down her back, ending in twin pigtails in the style that Tsunade favored. If one had looked hard they may have seen a small black bead that seemed to be sitting by her left ear like a small black earring which she absentmindedly rubbed with one finger as she turned to look at the final member of team seven who landed beside her.

Sasuke had changed very little from his time at the academy, and still insisted on wearing his blue Uchiha high necked shirt, and cargo pants, although he had taken to replacing his arm sleeves with wrappings that concealed a number of storage seals that he had learned to make from Kakashi; besides that little had changed in his wardrobe, or his attitude. As he landed he addressed the other two members of the team with a small huff before looking around as if expecting something to happen thanks to just his presence.

"What's the deal Naruko, why are we stopping?" called Sasuke in a slightly annoyed tone turning to face his blonde teammate. Naruko looked around at Sasuke with an annoyed expression of her own before opening her mouth to fire back at the boy.

"Shut is Sasuke, we need to formulate a plan before we go any farther." called Minami making sure to cut in-between the two before Naruko and he started a shouting match that would have half the forest on their heads in a matter of moments. She was only marginally successful as Sasuke decided to just argue with her instead.

"I wasn't talking to you Minami, besides we just need to find a team to take out, this exam has been a joke so far, what makes you think this isn't going to just be more of the same." fired back Sasuke with a slight scowl on his face. Minami wanted to throttle the boy in front of her, how could he be so freaking stupid?

"Hey Neesan, sorry but I kind of have to agree with Sasuke on this one, besides that Gaara kid the rest of the teams should be a pushover." spoke up Naruko stepping forward to rest a hand on her redheaded sisters shoulder. Minami looked over at Naruko with a look like she was crazy for a moment, before letting her face drop in surrender.

"Fine, it's not like you'd listen to me even if we made up a plan anyway." replied Minami brushing her sister hand off of her shoulder before stalking a few feet away to try and calm herself down a bit. Giving the two behind her a brief glance she shook her head wondering if she and Naruko had been like this to Naruto, and wondering, if that were the case, how he could have given her any chance at all.

"**You ok Minami-chan?" **asked Kyu softly looking out from the vine covered bars of his cage as he spoke. Minami smiled softly, figures the giant fox in her head was being more concerned about her than her team, some great squad they were turning out to be.

"Hai Kyu-kun I'm fine, just a little frustrated is all." she replied thinking about the voice in her head for a moment before remembering his connection to his mother.

"Hey Kyu-kun!" she called prompting the fox to pad over to the edge of his cage to talk to her easier.

"**Hai Minami-chan what's up?"** asked the fox looking down at the girl.

"Hey can you and your Kaasan still talk to each other even now that you're so far apart?" asked the redhead hoping that she may be able to get a little bit of a connection to Naruto and hopefully have at least some kind of intelligent conversation. Kyu thought for a moment before he closed his eyes his tails and ears twitching slightly as if trying to catch a signal on an old fashion radio. After a few moments Kyu lowered his ears and his tails with a defeated little look on his face.

"**Sorry but Kaasan is too far away and for some reason I feel her chakra spread out all around the forest, even here." **replied Kyu with a confused not in his voice. Minami had to resist face palming as she heard this.

"Of course you would Naruto was spreading his pollens all around, heck he probably would be able to find us long before we ever got within range of him…I guess niisan is more prepared than my whole team put together." chuckled the redhead turning around to head back to her team. As she re-entered the clearing she found herself looking across at a bound and gagged ninja who seemed to be dressed in a full body grey suit complete with gasmask that Naruko and Sasuke were standing over.

_Well that was fast, maybe we'll make it out of this forest before we kill each other after all. _Thought the girl as she walked over to her teammates to hear how this had happened.

Meanwhile in another part of forest, another girl was dealing with her own frustrating team.

"Shikimaru, Choji I swear if you don't stop whining and asking for breaks I'm going to jump in your heads and permanently alter your BRAINS!" shouted Ino at her team, after their fourth break in the last hour so that Shikimaru could relax and Choji could take another snack break. Choji looked a little embarrassed at his teammate's words and proceeded to put away his bag of chips while looking sheepishly over at his blonde companion. Shikimaru on the other hand only yawned slightly before replying.

"Relax Ino it's only the first day, and we have five more in this forest to get a scroll running around and wasting our strength will only make us easier targets for another team out there." reasoned Shikimaru adding under his breath a comment about troublesome blondes in for good measure. Unfortunately for him Ino had heard his muttered comment, and decided to attempt to pound the laziness out of the boy while Choji looked on helplessly.

After a few moments Ino stepped back from a floored Shikimaru who was nursing a small lump on the back of his head from the blonde's assault.

"Shape up Shikimaru I'm not going to fall behind everyone else just because you want to be lazy, and have an excuse to not go any further in the exam." fired back Ino casting an angry little look over at the pineapple headed boy who was murmuring into the forest floor. Choji worrying what Shikimaru might say next to set off their blonde teammate took the opportunity to step forward to try and head off any conflict.

"Ino, do you think we should go looking for a team to attack, or just set up a defensible camp for later?" asked the heavy boy looking over at his teammate. Ino looked over at Choji for a moment before responding.

"Well I'd like to get a scroll as soon as possible, but I guess having a defensible camp would be best, I mean that crazy purple haired lady did say that there were some animals here that could tear us limb from limb." finished the blonde with a small shiver having allowed her mind to envision a scene involving her team and several large predators.

"Troublesome," spoke up Shikimaru as he pushed himself into a sitting position before continuing, "Choji makes a good point let's find and set up a good camp, we can worry about a scroll once we have a safe place to fall back to, not much point in getting a scroll just to be targeted out in the open a few hours later." concurred the boy as he rose to his feet, and began to make his way forward. Ino gave a small smirk before nodding and along with Choji following Shikimaru forward deeper into the forest.

As team ten made their way deeper into the forest, team nine had just found themselves finishing off a brief battle with a team from waterfall. As Neji delivered a final palm strike to the seventeen some year old man who had just swung a kunai at him, the man found himself unable to stand, only moments before the world turned dark for him. As Neji stepped back he saw thanks to his activated Byakugan that Lee and Tenten had also just finished taking out their assigned targets. Tenten's was currently on the ground several deep slashes covering his form, along with what looked like several nasty blows from some kind of a blunt instrument.

On the other side of the clearing Lee's opponent had been slammed headfirst into a tree trunk curtsey of a spin kick to the head delivered by Lee moments before. As the waterfall shinobi slumped to the ground Lee let out a triumphant cry of joy.

"YAAAAHOOOOO THE FLAMES OF YOUTH SHALL NOT BE DIMINISHED!" howled Lee in excitement as he raised both his hands while spinning to face Neji and Tenten flashing one of his wide grins. Tenten slapped her palm to her face muttering silent curses under her breath at having such a loud teammate to look after. Neji seemed not to notice as he bent down to take the scroll from the fallen shinobi before him. While Lee continued to cry about the flames of youth, Tenten was busy collecting her weapons and resealing them into her multiple scrolls, and taking time to secure the enemy shinobi.

A moment later Neji stood up, a heaven scroll grasped in his hand to offset the earth one they already held. Tenten seeing this decided to speak up.

"So looks like we have both scrolls what's the plan now?" she asked looking towards Neji as Lee stopped his shouting and moved over to listen in as well.

"I say we stay out a little longer before heading in to the tower, the more we take out here in the forest the less competition we have later." stated Neji coldly, privately hoping to find Hinata and take her out of the exams early. Lee seemed onboard with this by shouting about how their flames of youth would help them conquer all of the undeserving. Tenten in the meantime was not completely onboard with the idea but decided to side with her team instead of risking dividing them.

"Alright so which way should we go from here?" asked Tenten looking around the them. Neji seemed to take a moment to think about it before speaking.

"We'll head towards the tower and camp out near it, anyone who is headed there will have at least fought one other team, and most likely be in a weakened condition, we can take a few out, and then simply head to the tower without worry." said Neji starting to march off form the clearing in the direction of the center of the forest. His two teammates took a moment to look at one another before following along after him as he took to the branches above.

In the meantime team eight had just finished setting up their own camp by a stream that they had located. Shino was sitting down beside the river having taken off his sunglasses and having set his open palms down on the ground in front of him sending out small pulses of chakra to instruct the local insect's native to the forest to surround their camp and act as both guardians and an alarm system for them.

Sakura in the meantime was taking a moment to check her medical bag over for supplies making a count of what she had, as well as checking what she might need to have on standby for each of her teammates. Every once in a while she would look over to Shino at which time he would meet her green eyes with her own brown eyes and give her a small nod allowing her to know that the defenses were still intact, and underway.

Yakumo in the meantime had set up two of their tents in the covered roots of one of the giant trees that dominated the forest. After having finished her work she had set about outside of the tree with her back to it and pulled out her painting kit to start preparing works revolving around the trees, and creatures she had seen around her. She could not help but hum a small tune as she just began to fall into enjoying her work as she painted.

Shino finally finished setting up their defenses before reaching down and picked up his discarded glasses even as he pushed himself up from the ground and dusting himself off drawing the attention of Yakumo and Sakura with his movement.

"The barrier is set up and I have my own insects acting as a net in the trees above, we should be able to have a warning at the very least before anyone enters into this area." spoke Shino as he pushed up the glasses on his face and pushed them up to cover his eyes. Sakura smiled over at her teammate as she finished putting her supplies back together moving over towards the tree where Yakumo was sitting still busy drawing. As they reached one another Sakura called to Yakumo who at that moment was absorbed in her work, and hadn't noticed the presence of her team yet.

"Yakumo, earth to Yakumo." Sakura called chuckling slightly at teammate's state. After getting to know the girl for the last few months Sakura and Shino had gotten use to Yakumo becoming obsessed with her drawings, and had always enjoyed this small character flaw of the girl. The whole team had taken to teasing each other often, and had grown closer as a result. They had no illusions as to who they were. A quiet bug boy, an obsessed artist, and a brash medic, but in admitting it to themselves and each other they had formed a trusted team that was almost a family. Yakumo shook herself slightly looking up sheepishly at her teammates with a small embarrassed grin on her face.

"Sorry about that Sakura I was just finishing up a sketch, these trees could really help me with a few plant based Genjutsu." Spoke the brown-haired girl in a cheerful voice. Shino seemed to incline his head at her comment before speaking.

"I have to agree with Yakumo, this forest has already given me several new forms of insects to use and expand upon my own colony, it seems this test will indeed help us grow as Kurenai-sensei hinted at." finished the stoic boy turning to face Sakura who shook her head slightly.

"Figures I would need our mission to take place in a library to help me out, but the nature trip is perfect for you two." she chided them in a good natured way that the two caught immediately.

"So what should we do now, the exam is going to last just a few days, should we get moving now, or wait a bit?" asked Yakumo looking around them. It was Shino who spoke up first.

"At the time I would say that we take this time to plan and set up possible attack plans, our position is secure, and simply rushing out will do us little good, at the moment if someone assaults our defenses we may have a scroll with little to no additional effort." reasoned the Aburame looking at his two teammates. Sakura nodded her head with a small smile.

"I guess you're right, for now we just hold up here, but there is something I was wondering, if we run into another leaf team should we try and ally with them?" asked the pink haired girl looking at her fellows. Shino and Yakumo seemed to think for a moment before responding.

"I don't see why we couldn't try that, I mean if we have the same scroll we wouldn't even have a reason to fight." said Yakumo looking over at Shino who nodded softly at her words.

"Hai, I would prefer to avoid attacking members of the leaf, but we have to accept that they may judge us as targets, so at the very least we should be prepared for them to attack, even if we offer peace." reasoned Shino as his teammates nodded in turn.

"Well sounds like we have a game plan." said Sakura proudly as she moving to grab a food bar from her pack before taking a seat beside Yakumo, who was looking down at her drawing once again in concentration. Shino in the meantime took to watching a few water insects by the river gild across its surface analyzing their movements with interest.

As team eight was settling in team eleven found themselves fanned out in an ambush position overlooking a group of three shinobi who they recognized from the beginning of the first exam. Kiba, Hinata, and Naruto all sat crouched on the upper branches looking down at the three figures of leaf genin below them.

The first figure they recognized as Kabuto his silver hair giving off a dull shine in the little light that permeated the large canopy above them. Beside him stood his two teammates, one wearing a strange set of glasses and face mask that made him appears to be closer to a doctor than a shinobi. The second fellow was only remarkable in his total lack of uniqueness; he simply wore a standard black two piece suit with his forehead protector tied around his head as he seemed to be scanning the surroundings lazily.

"_So what do you think?" _asked Naruto over the mental link as he looked around at his teammates. They had sensed the three's approach a good ways off and had altered their path so that they could set up an ambush ahead of them, but now that they found themselves looking down at fellow leaf shinobi they were taking a moment to question whether they wished to proceed with the attack.

_I know what you mean man, it just feels wrong to attack another leaf team….but still it's what the exam is, I mean there aren't that many foreign shinobi to begin with, and we need to get a second scroll to pass this part. _Reasoned Kiba as Akamaru pocked his head out of his partner's hood to nod in agreement.

_I agree with Kiba, besides there is no guarantee that they won't attack us if we make ourselves know to them, it's not like we have to fight to the death, this is only a test. _Hinata sent over the mental link getting nods form her two teammates.

_Sounds good to me Hinata-chan so I guess all that remains is to figure out who gets who. _replied Naruto looking down at the assembled Shinobi below. However, before they could do more than start to pick out their targets, a sudden motion from one side of the clearing below drew both their eyes, as well as Kabuto's team's attention. As the team above watched the grass team Naruto had noted as, finding odd, walked into the clearing approaching Kabuto's team. As team eight watched, they noticed neither side seemed to be preparing to fight, almost like they were expecting one another. Soon the two teams were face to face, and Kabuto seemed to be addressing the lead grass ninja about something that team eight couldn't quite make out.

Down below Kabuto had just finished greeting his master, and was waiting to receive his orders.

"Now Kabuto I need you to make sure that after my….kukukukuku time with team seven that they make it to the finals, I need Sasuke to be able to fight and evolve his sharingan, and the curse mark before I draw him towards me." spoke a disguised Orochimaru his face twisted into an evil grin. Kabuto and his two teammates nodded swiftly at the snake sage's words, before Kabuto replied his own small smile tracing his lips.

"It will be done, but what about your sound team, should they survive or even succeed in taking out Sasuke what would you have me do with them?" asked Kabuto looking up at Orochimaru who seemed to contemplate the idea for a moment before answering.

"If they should succeed then I suppose I will have to have them tested for a mark next, and move onto simply taking one of the younger Uchiha during the invasion, but should they fail and live I will leave their fate up to you." finished Orochimaru a twisted smirk spreading across his face as he spoke. Kabuto also smiled at this giving a small bow as he did so.

"Thank you my lord, rest assured it will be done as you say." finished the silver haired boy as Orochimaru stepped back out of the clearing even as the two figures that had been standing with him crumbled into mud revealing that they were clones the entire time. From up in the canopy team eleven were at a total loss as to what to make of what they had witnessed. To them it had appeared as though the teams had simply meet for a moment before parting ways, but even from their vantage point it was clear to them that something was up. To be on the safe side they had decided to wait and see how the meeting would play out, but now they were left with simply more questions as to what was happening.

_What do you think all that was about? _asked Naruto to no-one in particular as the Grass shinobi made their way out of the clearing.

"**No idea, but something is definitely up between those teams, I would suggest that all of you stay on your toes." **Spoke Juubi getting a bad feeling about what they had just witnessed.

_I'm with Juubi on this one Naruto-kun something is weird with that grass ninja, I was able to get a glimpse of their lips but all I caught was something about a lord someone and Sasuke. _said Hinata looking over at her blonde teammate. Naruto seemed to stiffen for a moment at that.

_Sasuke would mean they are targeting team seven, maybe that's it, remember Kabuto had those data cards, maybe he is selling info to that grass ninja so that he can take out team seven easier. I mean it's not a secret that they are kind of a prodigy team or anything, maybe they're just looking to eliminate a strong team. _suggested Kiba while Akamaru gave a small bark of agreement.

Unfortunately Akamaru's bark was just loud enough to cause Kabuto to stiffen slightly. He had been so occupied with his report that he hadn't properly scanned the area, and the last thing he needed was someone throwing a wrench into their plans by him being careless. With that in mind the silver headed spectacled boy began scanning the area for the source of the noise. As team eight froze in place trying to remain hidden Kabuto and his teammates continued to scan the surrounding woods.

"I know I heard something, but whoever it is seems to at least be smart enough to stay hidden." Kabuto said to his two teammates, as they nodded in agreement. _Still that doesn't mean I'll let you go that easy. _Thought Kabuto as he reached into his pouch and withdrew several Kunai with paper bombs dangling from their rings. True he did not know precisely where he was being watched from, but that did not mean that he couldn't flush out the best possible vantage points.

With a single practiced twitch of his hand three of the missiles were off two speeding towards the woods on the forest floor while one shot up dangerously close to team elevens position. As the Kunai flew skyward a resounding and unified thought raced through the members of the team almost simultaneously.

_SHIT!_ Their minds screamed as they all dove sideways out of cover to get away from the blast they knew was coming. This resulted in all four of them finding themselves standing, their feet adhered to the trunk of a huge tree looking down at a smiling Kabuto even as a resounding blast illuminated not only the surrounding foliage, but acted to backlight for them in turn. After the deafening blast and burst of light had subsided Kabuto still wearing that same grin upon his face called up to the Genin above him.

"Well well well, if it isn't team eleven, didn't your Kaasan's ever tell you it's impolite to listen in on others conversations." Called up the boy in a mocking tone as he looked from one to another of the team above him. Naruto snorted at that for a second before calling down to the teen below him.

"Are you kidding we're in a ninja village, I think you'd know that's the first thing we are taught to do." Called Naruto, Kiba giving him a nervous little grin as he readied himself for the fight he knew was coming. Hinata as well allowed herself a small smile even as she began to build up a small amount of chakra to launch a defense if it became necessary. Kabuto for his part looked generally amused at hearing Naruto's response as he took a step forward.

"Well said Naruto I couldn't agree with you more, but the fact remains that you really shouldn't have been listening into that meeting it's going to cost you." Kabuto said his voice becoming silky smooth and threatening with every syllable he spoke. Naruto as well as the rest of the team heard the tone, and as a result were not surprised when Kabuto's two teammates launched a barrage of small fireballs from their mouths towards the team standing on the tree's side. As the explosions of fire leapt out Kabuto's grin grew even wider, thinking he had taken out his targets already. Before he could turn, however movement overhead caught his attention.

From the smoke where the fireballs had hit a shimmering disk of water became visible its flat surface facing towards the trio on the forest floor. Through the distorted view one could see that Hinata had stepped forward to throw up the surface of water to take the hit form the fire balls. Before the grounded team could do more than register their failure the girl and her team were moving.

Hinata was first to move as she pumped a pulse of chakra into her feet acting to blast herself from the tree and hurtle down like a missile towards the figures below while weaving a series of hand signs as she did.

_I will take the masked one! _she shouted over their mental connection as she landed on the last sign and called out her Jutsu as she hurtled towards the ground.

"Mizu Bushido!" Hinata cried, as from the disk of water that still flew before her two watery shapes bubbled up forming into two copies of the girl before turning their pale eyes forward and leaping from the disk and down towards the masked member of the trio below. The figure smirked seeing her two clones fling themselves as him, one tenth of this girls strength was sure to be nothing he thought as he allowed his right hand to start glowing blue as he activated his innate ability to steal chakra, even while taking out a kunai in his other hand ready to intercept the oncoming clones.

As the first clone landed before him he lashed forward with his Kunai in hand intent on taking the clones head from its shoulders, however, as he leapt forward the clone girl bent back at an impossibly graceful angle allowing the blow to swipe the air harmlessly over it, before landing and falling into a battle stance. Warning bells went off in the man's head as he ducked narrowly missing a strike from the second clone that had landed a mere second after the first and had taken his momentary distraction as a chance to launch a palm strike at his back. As he hit the ground he swung himself into a low sweep kick hoping to catch his attacker in the blow before they could recover from their failed assault. The second clone girl had other ideas, and leapt gracefully into the air avoiding his kick and even delivered a swift kick of her own to his exposed shoulder. Although the blow was not substantial it did allow for the clone to use him as a springboard to push herself back and create space between the two.

As the man looked back at the clone he smirked in a kind of triumph, the blow had been little more than that of a child's, if that was all they had these clones were nothing to worry about. However, just as this thought entered his head his instincts screamed at him to move, and it was all that saved him from the next blow. As he allowed his instincts to pull him back the disk of water that had been a shield had solidified into a solid ball and had hit the ground where he had been standing with a sound of cracking a splashing. Before he could relax at the near miss Hinata had landed using the slashing water to surf forward towards him to throw a palm strike at his now open chest. As the girl's blow closed distance the masked figure swung his right hand around to catch the blow in a gloved hand, still pulsing with blue chakra.

As the two hand connected the man clamped down hard on the girls hand before starting to drain her chakra as fast as he could. Hinata feeling the drain immediately signaled for her two clones to rush the man with Kunai to try and give her an opening. Luckily it worked at the two clones drew in their blades at the ready the man had no choice but to release her and leap back in an attempt to avoid the oncoming assault. His safety was fleeting as once he landed he looked up to see both the girl and her clones pulling back their left sleeves to expose multiple senbon launchers all trained at him. Before he could do more than raise one kunai up as a small defense a flurry of senbon where screaming his way.

Hinata let fly with a salvo of senbon towards the mask shinobi she was battling. Whatever had happened to her when she had gotten close to him seemed to have come from the man's glowing right hand, and at the moment she was in no mood to take a repeat performance. As she watched her opponent bobbed and weaved attempting to keep from getting squired by the many projectiles fired at him, but despite his best efforts a handful of the needles found there mark and he let out a curse as the needles bit into his flesh.

As he ripped out a few of the needles he charged forward with is outstretched hand trying to reach the pale eyed girl before him. As he charged toward her Hinata threw back her sleeve and bent down into a defensive stance to receive him. As he closed in he launched out one claw like glowing hand towards Hinata in an attempt to grab hold of her and bring the fight to a close. Hinata had other ideas, springing forward she parried the attack with a sweep of her left arm directing the glowing hand uselessly way from her just as he slammed a glowing palm into the man's chest with a sickening crack as the chakra from her blow cracked the man's ribcage, and forced him to fly back a few steps. Thanks to Shizune Hinata had learned to target particular areas of the body with her gentile fist, and the results had been devastating to say the least.

As the masked shinobi clutched at his now throbbing chest he looked over glaring at the girl before him even as she sunk back into an attack position flanked by her two clones. With an effort the shinobi found his feet again, and charged at her once again just as off on the other side of the clearing a blast sounded.

As Hinata had flown down towards her opponent Kiba too had taken the momentary cover to dart towards his target. Unlike Hinata who had the bonus of the shield to help aid her, Kiba had taken to fall into his four legged style followed by Akamaru and sped away down the tree before springing from it as he neared the ground with an opening Gatsuga that catapulted him towards the unassuming looking ninja below. As Kiba and Akamaru turned into twin tornado of claw and fang the shinobi below them leapt back while seeming to contort his body slightly as he did so.

As the two attacked crashed into the ground the shinobi sprang forward with both his arms spread wide, as if heading to give the two an odd hug. Kiba seeing the charging figure wasted no time in hurling a handful of shuriken his way without pause before heading through several hand signs at high speed. Before the shrunken were half way to the enemy shinobi Kiba had thrown back his head to draw in a deep breath before swinging it forward with a loud cry of Fūton Renkūdan as he spat out a large bullet made of compressed air. The wind bullet meet the shuriken in midair and carried them forwards with deadly new force. Seeing the oncoming missiles, the charging shinobi ground to a halt before he seemed to lose some of the rigidness of his body.

As Kiba watching in sick fascination the figure seemed to bend and twist around the deadly missiles allowing them to pass by him with little impact. Even the final impact of the air bullet seemed to have somehow been absorbed by his now rubbery body with little damage.

_What the hell is with this guy is he made of rubber? _Kiba roared in his mind even as he gritted his teeth and bent down on all fours to continue his assault on the figure. Just as he was about to launch himself forward, he noticed that the man seemed to pause for a second before going rigid in his movements again and retaking his charge. A small smirk played across the Inuzuka's face at seeing this.

_So there's a delay huh, I can use that. _Thought Kiba as he reached into his back and pulled out a small red pill.

"AKAMARU!" he shouted as he flicked the red pill towards the pup, who caught it in his mouth crunching it down. The pup's fur seemed to sharpen in to needles as it ate the pill, and its coat took on a red hue as though it was boiling. Kiba smirked as the approaching Shinobi seemed to pause in his charge at seeing the pup's transformation.

"Big Mistake Buddy!" called Kiba as Akamaru leapt onto his back, and the two were engulfed in a cloud of smoke for a moment. As the smoke cleared there sat two Kiba's both growling in anger towards the figure before them. To his credit the shinobi did not retreat, but instead simply spread his feet and took a readied position never letting his eyes move from the twin figures before him. Soon the two were on the attack.

Kiba lunged forward slashing at the shinobi's head, only for the figure to duck down momentarily. However this proved unwise as the transformed Akamaru was quick to follow up his partners attack with a vicious kick of his own slamming hard into the man's face with a sick crack and flinging the man back a few feet from the blow. Not waiting to give him time to reorientation himself Kiba leapt aided by Akamaru over the shinobi's head so that he and Akamaru were now flanking the man. As the man looked over and charged at Akamaru Kiba charged forward driving a sharp elbow into the man's back flinging him forward where Akamaru meet whim with a powerful clawed blow to the face slamming the shinobi back into the ground.

Just as Kiba was about to call out a shout of praise he saw a poof of smoke around the figure seeing him replaced with a log a moment later. Seeing this he turned just in time to see the shinobi dropping from above him, and giving him just enough time to roll sideways out of the way of the man's swinging blow. As Kiba skidded to a halt a few feet away he had to stop to bite back a curse.

_Damn this guy is tougher than he looks! _He thought before signaling over to Akamaru who leapt back upon his back as he did so. Once the two were back in position Kiba took a moment to stare down his opponent again. It was clear that at least the first blow had connected before he was able to replace himself, so it seemed he was able to inflict some kind of damage on the man.

With a feral smile Kiba let out a small howl of wild abandon, as he and Akamaru charged forward zig sagging between each other as they closed the distance towards their target. When they were close enough both had spun forward turning into two tornados of claws and teeth that fired off towards the shinobi. Seeing the attack closing the man quickly replaced himself with another log leaving him momentarily air born above the pair of tornados. This however was a mistake. As soon as the Kiba and Akamaru saw their prey escaping Akamaru halted his spin while twisting so that he was now facing Kiba with his hands interlocked in front of him. Kiba gave off a wide smile seeing his partner's actions before canceling his own spin but making no effort to halt his progress towards his partner. As he reached his partner he flipped over so that his feet found the place where the transformed pup's arms crossed turning his face skyward towards his target with a smirk.

A shiver when down the suspended shinobi as he saw one of the two figures launched towards him by his fellow and began spinning anew, a savage smirk on his face before it disappeared into that tornado headed his way. Before he could do more than look on in fear the tornado seemed to pull in the air around it doubling in size and racing forwards like a shot from a bow aimed right at his chest. He quickly pulsed chakra through his body allowing his limbs to go lax again and swung himself sideways in an attempt to dodge the blow. It was only marginally successful, as he felt the wind, sharp as nails, carried along with the spinning boy cut deep into his back even as he fell contorted to the ground.

As he landed he allowed himself a moment to breath, and thank Kami that the blow had not hit home. However, even as he thought this he felt an uneasy disturbance behind him turning to see the other boy standing behind him growly as it swung both arms down in an x like slashing motion which he had unknowingly turned into. Still being loose he had no choice but to receive the blow headed his way. With a cry of pain he leapt back but not before eight long slashes had dug themselves into his chest allowing a trickle of crimson to spill out from them. As he clutched at his now bleeding chest he looked up to see the airborne boy landing beside his partner both giving him soft growls and identical faces with fanged grins upon their lips. Without giving him a moments rest the two figures sprang forward once again to attack.

As the feral twins and the stretchy shinobi reentered combat they remained ignorant to the largest of the battles happening just outside of the clearing. While Kiba and Hinata had sprung forward to take their targets head on Kabuto had been already moving towards them looking to finish off anyone who had survived the initial bombardment.

As such Naruto didn't have to spring forward to find his opponent, instead Kabuto and he met each other halfway before springing off between the trees a short distance from the clearing. Naruto had only been able to raise one black bar in time to intercept the kunai strike that had lanced out towards his throat from the silver haired opponent. The impact actually served to drive him out of the clearing catching himself on one of the trees a few feet from the ground. Looking up he saw Kabuto land a few yards away and a few feet up on a tree facing across from him, a line of a smile crossing his lips.

"Well I have to say you're doing well for yourself Naruto-kun, I wouldn't have thought you'd have been able to block my first strike, I complement you." Mocked Kabuto as he proceeded to holster his Kunai and relax both his arms on either side of him never taking his spectacled eyes off of the blonde boy below him. Naruto for his part tightened his grip slightly on his rod while thinking hurriedly.

_Crap he got me away from Hinata-chan and Kiba, he's better than I thought he was! _The blonde shouted in his mind, his thoughts drifting to Hinata and Kiba a few yards away from him in the forest. Juubi however, wasn't about to let him be distracted in the heat of combat.

"**Naruto focus this isn't someone you can fight with your mind elsewhere, Hinata and Kiba will be alright I'll keep an eye on them through the pollens so just focus on him for now, you won't be any good to them dead." **called Juubi in a tone like a drill Sergeant. There was a time to be calm and there was a time for calm explanations, but this was a time for action, and risking losing him over formalities was not high on her list.

Juubi's words steadied Naruto, who took a second to shake his head before glaring up at the still smiling Kabuto, but his mind was now focused, and in the fight. _Humph seems the boy can keep his cool after all. _Thought Kabuto to himself as with a flick of his wrists two long chakra scalpels bloomed from his hands and he blasted himself forward towards Naruto. Naruto had just enough time to register the oncoming attack before cutting the chakra to his feet and allowing himself to freefall from the tree falling under the scything blow of the spectacled boy. As he dropped all six of his seeds shot out of his coat taking their circular position behind him momentarily before springing into action.

While four of the seeds followed him down the top two seeds shot out towards the silver haired boy like small missiles careening towards him. Kabuto looked down to see the two approaching orbs with just enough time to slam one foot forward onto the tree he had launched himself towards and with another blast of chakra threw himself back away from their assault. As the orbs impacted the tree before him, he could not help but thank his fast thinking as the orbs blew clear through the giant tree leaving two splintered tunnels in their wake.

_What they hell kind of Jutsu was that? _Thought Kabuto as he looked back down to see another orb firing off towards him. Naruto could not suppress a small grin as he saw Kabuto scamper up the tree once again to avoid his second shot, even as the first two seeds zoomed back to his sides. His smile faltered however, as his seed impacted Kabuto only for him to burst into a wisp of smoke.

_Damn it Shadow clone,_ thought the boy sending out a pulse through his pollens to try and identify where the silver haired boy had disappeared to. His sonar pollens screamed at him just in time for him to dive forwards while launching his remaining five seeds behind him to drive off the attacking Kabuto. Kabuto was forced to replace himself hurriedly with a log nearby to avoid being smashed to pieces by the oncoming orbs. As he reappeared he ducked to avoid the swipe of the bar that the blonde had swung at his head only to find a foot rising up to meet his face. As it connected Kabuto brought his arms up to cross in front of him just in time to blow him back slightly from the blonde. As he landed his thoughts raced once again.

_What the hell is with this kid is he a sensor or something, how does he keep finding me? T_he spectacled boy screamed in his mind as he reformed his chakra scalpels and charged again, adding chakra to his limbs to increase his speed. As he raced forward he allowed a small smirk to grace his face, when he had blocked the attack he had one of his scalpels cut through the boy's leg, when he put pressure on that leg he would be falling into an open position.

Kabuto was then shocked when the boy did not only fall or stumble but actually used his leg to push himself into a charge against him. Naruto issued a quick set of orders to his seeds before racing to meet the silver haired boy halfway. He knew that his greatest advantage was still the unknown so his greatest hope was to finish this fight as soon as he could.

"**Naruto something is up, this guy is no Genin he's at least as fast as your Kaasan, hurry and take him out!" **called Juubi a note of panic in her voice as she watched the fight progress. Faith was all fine and good but this was a situation that she had hoped Naruto would never find himself in. Outmatched and in a battle in all likelihood to the death.

Naruto gave a mental nod as he sprang forwards two seeds flying behind him so that his back covered them completely from sight. As Kabuto struck out at him with a swipe of his chakra blade Naruto raised the bar in his left hand up to intercept the blow, to the silver haired boys rage the scalpel seemed to flicker and die as it hit the bar leaving him open again. As he struck out with his second scalpel Naruto bent forward as though going into a roll allowing the seed directly behind him to fly forward over his head and crash headlong into the medics face. With a sickening crack Kabuto flew back across the open clearing slamming hard into a tree trunk and cracking the tree he had flown into with his impact calling forth a cry laced with blood from his mouth.

Naruto was not about to take any chances, however taking this moment to form four of his seeds into seedlings who lined up in front of him all crouching down slightly with their arms outstretched and their backs slightly arched forwards giving off a low hum as they stared across at Kabuto's form. As Naruto watched Kabuto seemed to wrench himself free of the tree before dropping to the forest floor his back and arms contorting awkwardly as the figures watched. Ask Naruto watched Kabuto rose to his feet again with a bloodied face with an obvious broken nose. As Naruto readied his next attack Kabuto coughed and spat another mouthful of blood onto the clearing floor while sending a glare towards the blonde.

_Damn him, what the hell is he? And why does my chakra keep destabilizing around him, my scalpels and now my healing, damn it I can't even fix my face. This fucking kid is going to pay! _ Roared the silver haired boy in his mind as he saw Naruto and a few shadowy figures seeming to ready themselves for another assault, Seeing through his swelling and blood covered eyes was a challenge in and of itself, but it didn't take him much to figure out he was in imminent danger. Weighing his options he quickly swiped a hand across his face gathering a bit of blood to help his next attack.

Back with Hinata and Kiba the two were just finishing up their own assault against the Kabuto's teammates.

Hinatas target had just collapsed onto the ground a few feet in front of the girl, allowing the Hyuuga a moment to let out a heavy breath. _It took that poison long enough to work its way into his system. _Thought Hinata with a small shake of her head as she turned to look over at where Kiba was finishing up his fight.

For the last few minutes Kiba and Akamaru had been bouncing their fighter around between each other landing blow after blow upon him like a pack of wolves slowly wearing him down. After long enough fight he simply dropped thanks to a combination of exhaustion, and blood loss Akamaru barking happily as he leapt on top of the downed shinobi with an excited wagging of his tail. Kiba shook himself slightly wiping the sweat from his brow and turning to see Hinata giving him a small nod in turn. Both turned a moment later as a loud crash drew their attention back towards where Naruto had disappeared.

"Kiba we need to go help Naruto!" called Hinata looking over at her teammate as he nodded turning to face where the crash had come from. As the two members of team eleven rushed off towards Naruto's position Naruto was currently finding himself facing down what he could only describe as a giant snake. The beast must have been at least some eighty feet long, and its sickly grey scaled head flicked out a forked tongue every so often, as Kabuto sat on top of his head glaring down at the boy.

With a swipe of his arm Kabuto directed his summon to spring forward even as he himself retreated back into the forest and away trusting on his summon to if not finish the boy at least buy him time. Naruto could do no more than leap back as the great snake swept its tail forwards catching his seedlings full in the chest as it did so. As Naruto watched his seedlings who had not been expecting the hit were flung air bound and off in several directions even as he landed. Seeing this and with a cry of fury Naruto sent a pulse to his remaining seeds shifting them into great black lances that resembled those of a storybook picture of a knight like the ones he had sometimes read to Mito. These were not fiction however, they hurled themselves forward towards the beast both ripping into the great serpent and pinning it forcibly to the tree behind it. The snake proceeded to shriek in agony as it felt the spikes ripped into its scaled flesh.

Worse than that, the chakra of the seeds spread throughout the snake causing its very nature as a summon to turn on itself in howling agony. As Kiba and Hinata burst into the clearing what they saw was a creature that was effectively being ripped apart on the cellular level, and having no way to escape its pain. Naruto himself could hardly stand to see what was occurring before him and quickly shifted the lances back to their seed form allowing the snake to mercifully disappear into a cloud of smoke before him, even as he turned to face his two approaching teammates.

Hinata and Kiba looked over at where the giant snake had been as Naruto looked over at them with a small frown on his face. Before either of the other two could say a word the blonde had run up to them and started talking in a hurried voice.

"Hinata-chan, Kiba are you ok?" called Naruto as he reached the two checking over them quickly before pulling Hinata into a strong hug the had the girl squeak out an eep as she was pulled in suddenly. After a second she worked her hand in front of her and pushing herself back from his softly looking into Naruto's bright purple eyes with her own pale lavender ones.

"Naruto-kun we're fine, what's wrong?" asked Hinata seeing a clear amount of worry in Naruto's face as she stared at him concern evident in her voice and eyes. Kiba also took a step forward wondering what had set the blonde boy off the way he was acting.

"Hey Naruto buddy what's wrong you look like you've seen a ghost or something?" he asked stepping forward also looking at the blonde with concern in his voice. Naruto for his part looked between the two closing his eyes momentarily and trying to calm himself down with a few breaths. Juubi took this moment to speak up to the other two present.

"**It'll be ok, Naruto just got done fighting a Jonin level opponent, and something about this exam isn't adding up." **spoke up Juubi communicating through the pollens Hinata and Kiba possessed. Both members listened in waiting to hear more.

"**It was Kabuto he isn't who he seems to be from what little I saw he is strong enough to have his own team much less be a chunnin, but the biggest issue is the summon he used at the end of the fight." **Juubi said getting a mall puzzled look from the team members.

"That snake." spoke Naruto softly calling the groups attention to himself, "there's only one shinobi who uses snake summoning, and I have an awful feeling that I know who Kabuto was talking to when we saw him." said Naruto as he looked put at his teammates with a worried face. Kiba froze for a moment realization coming to him as he pieced together what he had just heard. It was Hinata who spoke next and her voice came out in a little voice barely above a whisper, even as she felt herself shake a little involuntarily.

"O-orochimaru." she said look up as Naruto nodded and all three of them took a moment to thank Kami that Kabuto hadn't noticed them a moment earlier. After a moment they looked at each other as if asking what they were supposed to do now that there was an S class missing shinobi running around the exam doing Kami knows what. Luckily for the stunned teens Juubi spoke up to get them back on track.

"**Look at the moment we don't know what is going on, I see Akamaru there has the scrolls we need so let's find a place to set up camp for the night, and try not to panic." **Spoke up Juubi making all of them calm down slightly and take a moment to look over at Kiba where Akamaru was standing beside him a brown and white set of scrolls clutched in his mouth as he padded over to them happily. Seeing this Kiba bent down to take them rubbing the pups head as he did so getting a happy bark from the pup in response.

Naruto looked down at Hinata before placing a small kiss on her brow before nodding to them and taking a step forward to allow his two seeds to enter back into his jacket before repositioning his Pollen net around him to make sure he remained aware of everyone's movements. Hinata blushed as she felt Narutos lips and smiled with some comfort as she fell instep beside him as they prepared to move. Kiba placed the two scrolls in his pack before stepping up to stand by his team as well. Soon the team was making its way through the trees looking for a defensible position for their camp. As they moved Hinata gave a small look around before speaking up to Naruto.

"Naruto-kun!" asked the girl looking over at the blond who turned to face her with a small puzzled look.

"Hai Hinata-chan, what up?" asked naruto looking back at the girl even as they proceeded forward.

"Well I was wondering where did your seedlings go?" asked Hinata having noticed the lack of several of Narutos orbs decorating the back of his coat. Kiba noticed as well looking over to Naruto who seemed to have somehow not noticed this fact previously.

"When that snake attacked me they took the blow and were knocked back into the forest. I guess they are somewhere out in it still." He said without any worry in his tone. As Hinata and Kiba looked at him he smiled a little waving one hand absentmindedly before speaking again.

"It's ok I learned they will head back to my chakra signal, once they are in range of the pollen net I can make them go into seed form and then bang their back." Naruto finished turning to face forward once again. Kiba smiled a little before looking back ahead. Hinata in the meantime didn't seem as convinced and after a moment spoke up again.

"Um but Naruto-kun didn't you scatter a few pollens on other teams to try and keep track of them?" she asked bringing Naruto to a complete halt when he heard her. As the other two stopped beside him he raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head with a little chuckle rising to his lips as he did so.

"Huh I guess your right Hinata-chan…but I'm sure they'll find their way back…eventually." He finished still chuckling lightly as he did so. Hinata and Kiba looked at him for a moment before shaking their heads and bursting out into a little chuckle of their own. Soon the three were in the middle of a full blown laughing fest the fear, exhaustion, and simple amusement of the entire situation falling on them all at once.

While team eleven were regaining their breath, another team not an insurmountable distance from them was also out of breath, but for an entirely different set of reasons.

Naruko and Minami where both covered in several steaming cuts that were slowly closing thanks to the Kyuubi sealed within them. As they stared across the branch they saw the mocking smile of a pale face set below his slitted yellow snake like eyes.

_Damn it, what the hell is someone like this doing here and why the hell did that freak hit Sasuke with? And why the hell did they bite him? _Thought a slightly panicked Naruko as she looked over at her haggard sister, who even then was barely able to keep standing. Seeing this Naruko let out a silent curse as she looked over at the pale faced man once again trying desperately to think of what to do next. Luckily the enemy seemed content to waste time mocking her so she was granted a few more moments of time.

"So this is all the famous Namikaze twins are capable of, I must say you don't exactly live up to your legend do you?" mocked Orochimaru as he stood in front of the pair with a cruel smile. Naruko stiffened slightly at this but held in her anger, and used this time to think instead. She cast a quick glance over to where Sasuke lay face down on a tree branch without moving.

_Damn it Sasuke isn't in any condition to move, and Minami and I are already running low ourselves….damn what are we going to do. _Thought the blond girl moving slightly and feeling a small poke in her side as she did so. She kept from yelling but her focus was not drawn to her belt where she saw her father's Kunai. She suppressed a grin as she saw it.

_That's it, ok freak I don't care if it gets us expelled from the exam, I'm not going to lose my sister and Sasuke over something this stupid. _She thought reaching down towards the Kunai while trying to remain undetected. Unfortunately Orochimaru saw her almost minute flinch of pain and saw her small action and its intended target.

Orochimaru seeing this threw a quick shrunken charged with wind chakra towards Minami causing Naruko to leap over to push her sister out of the way of the oncoming weapon. This was all the opening the snake sage needed as he leapt forward firing a cluster of snakes at the blonde one snapping the Kunai into the snake's mouth and falling down into the depths of the forest. Naruko looked over the side with a small curse as she saw her weapon falling out of her grasp, her last hope. Turning she had just a moment to register a white hand reaching out before she found herself hoisted up by her throat and watching helpless as Orochimaru drew back a hand with several fingers with small flames on the tips of each of them. Before she could do more than kick her feet wildly at her attacker before Orochimaru slammed her hand into the girl's stomach extracting a loud cry of pain from the blonde before moments later she slumped limply in the snake sage's hand.

From a few feet away Minami pushed herself up with effort looking up in time to see her sister be dropped unceremoniously to the tree branch before the pale freak before standing before the blonde. Without a second thought Minami allowed Kyu's chakra to flood her body as she screamed in rage. Kyu panicked trying to call out to his host.

"**Minami stop you've already used too much of my power against that guy, if you do any more it may rupture your chakra pathways!" **shouted Kyu as Minami ignored his warnings allowing a full two tails to form on the cloak once again before flinging herself forwards with a roar of rage and pain as she did so. Orochimaru turned in time to duck under the red headed Jinchuuriki before she could take his head off of his shoulders before sinking into the branch he was standing on.

"KuKuKuKu so our little fox is angry again." Mocked the sage as he started running threw a few quick hand seals forming a seal that Minami was to enraged to recognize. When the team had first been pushed back by the figure both she and Naruko had attempted to establish their cloaks to hit the bastard with everything they had, but he had managed to hit them with some kind of sealing jutsu that had momentarily broken her link with Kyu, and causing a small feedback upon the two momentarily rendering them momentarily paralyzed.

The same Jutsu was now completed and a faint golden glow now emanated from the snake sages hand as he brought it up to crash into the redhead's enraged face. When the seal hit home Minami's cloak blasted off of her with the force of several explosive tags that blew her back crashing her into the tree behind her, sending bits of splinters and blood from the impact. The only thing that kept her conscious was the pain that was now racing through her body, even as tears and blood ran down her face. Kyu howled in fear.

"**Minami! MINAMI!" **screamed Kyu in a panic as the redhead looked over at the chuckling pale figure before her that was slowly approaching her with slow steady steps chuckling her dark laugh with every step she took.

"So you do have some fight in you, too bad I've spent the last few years researching your mothers type of chakra, I must admit it took me a great deal of time to make that particular jutsu but it has its uses in putting down a baby Jinchuuriki like yourself. It may not be much against a full beast, but someone like you won't be a big deal to manage." finished the sage as she looked down at the bleeding girl before him with a sick smile across his face. Minami felt a spasm of fear run down her spine even as she gazed into the face before her. For a moment she even saw her own death occurring before her eyes, and the thought brought a fresh bout of tears to her eyes.

Orochimaru smiled at her with a sick countenance that showed how much he enjoyed seeing the pain he was inflicting. Orochimaru may have prided himself on being a scientist first, but after years of the kind of twisted experiments that he undertook one came to find a taste for the despair and pain of others. However, before he could savor the moment a movement and sudden noise behind him had him spinning around to face an odd sight. As he looked over at the figure before him he could honestly say that he had never encountered such a creature before.

It stood no taller than any of his recent victims did and appeared to have the vague shape of a young teen. However, where its eyes should have been instead sat two bright glowing balls of shining purple light that gazed at him almost as if he was curious. Orochimaru could not help but turn fully to look at the creature before her who seemed to be walking forward aiming for the girl behind her. As Orochimaru watched the figure passed by him as though he wasn't even there as it approached the girl who was looking at it with a small happy smile on her face in seeing the creature.

_N-Naruto's seedlings…thank kami….but why is there only one?_ she thought as the seedling gazed at her humming sadly as if it was concerned for her. Before she could do more than look at the seedling, however, Orochimaru had seemed to run out of patience with simply watching the creature and stepped forward to examine it more closely.

With his usual amount of gentleness the snake sage shot out one large snake to wrap up the figure and take it away for further study. The snake managed to wrap the creature up from head to toe, but as Orochimaru moved to take hold of the creature the snake suddenly hissed in pain as a large black looking thorn shot out of the seedling stabbing through the snake causing it to shriek in pain. Orochimaru leapt back as he saw his serpent fall limply to the branch below before slipping down towards the forest floor with a cry of agony the whole way down. As the snake fell the Seedling turned slowly to gaze at Orochimaru with a low hum that almost sounded like a growl to the snake sage. Before he could do more than ponder how the creature had killed his summon the seedling was charging forward two long vine like appendages flowing out of either of its hands as it rushed over the branch towards him.

Orochimaru allowed a small smirk to grace his lips as he saw the creature charge him. He loved a fight like this and the last few opponents had done little to slate his battle lust. With that in mind the flew through a few fast hand signs before spitting out a single large fireball at the approaching seedling making sure to angle it away from the disabled teens. While he may not particularly care for the teens he needed them alive if Sasuke was to make it to the next part of the exams and further his plans.

As the ball of flame speed forward the seedling didn't pause to charge straight into it extracting a small smirk from the sage seeing this. _Well I guess I won't be getting a live one, _the sage started to think just before a long vine like appendage followed soon by the seedling itself flew through the blast as the ball of flame dispersed into a wave of quickly dissipating fire.

"What!" shouted Orochimaru as he was forced to leap back from the swiping attack even as the seedling pressed the assault. Orochimaru was not a legendary Shinobi for nothing, however, and he was soon flying through a set of seals again before spitting out several balls of wind towards the oncoming creature.

Like the flame before, the wind dispersed upon contact and the creature charged forward apparently unabated by the impact again sending another swipe toward him. With a silent curse Orochimaru sank into the tree branch avoiding the Seedling's latest slash of the vine like whip it had swung at him. The seedling may not have been burdened with an abundance of intelligence, but it did understand basic ideas of self-defense as well as danger. From its limited understanding the redheaded girl was in danger and the pale one seemed to be the instigator. As a result it decided to attack the source of the pain that had chosen to attack it. To that end it slowly swept its purple eyes around the treetops looking for its enemy.

Orochimaru obliged the seedling leaping down from above with his blade in hand swinging down to cut the black creature in half. The seedling noticed a little late but managed to swing its hand and the whips up in order to hit the sage. Unfortunately for the creature Orochimaru's blade was far too strong a weapon to be slowed by such things. The blade cut through both the whips and the seedlings arms alike without any effort. For a moment Orochimaru allowed a smile to spread across his face in anticipation of his victory. A second later Orochimaru was forced sneer once again as his blade smashed into the creatures head and halted abruptly.

A second later the sage stood in front of the now armless creature that looked down at his arms on the branch before him, and then up at the figure before him for a moment as if more surprised than actually hurt. Before Orochimaru could do more than look shocked at the fact that the creature's head seemed to have withstood his assault his senses screamed at him to leap back from the creature, but he was too late. From the Seedlings back sprung three crude looking chains with small blunted tips that shot forward into the sages chest launching him through the air before it slammed him into a tree across the gap.

Orochimaru felt like he was just hit by a punch from his old mentor's staff as he found himself lying slightly cockeyed in a crater of a tree. With a small grunt he pushed the chains off of him as he saw them slowly retracting across the gap back towards the black creature who even as he watched had sent out several small interweaving threads that vaguely resembled tree roots that affixed themselves to its lost libs before hoisting them up to re-secure themselves onto its stumps. Orochimaru was torn between pain, fascination and annoyance as he saw the creature literally rearming itself.

_Damn _thought the snake sage as it looked over at the creature through his slitted snake eyes _that fucking thing isn't making any sense, what the hell is it? And why aren't any of my attacks working on it? Ah I don't have time or chakra for this, those damn suppressing justus took more out of me than I would have liked. Well I've done what I needed here there's no reason for me to stay longer and fight this fucking monster any longer. _Thought the sage allowing himself to shift back into the tree and out of the detectible range of the creature.

After a few moments the Seedling allowed its chains and vines to recede back into itself with a small hum of apparent self-satisfaction. It then proceeded to turn over to march over to help pull the injured Minami up to her feet. Thanks to her tenant her wounds were healing enough for her to move around and she allowed herself to smile happily at the seedling that had just helped her to stand. _What was it that Mito-chan called these guys…se-seed-kun was that it Kyu? _Asked Minami softly.

"**Hai Minami-chan that's them thank you Seed-kun!" **called Kyu happily as he wagged his tails gleefully from his cage. Minami could not help but agree with her tenant's thanks and spoke up in turn.

"T-thanks Seed-kun." she spoke softly through the exhaustion and pain she was feeling. The seedling turned its wide purple eyes onto her before giving off a happy little hum as she took a step back from it, finally able to stand under her own power. As she did so she suddenly remembered Naruko and rushed over to her prone form. She breathed out a sigh of relief a moment later as she found Naruko unconscious but breathing and with a steady pulse. She took a moment to thank Kami before heading over to check on Sasuke finding him in a similar state. After pulling the Uchiha over to lie next to Naruko she turned her head up to see the seedling looking around as if getting ready to depart. With a small bit of panic she called out to the seedling.

"Seed-kun!" she all but yelled causing the seedling to turn and face her humming slightly, "can you help me carry these two?" she asked gesturing towards the two prone figures on the branch before her. The Seedling paused for a moment as though in thought before nodding slowly and stepping forward to pick up the two prone figures. The Seedling bent down to pick up Naruko in the manner he had been shown previously but found an issue with also picking up Sasuke. After several attempts to both hold the girl and the boy together the seedling remembered its time with Mito and simply wrapped the boy in a clump of black chains pulling him slightly into the air while following Minami as she worked her way down to the forest floor. As Minami and the Seedling made their way to the forest floor and towards a hollow tree that Minami had remembered seeing earlier.

Meanwhile in another part of the forest team ten had just stopped to make a quick plan before finding a place to camp for the coming night.

"Look Ino I'm say that we take the position by the tower and wait to hit a team as they move in, that way we guarantee they have the scroll we need, and we don't worry about wasting our time fighting for a prize that may not exist." spoke Shikimaru while Choji nodded his head in agreement with his friend. Ino thought for a moment before looking back at the black haired boy with a small smile.

"Well I don't see that being a bad plan to start with, should we head there first thing tomorrow?" asked the blonde looking over at her team. Before either Shikimaru or Choji could answer, however, they heard a sound off in the forest to their left. The three were up and in battle position ready to face the oncoming threat. As they listened for a moment they heard a large amount of commotion coming their way. With a quick handsign Shikimaru and his team leapt high into the branches above hoping to catch who or whatever, was out there by surprise. Looking down from above they saw the bushes on the edge of the clearing rustle slightly before a strange black creature exited them and stood out into the clearing before turning two large rounded purple eyes up towards where they at it the canopy. Not wanting to take any more chances, Shikimaru and his team leapt back from the clearing and raced along the treetops for a while before halting above another clearing and turning to face one another. Choji was the first to speak.

"W-what was that thing?" he asked looking at his teammates a slight note of fear in his voice as he did so. Ino turned to face him resting one hand on his shoulder in a comforting way before speaking.

"Calm down Choji we got clear of it." said Ino trying to comfort her teammate as she looked over at Shikimaru for some encouragement from him. Unfortunately just as he was about to speak up, a rustling in the foliage behind them caught their attention, and the three turned to see the same creature jump forward to land on a branch a few yards away from them. Without waiting all of team ten leapt down from their position to land on the forest clearing and fall into a defensive formation gazing up at the creature that was before them.

"I-it's following us!" chocked out Ino fear evident in her voice as she turned to look at Shikimaru with worry in her face. Shikimaru simply nodded curtly at her before turning back to face the creature just as it landed on the ground in front of them.

"It looks like it isn't going to let us run from it, team get ready to take it out!" called Shikimaru as he formed his hands into a common handsign of the Nara clan, and moments later his shadow shot forward towards the creature. As it connected with the shadow below it Shikimaru allowed himself a small smirk.

"Good I've got it!" called Shikimaru standing up and crossing his arms over his chest. The seedling seeing this decided to mimic his actions leading the Nara to believe that his move had been successful. Thinking the creature to be captured Ino and Choji allowed themselves to relax for a moment and take a closer look at the creature before them. Ino was the first to speak up.

"Hey is it just me or does that thing look kind of like Naruto?" she asked pointing at the creature, but as she did so the Seedling seeing her raised its hand to point back at her, causing Shikimaru to freeze for a moment before shouting out to his team.

"It's not contained, get back!" he called pulling out a few shuriken to launch over towards the creature, who leapt back in turn from the attack allowing a small bit of humming to escape itself as it looked over at the team with some confusion.

"Oh crap it looks like you made it mad shouted Choji!" as he focused chakra into his left arm and swung it forward towards the Seedling intent on slamming it back into the tree behind it. As the boys arm swung forwards it expanded until it was the size of a small bus and slammed headlong into the black creatures face. The forest clearing was suddenly filled with a resounding Crack as Choji's fist plowed into the seedling! The attack was marginally successful.

The seedling found itself hurtling back into the tree behind it crashing headfirst into it, but Choji also cried out in pain as his hand shrank back down to its usual size dropping to one knee as he did so. Shikimaru dropped to his friend's side looking at the boys arm that seemed to have a few broken fingers and small amount of chakra burns around the impact zone. Shikimaru frowned at his friends injury before turning to forge his attention back towards the creature that he hoped was not going to be getting back up. Unfortunately as he watched the Seedling was even then pulling itself out of the tree it had been shot into a moment before. As team ten watched the seedling managed to pull its head free from the tree, and fall with a soft thump to the ground before turning its head to look back at them with its wide purple eyes.

"Shikimaru, what the hell is that thing and why is it getting back up." shouted Ino as she started going through a set of hand sighs quickly while casting a worried look at her teammate. Shikimaru looked up from Ino to Choji before looking back at the black creature before him his mind racing as he watched the creature tilt its head slightly at them.

"I don't know Ino, but whatever it is I don't know if we can handle it!" called back Shikimaru looking over at the seedling whose arms started to shift slightly before his eyes. As he watched in horror both of the creatures arms swelled out mimicking what Choji had just done moments before. With a sudden terror Shikimaru grabbed Choji and leapt back with him in tow along with Ino as one of the creatures fists swept sideways towards them with quite a bit of force behind the blow. Shikimaru's mind raced at what he had just seen, the pieces slowly falling into place. As sudden realization hit him to turned just in time to see Ino finish her final handsign just as he yelled at her to stop.

"INO NO!" shouted the black haired boy stretching out a hand towards the blonde as if to will her to stop her actions. Ino, however, had already acted, and even as the remainder of team ten watched her body fall limply to the ground signaling that she had cast her mind forward into the creatures. Shikimaru and Choji both looked over with shocked expressions on their faces and a large amount of fear.

Meanwhile inside of the seedlings head Ino was completely lost, as to where she was. The blonde haired girl turned in a small circle examining her surroundings with a clear amount of puzzlement on her face. Usually when she jumped into a beings mind she either immediately started to see through their eyes, or was introduced to a scene not unlike a large library or some other home that had a clear form of organization to it. The place she found herself in now however was a large open field with a clear blue sky with soft green grass, and what amounted to a light breeze. Around the field were dotted small trees each only standing about a foot in high and of the same shade of black as the monster had been. Approaching one it seemed to flicker a little as she did so before a small bulb like shape on top opened like a flower bud might and Ino instead of seeing the center of the bud saw what looked like some kind of memory. She saw through the creatures eyes as a large snake like creature swung a tale towards it knocking it back and air born. Ino watched as the creatures view catapulted around several times before coming to a sudden halt upon impacting the ground.

Seeing this Ino stepped back before casting her eyes around the field and seeing that it was dotted with many small trees that swayed gently in the breeze. Before she could do more than look around puzzled she felt a presence behind her and whirled around. What she saw made her blood freeze. There looking at her with its head tilted slightly was the creature that she had fought outside. As she watched the creature looked from the tree she had just looked at, then back to her with a curious little tilt of its head before raising a hand in a little waving motion. The shear oddity of this was enough for Ino to momentarily loose her grip on her technique, and fly back out of the Seedlings mind waking a moment later in her own. As she shook her head slightly to reorientate herself she noticed that she was not resting on the forest floor. She found that Choji and Shikimaru had used the brief incursion into the creatures mind to retreat back into the treetops above it, and were staring open mouthed at where she assumed the creature was.

Ino turned to look and saw something that just confused her more than anything that had happened today, and that was saying a lot. Below where the vaguely male creature had been standing now stood what she could only describe as a black version of herself with bright purple eyes, and the same smooth face as the previous one. As she watched she noticed that it was almost a complete copy of her right down to her pony tail that it seemed particularly fascinated with at the moment. Even as team ten watched the black figure seemed to be trying to grab hold of the newest appendage with an excited humming accompanying its circular track. Ino tore her eyes away from the odd little spectacle to look over at her team with complete puzzlement on her face.

"Ok would someone mind telling me what the hell is going on here?" she asked looking over at Choji and Shikimaru who looked over at her with similar looks of confusion on their faces. After a moment Choji spoke up.

"Don't know, once you hit it with your jutsu it just stopped moving and started to ripple until well," here he pointed down at the Seedling who had just managed to grab hold of his ponytail and was currently humming in apparent excitement as it ran its fingers through the long strands of hair. "Well it just started looking like that, and then you were back." spoke Choji while looking back at Ino with a small shrug. Shikimaru took a turn to speak up at that point.

"If I'm right I think I have this thing figured out." he said as both of the members of team ten looked over at him. "That thing is some kind of mimic or something, every time we hit it with something, it adapted in some way." He spoke as the others nodded slowly at his words. "And I think this thing ran into team eleven at some point to." As he got two sets of confused looks from his teammates. Seeing this he elaborated

"Remember Ino, you mentioned that it looked like Naruto, it probably ran into them and mimicked him at some point." finished Shikimaru as he looked over at his team who nodded. "I say we leave now, it seems a little preoccupied." continued Shikimaru jabbing a thumb back at the now female creature that seemed to be twirling admiring the small bit of blackness that seemed to be its version of her skirt. Ino blushed bright red at this as the Seedling proceeded to tug and pull at it exposing some more private areas if they had been on the forest floor to see it. The next moment Team ten were off and after a time the seedling seemed to shake itself before setting off once again in search of the signal from the pollens.

As team ten fled away from their encounter with the Seedling another team was having a very different experience with one of the black fellows. Team Guy was losing ground against their own seedling.

Neji panted as he knelt down attempting to catch his breath as he watched Lee once again jump into battle with the strange black creature before them. When the being had wandered across them and seemed intent on following them, Tenten had suggested it was some type of clone, and they had decided to engage it before it gave away their position. Neji had scanned it for a moment with his byakugan but was only able to see a single mass of chakra that seemed to fall in with Tenten's suggestion. As a result the team had set up a quick ambush position and waited for the creature to enter into the semi-circle they had formed in an open clearing.

Neji had been the first at it landing four successive palm strikes onto the creatures exposed back firing several blasts of chakra into its back where its lungs would have been hoping to dispel the creature, or at the least put it down on the ground.

Things had not gone as planned; his hits didn't even manage to slow the creature down as it swung behind itself without a pause. Neji had dodged the sloppy blow easily enough and struck out again at the being slamming several more blows onto the seeming clone, finishing with a powerful double blow to the beings face. Impact didn't even seem to slow the creature down as it grabbed onto his wrist before bringing up a knee and pulling back on the Hyuugas arms pulling the boy into the creature's knee. The hit knocked the wind out of him blowing him back a small distance. As Neji looked up he saw that Lee had leapt forward to deliver a spinning kick to the creatures head causing the clone to skid across the clearing for a distance.

Lee had given out his usual cry of "Yosh" before going into a quick speech on the powers of youth. Before the green spandex wearing teen could continue speaking, however, the creature had pushed itself back to its feet before springing forward to execute a sloppy version of Lee's own windmill kick. Lee raised an arm taking the kick onto his forearm and spinning slightly before reaching out with his other arm to grab hold of the blocked leg, and spinning to through the creature to the other side of the clearing.

This did not seem to perturb the creature as it launched itself back at Lee this time throwing a few blows that looked similar to some kind of a style but it did not seem familiar to the Hyuuga. Lee was smiling fiercely as he engaged the creature trading blow for blow with it.

As Tenten landed beside Neji checking him over for a moment, she looked up to see Lee land another devastating blow to the creatures chest causing it to skid a few feet back , before its knee's knelt down slightly before springing forward to continue the fight. Lee allowed his left hand to fall behind his back as he raised his right hand before him falling back into his common stance. As the seedling raced towards him he dropped down while shooting up a single leg vertically and knocking the seedling up with a strong blow to the seedlings chin. Once the creature was air born Lee jumped after him flipping forward with one leg extended slamming into the seedlings chest and sending it crashing down to the clearing below. As Lee landed he turned his face back to look at the remaining members of his team.

"Tenten how is he?" called Lee as he stepped back into his stance facing the crater in front of him. Tenten gave Neji one more look over, before standing up and pulling out two sealing scrolls from her pouch.

"Hai he's fine but I don't have a clue why his style didn't do any good." Replied Tenten stepping up beside Lee just at the Seedling leaned up from the crater Lee had punched it into moments before. As it turned its purple eyes on the pair Tenten leapt into action quickly unsealing a set of Kunai and shuriken to fire into the creature before her. As always her aim was true and the creature was slammed back into the crater squired by all ten kunai and shuriken. For a moment the pair allowed themselves to relax before the black creature before them sat up again still with several of the weapons still sticking out of the body, of the creature.

Seeing this Lee sprang forward just as the creature gained it footing. As he raced forward he was almost brought to a halt as the black figure sank back into his own stance just in time to parry his forward punch with its own left arm. Before throwing its own imitation of Lees previous strike straight at the boys head. Only thanks to his years of training was Lee able to swipe his head sideways at the last moment to avoid the strike, while falling into a spin kick with his right leg that took the creatures legs out from under him, and catching him with a devastating straight kick to the suspended creatures chest knocking it back a few feet. Allowing Tenten another opening to fire off another salvo of shrunken and Kunai into the creature adding to its velocity flying backwards.

After a brief pause the Seedling once again began to rise giving off a loud humming noise as it did so. Hearing the noise Neji decided that it was about time that his team headed to the tower. With that thought in mind he called out to the other members of his squad just as they launched the creature back with another tag team move.

"Lee, Tenten we are getting out of here and to the tower, there's no point in fighting this thing any longer." He called just as he rose to his feet a little shakily. Lee seeing this ran back to swing one of the Hyuugas arms around his shoulder. Tenten seeing this turned for a moment before cutting both of her thumbs with a Kunai and throwing both of her sealing scrolls high above her as they unraveled and spiraled around one another. Soon after that the bun wearing girl leapt up into the center swiping her hands across the sealing symbols of the scrolls summoning weapon after weapon to her hands and firing them off one after another into the creature below her. Weapon after weapon shot down hitting the creature over and over, slamming it a step back with every impact, kunai, shuriken, sickles, great balls of iron covered in spikes, and all manner of weapons in-between. As she dropped almost completely out of breath her target had been almost completely engulfed by the weapons that now pinned it to the base of a large tree.

Without waiting a moment longer she raced over to her team leaving the discarded scrolls behind her, as she and they departed from the clearing with all hast. Glancing back for a moment Tenten just spied out of the corner of her eyes the form of whatever that black creature was extracting itself from the tangle of weapons and bark.

After team Guy had gone far enough away the Seedling finally managed to extract itself from the tree; although now it seemed to have much in common with a porcupine thanks to the dozens of weapons now covering its whole body. The Seedling seemed to look at itself for a moment before shaking itself and heading out towards the next closest bit of Naruto's chakra it could find.

The blonde in question was just settling down beside a fire with the rest of his team cooking a rabbit that Kiba had caught moments before. Naruto poked the fire once more before turning to smile over at Hinata who was sitting a few feet away from him swirling the water in the pot with a small bit of chakra from her hands.

"Hey Hinata-chan here comes one now." called Naruto motioning off behind Kiba as one of his Seedlings pushed her way through the underbrush into their small clearing. This particular Seedlings appearance, however, caused quite a reaction from the group of around the fire. Standing a few feet away was a Seedling whose form was still in that of Ino and was humming softly as it looked back and forth between them seemingly happy about returning.

Kiba was the first to speak up. "Hum, well I have to say I didn't know that they could do that." He chuckled turning a smile over at Naruto who looked to be in a state of shock. Hinata was also staring blankly ahead without being able to comprehend what exactly she was seeing. Juubi for her part first started giggling, before bursting out into full blown laughter as she looked at the seedlings form.

"**HeHeHaHa ohh my Kami….phfmt g-greatest technique…ba-battle Jutsu ever!" **she managed to squeak out between her giggling and laughing. Naruto couldn't help but scowl slightly at Juubi's mocking before shaking himself slightly and looking back to the seedling that was playfully spinning around watching Akamaru walk around it sniffing curiously. As the blonde boy looked over at the Seedling's antics he felt a sudden shiver run down his spine.

He felt a sudden coldness emanating from his right, and turning he saw Hinata had turned with an uncomfortable little smile on her face, and both her eyes turned up in closed eye smiles of their own. Behind her seemed to be the Shinigami himself. Naruto felt a large amount of fear cascade over him as he looked over at his Hinata-chan with a nasty feeling in his chest. Juubi for her part was laughing even harder at the sight of the poor boy terrified before the presence of his angered girlfriend.

"H-Hinata-chan….prettiest girl in Konoha...kindest girl in the whole world…. and someone not to judge before talking it out." spoke Naruto slowly scooting back with his hands raised in front of him in a placating manner. Hinata for her part gently stood up before slowly walking over towards Naruto still with her unnatural smile upon her lips. Kiba simply turned back to look at Akamaru with a small smile even as the girlish screams of Naruto echoed out across the forest, as night fell in earnest around the team and the rest of the forest.

The next day found Naruto nursing a small smack on his face, along with Hinata applying a bit of ointment to the bruise, with a very sorry clear blush, and embarrassed look on her face as she did so. Kiba and Akamaru were both smiling over at the couple as they ate some ration bars while slowly moving around the camp and collecting their packs.

"I-I'm sorry Naruto." whispered Hinata as she replaced the lid on her ointment and turned her face to stare intently at the forest floor, not wanting to meet Naruto's eyes. Naruto looked over at her with a bit of a puzzled look on his face for a moment before wrapping the girl in a tight hug, and mussing her hair slightly with his free hand even as a large smile spread across his face.

Hinata despite herself was unable to fight off a bit of giggling as Naruto poke at her while chuckling himself, never letting the girl go from his grip. The two sat like that for a few moments before Hinata raised her eyes to look up at Naruto the leftover smile from her giggling still painted across her face as she did so. Naruto just beamed down at her before bending his head down slightly to capture her lips in his own. As the girls soft lips pressed softly into the boys she allowed herself to momentarily relax, and let her mind wander to happy times she had shared with Naruto. The two likely would have stayed like that if not for the wolf whistle they heard a moment later causing both of them to look round to spy Kiba and Akamaru, along with a Naruto looking Seedling watching them from over where their packs were laying.

Hinata for her part turned a bright red before attempting to bury her face deep into Naruto's chest in a mostly useless attempt to hide herself. Naruto for his part just cradled the shy girl with one arm while rubbing the back of his head a little as he looked into the smirking face of his other teammate, just as Kiba spoke up.

"You know I think you could do better than the forest of death for a date you two." He called in a happy mocking tone with no true annoyance in his voice. Akamaru barked happily as well, and even the seedling who most likely didn't even know why itself hummed in a content manner as it looked at them. Naruto smiled over at Kiba chuckling slightly as he looked around himself before replying.

"ya I guess you have a point," the blond said working his way to his feet while keeping a gentle hold on the pale eyed girl in his arms as he did so. "I guess we should hurry up to the tower then." he finished just as Hinata pulled her head from its hiding place on his chest and looked over at Kiba with a embarrassed little smile.

"Ya I guess we should, but what about your seedlings, aren't they still out there?" asked Kiba turning his eyes left and right as he said so, as if expecting another to hope out of the underbrush like the previous night. Naruto paused for a moment before sending another pulse form his pollens, and shaking his head slightly.

"Nope none yet, but if we take it slow we should run into them throughout the day as long as we keep the pollen net out." replied Naruto even as Hinata stepped back from him with a small smile hurrying over to grab her pack, and trying to hide her blushing face from Kiba. She was only marginally successful.

"Sounds good to me." replied Kiba as Hinata and Naruto picked up their packs and the four members of team eleven leapt into the trees and off into the forest at a moderate pace.

In another part of the forest another team was just about to head out themselves after a productive nights work. Sakura had just packed away the last of her medical supplies, and was waiting for Yakumo to join her and Shino as they stood in the little clearing by the river of the camp they had set up the previous day.

Yakumo emerged a moment later visibly placing the two scrolls they needed into a pack on her back along with her art supplies. By a mixture of luck and a well put together setup an un-expecting team had wandered headlong into their bug defensive net the previous night. After Shino had called off the foot long leaches from the other team, they were in no condition to fight, and had surrendered their scroll peaceably rather than make a fight of it.

As a result team eight had decided to simply make a beeline for the tower this morning ignoring any other conflict they may come across in favor of simply reaching the safety of the building.

"So Yakumo have you got everything?" called out Sakura in a not unkind voice as she adjusted a strap on her medical pouch that lay across her back. Yakumo smiled over at her team as she stepped forward towards them while replying.

"Hai I've got everything, sorry for taking so long." Yakumo replied with a bit of an apologetic note in her voice as she did so. Shino raised a hand in a soft little wave as if to dismiss the thought completely before speaking in his usual calm voice.

"It is no trouble I haven't dropped the bug net yet, so there is no rush, this spot is still well defended." Spoke the Aburame with a small hint of pride in his voice. However, before any of the team could say anything else Shino stiffened and turned suddenly to face a spot on the left side of the clearing from where he and the rest of his team stood. Sakura and Yakumo saw this and both stopped immediately turning to face the direction to. As Shino motioned that something was approaching through the net Yakumo reached back into her pack withdrawing an index card sized picture even as Sakura slipped on a pair of thick leather gloves. As team eight focused forward they heard the sound of something approaching them through the woods and tensed slightly. Sakura spoke up a moment later.

"If it looks like an enemy team, we see what condition and village. If it's someone we know we hold the attack, and if it's some animal we just head out no point in fighting it over a spot we aren't going to stay in." spoke the girl in a quiet voice receiving a pair of nods for her words. All three took stances getting themselves prepared for whatever was about to enter their clearing. But whatever they may have been ready for what came out of the forest caught them all off guard.

Suddenly from the forest burst a strange black figure that seemed to be running full tilt while waving its arms wildly on either sides of itself as if trying to fly with them. As the team watched the figure ran right past them before tripping on a loose stone and rolling forward to land face first into the small stream that lay by their camp. Team eight stood there in complete silence simply looking over at the motionless figure for a second before giving each other inquisitive looks.

"Um Shino was that one of those Leaches plastered to its face?" asked Yakumo after a moment looking back at the figures who was rolling back and forth in the river still waving its arms about randomly apparently in quite a bit of distress. Shino took a moment before he responded.

"Hai it was, but I can't communicate with it for some reason, my chakra can't reach it." replied Shino not taking his eyes from the figure in the water. Sakura for her part was doing her very best not to burst out laughing at the shear oddity of what she was seeing, but she managed it with a few steadying breaths.

"So, um what does this count as?" she asked with of note of amusement in her tone as she relaxed and gestured over to the figure that had finally managed to roll itself out of the water and was standing up with some effort. Before the other members of team eight could speak the figure, who they just noticed seemed to be about their own size had taken off running only to crash headlong into the nearest tree trunk and knock itself back onto its back once again. Even Shino had to fight to keep a smile from coming to his face upon seeing that.

"Um maybe we should help him?" suggested Yakumo as her teammates gave her a curious look prompting her to continue, "well I mean it was our net that seems to have gotten it into this situation, and for all we know there's a leaf headband behind that leach." The girl reasoned pointing over at the figure that was now sprawled on its back its arms and legs splayed out around it. Sakura and even Shino gave the brown haired girl looks that made it clear they thought she had just taken leave of her sense.

"What, look at it, I don't think it's dangerous." Spoke the girl a little defensively as she crossed her arms in front of herself. Sakura shook her head muttering something like not again while Shino just readjusted his glasses. Yakumo just turned to look over at the figure a few feet away the seemed to have sat up at the sound of their voices and was seeming moving towards them slowly with its hands outstretched trying to feel around itself.

Yakumo had always had a soft spot for things in need ever since she herself had been locked away. If not for her sensei Kurenai and the Namikazes prowess at sealing she may have remained that way for the rest of her life. It had led her to have a very protective nature towards others she saw in need, and with that in mind she rose slowly to make her way over to the creature before either Sakura or Shino could stop her.

As she stepped forward she gently placed her hand out to take hold of the creatures own outstretched black ones. The creature paused at feeling her hands slowly entwining its own around hers, and from under the large insect she heard was sounded like a happy little humming.

"It's ok," she spoke to the creature while turning to nod over at Shino to hurry over and help with the leach. Shino after a moment obliged her and hurried forward taking out his hands to take hold of the leach and pull it form the creatures face. As team eight watched the leach feel away from the things face revealing a smooth area where a mouth may have been, and two glowing purple eyes opened into perfect purple orbs of light. Team eight simply stared at the creature for a moment as it took a moment to look back and forth between them in apparent confusion.

After a moment the Seedling decided that these people were the ones that had helped it, as its eyes fell on the thing that had been attached to its face moments before. As it cast its thoughts back through its limited memories it remembered seeing its creator twirl the pale eyed one around, and the happy noises that she had made deciding to try out the same actions in hope of thanking these people.

Before Yakumo could even realize what was happening the creature, that now that she got a full look at it looked a little like Naruto had leapt forward and encircled her waist in its arms and proceeded to twirl her around humming again in a seemingly excited manner. To her credit Yakumo was able to keep calm long enough to see that the creature was not trying to hurt her and even allowed herself to giggle slightly at the little fun she had being twirled around in its arms. Shino had taken to placing the leach back on an adjacent tree and simply watched the enter action with one eyebrow quirked up in apparent confusion. Sakura was actually fighting to keep from laughing at the whole situation she saw occurring in front of her. One moment the creature had been bumbling around in apparent panic and now it was twirling her teammate around like some kind of princess in an odd dance.

After a few moments of spinning the Seedling set Yakumo down where the girl smiled whipping a few stray hairs from her face as she did so even as Sakura stepped up to place a hand on her shoulder.

"So it looks like you've made a friend there Yakumo." Chuckled Sakura as she looked the creature up and down trying to figure out where she had seen something like it before. Yakumo shot Sakura a little smirk without commenting as she straightened herself back up and taking a moment to make sure all of her equipment was still firmly attached. Shino took this moment to walk over to the creature and begin sizing it up once again before speaking in a soft tone.

"You know this think looks an awful lot like Naruto in a lot of ways." spoke the stoic youth, as Sakura and Yakumo looked back and forth between him and the creature who seemed to have become very interested in a nearby squirrel. Comprehension dawned on both Yakumo and Sakura as their eyes traced the creatures form again. It was hard to see at a glance especially considering the thing lacked a face or any color besides black and purple, but once you got past that the similarities were uncanny. However, before they could say another word to one another rustling in the forest made itself known and Team eight as well as the seedling turned as three figures entered the clearing.

Out of the woods stepped Gaara followed soon after by Temari on his left, and Kankuro on his right just a few feet behind him. Team eight froze for a moment as the redhead turned his teal eyes around at them slowly licking his lips slightly as he did so. From inside the boys head a dark voice spoke up.

"**You see Gaara I told you I felt his presence here, look there the black figure is obviously of him..go and make him suffer for questioning your mother's love…make him pay in blood." **spoke Shukaku in a eerie voice as he goaded Gaara onward. The redhead's eyes flashed dangerously as these words echoed in his mind as he looked around at the group before him.

Temari seeing her younger brother's look suppressed a small shiver praying that he did not lose control and decide that she would make a good target next. In the meantime Kankuro, whether out of pity for the leaf shinobi or simply a desire to not see more bloodshed spoke up.

"Gaara we don't need to bother with these guys, I mean we already have both scrolls we should just head to the tower now." Kankuro tried to reason taking a small step forward to look over at Gaara clear fear in both his tone and movements as he did so. Gaara turned his maddening teal eyes back on Kankuro for a moment before speaking.

"Try to order me again, and mother will have your blood next." Gaara said softly with a tone that dared his brother to speak out again. Kankuro shrived slightly before taking a step back from the boy and shutting his mouth. Temari looked from across at the members of team eight with a note of pity in her eyes as she didn't see them lasting much longer. Soon they would join those genin from rain, and all those countless others that Gaara's sand had consumed over the years. Her gazed sifted momentarily as she noticed for the first time the black creature that seemed to be looking at them with wide purple eyes, not seeming to comprehend what was occurring. Temari could not help but stare at the strange black creature even as it stared back at her tilting its head slightly as it did so.

While this was happening team eight were looking between one another and the enemy team trying to size up what they should do next. Sakura had taken a position in front of Yakumo who had withdrawn another index hard, while Shino had allowed his sleeves to fall over his hands and a slight buzzing told them that he was ready to unleash a wave of insects at any moment. However, before any of them could signal to the others, or even make a plan the creature had stepped in front of them with a light humming.

The seedling may not have been very old, or smart but one thing its unusual creation had granted it was the ability to feel chakra and intent much like the smaller pollens, and the waves of killing intent coming off of the redheaded boy were almost tangible. After seeing where they were directed the Seedling had taken it upon itself to stand between his newest friends and the dangerous boy whose teal eyes seem to glow with excitement as they fell upon its own form.

Kankuro saw the creature move, and could not help but look at it confused.

_Huh what the heck is that thing, is it some kind of clone, or puppet, and it seems to be shielding the team there, does Konoha even have a puppet squad, damn this is not the kind of thing I wanted to get mixed up in damn Gaara and his bloodlust. _Thought the puppeteer from sand as he saw Gaara's face contort into a wicked little smile as the cork from his gourd shot out with a soft popping noise. A split second later a virtual tidal wave of sand shot forwards towards the Seedlings as well as the members of team eight.

The members of team eight were almost too late to jump back just as the wave crashed over the area in front of them. With a cry Yakumo saw that the creature hadn't moved and had been engulfed by the sand that even then compacted around it forming a strange lumpy form in the sand with a single bright purple eye showing. Gaara smiled wickedly as he saw this before slowly raising a half closed hand in front of him.

"We have to help!" shouted Yakumo trying to think of a way to get the creature out of its sand prison while pulling up her card and channeling chakra into it. Sakura seeing this pulled out several kunai as well preparing to launch them in support. Shino for his part allowed two clouds of insects to shoot out of his coat as well. Before Gaara could close his hand his attention was forced sideways as he saw what looked like a large venus flytrap materialized suddenly from a nearby bush and shot forward its jaws open wide. Temari was about to draw her fan when a salvo of kunai caused her to bring it up in her own defense even as she was forced to leap back from the attacking plant. Kankuro was also forced to leap back as a ball of insects, about the size of a basketball, shot towards him with a loud buzzing sound.

As the members of the sand team watched the plant's mouth shot forward clamping down around Gaara's form and shooting up into the air, apparently satisfied with its prize caught in its jaws. For a second team eight allowed itself to breath thinking they had at least taken care of one of the threats as they saw the sand around the black creature fall to the ground soft, revealing the confused looking creature that had landed on its butt sit up and looking around. But their relief was short lived, as they saw the giant plants mouth contort and bulge before blowing apart in a shower of sand and bits of green that splatted to the forest floor revealing the form of Gaara standing on a cloud of sand with his arms crossed and his eyes glaring daggers at those below him.

"Oh crap!" called Yakumo seeing how easily he had escaped from her genjutsu, and worse how he didn't seem to have even a single scratch on him from the attack. Sakura and Shino also looked worried as they eyed one another in concern. Sakura spoke up a moment later.

"We need to get out of here." she called casting a quick look over at her team who inclined their heads a little at her words before looking back just in time to see three tendrils of sand shoot out towards them again. Their momentary hesitation was all that the tendrils needed and in a moment the three found themselves bound as Gaara's sand lowered him to the ground and he smiled dangerously around at them. A nasty shiver ran down the group's backs as they looked into those cold teal eyes, and for a moment they all felt that this may indeed be the end for them.

That was until a long black chain shot up from out of the corner of their eyes tearing its way through the sand tendrils linking them to Gaara allowing the sand to fall from them in great clumps. Their faces jerked over to see an odd sight before them. The creature that they had saved had sprouted what looked like five crude black chains that were waving back and forth gently, as hit turned its purple eyes glaring over at Gaara with and angry little hum in its voice that could have been mistaken for a growl. As team eight steadied themselves the black creature charged forward at Gaara its black chains flying ahead of it in a deadly swarm even at it charged forward. Without a moment of hesitation Temari swept her fan forward sending out a cycle of air towards the attacking black figure. But as the blades of wind impacted the creature the dispersed harmlessly not even slowing it down. Then next moment Gaara's sand had hardened into a protective half dome of sand that the chains crashed into cracking it, but not being able to pierce through. However, a moment later the Seedling itself impacted the dome forcing the sand to bow in enough for the actual sand to pound up against the redhead with a blow like that of a sledgehammer, forcing him back a few feet. As the redhead stumbled back team eight saw their chance and took to the tree's Yakumo calling down as they leapt.

"Hey whatever you are we need to get out of here hurry" she called waving an arm at the creature below who turned eyes upon her for a second before nodding and racing off after them. Team eight and the Seedling in tow shot off into the forest before the sand team could recover. After what seemed like a solid hour of running they finally stopped turning sweaty and panting faces to one another even as they allowed small smiles to show on their lips.

"L-looks like we lost them." Breathed out Sakura between breaths as she looked around at her team, who nodded back to her breathing heavily themselves. After a moment Yakumo looked around before speaking up.

"Hey were did that thing go?" she asked causing the rest of team eight to look around as well searching for the creature in question. After a moment they were forced to conclude that they had somehow lost it in the forest. Yakumo let out a small groan at that, but otherwise seemed ok. Sakura seeing this gave the girl a small comforting smile.

"Hey that thing is probably just fine, I mean it fought that one guy easily enough it will be just fine, let's just worry about getting to the tower for now." the pink haired girl said as Yakumo and Shino looked at her for a moment. A little while later team eight headed off towards the tower, anxious to have this exam over with.

In another part of the forest a redheaded girl was looking down at the still forms of her blond sister, and her black haired teammate with concern evident on her face.

"**It will be ok Minami-chan they just need to rest, and Seed-kun is watching out for danger so you should rest to, that second blast from that white guy really messed up your control, and I'm still not able to give you enough of my chakra to heal all of your wounds." **Spoke Kyu in a soft voice trying to reassure his redheaded host. Minami smiled a little bit at the fox's words before speaking.

"Thanks Kyu, but I'm ok, if I need a big fluff ball like you to look after me I'll never live it down." she chuckled back as Kyu waved his tails in a small happy movement.

"**Darn right I'm fluffy, my Kaasan said I'm the fluffiest thing in the world!" **called the fox with a clear note of pride in his voice, which caused the redhead to giggle slightly as she turned her gaze to look out of the hollowed roots she was using as shelter. Outside of her hiding spot sat the Seedling, or Seed-kun as she had gotten to referring to it as. The black figure sat Indian style before the door swaying back and forth softly humming happily as if it wasn't sitting in one of the most dangerous places on the planet. To it, it could have been its own backyard for all the care it seemed to give.

As Minami looked at it she couldn't help but smile as she saw the creatures apparent happiness…how long had it been since she had been able to be that happy herself.

_How long has it been since anyone in our family was that happy? _Wondered Minami looking away from the Seedling. As far back as she could remember she and Naruko had always been training with Minato and Jiraiya. Always pushing themselves, Naruko even more than her. She took a moment to lean down to run a hand through her sister's hair gently remembering those times.

-flashback-

A seven year old Minami and Naruko lay in the grass of the training field both breathing heavily but happily as they looked around the field at the shadow clones of themselves that were cheering in apparent celebration. Minato and Kushina were there as well smiling over at the girls with apparent happiness of their own…and Mito and Naruto were there two.

The small redheads two year old hair done up on two small pigtails that stuck out of opposite sides of her head, while her face had a shining smile upon it as she excitedly waved her arms around at all of the clones squealing in joy. Above her Naruto was also smiling around at the clones, a look that mixed both happiness, and sadness, but Minami hadn't noticed. A while later found the family heading back home with Mito perched on Kushina's shoulder and Minato leading the way while Naruto stood a little off to the side watching them go. Naruko had decided to do just a bit more training before heading out. and soon Naruto had headed out himself leaving just the two sisters in the clearing. Minami watched as Naruko proceeded to summon a group of shadow clones before falling into a stance with them and going through the motions of the latest set of stances that Jiraiya had shown them for the toad style. As Minami watched Naruko would slam to a halt every time she hit a stance even a little off, before silently cursing and starting again. Seconds turned to minutes, and soon Minami stood watching a panting Naruko fall to one knee as the clones around her began to pop, a small pained smile upon her face. Minami walked up to her sister who was now lying back on the ground a small exhausted smile on her face as she did so.

"Honestly sis why do you always have to be like this," chuckled Minami as she fell to a sitting position beside her sister even as Naruko laid back in front of her with a breathless groan.

"And I've told you a hundred times that I'm going to get strong enough to protect everyone, you, Niisan, Tousan, Kaasan, and our newest imouto." smiled back a breathless Naruko smiling up at the fading light of the Konoha sky. Minami shook her head lightly as this before leaning over slightly to pat her sister gently on her head. Naruko playfully swatted her sister's hand away from her before continuing.

"Hey stop that, I will be strong enough then all of us can be happy here just like we are now." smiled the blonde girl as she moved to sit up. Minami could not help but smile as well as she helped pull her sister to her feet, and head back home. There everyone would be ready to greet them with smiles on their faces….a world of happiness they loved being a part of.

-flashback end-

As the images of that time faded form her mind Minami gave a small sad smile as she continued to brush her hand absentmindedly through her sister hair. Those times hadn't lasted long, soon they had started to find themselves at odds with Naruto, and she and Naruko had begun to spend less and less time smiling with the whole family, and instead training with the parents, and godparents. Soon it was odd for them to even be together as a family.

_Maybe we haven't even been a family since then…oh Naruko how did we end up like this all we wanted was to protect our family…how did we manage to mess it up so bad? _Thought the redheaded girl as she closed her eyes slightly allowing a single tear to fall from her scarlet eyes, and onto her sister's whiskered cheek.

A second later, however the redhead dove forward to shelter her two teammate's forms as a thunderous crash rocked the tree that was acting as their shelter. Bits of wood and dirt sprinkled down over her bouncing off as a clear voice called out to her form across the clearing.

"Ok you in there come on out your little clone scarecrow isn't scaring us." called a voice that seemed to be slightly muffled in its delivery. As Minami leaned up from the impact she spied through the trees entrance a group of three figures who stood just a few feet away from her hiding spot. Three figures stood there wearing a strange assortment of clothing. With a shiver Minami recognized them as the members of the sound village. The first figure a bandaged individual wearing a heavy grass cape with one eye showing had been the one to speak. Beside him stood a boy with gravity defying black hair, and a vile little smirk playing across his lips and to his other side stood a girl with her black hair cascading all the way down to her feet. The wrapped up one called out again

"Come on out and hand over Sasuke to us, and we may even let you walk away from this little girl." He called in a mocking voice once again. Minami gritted her teeth wondering what if anything she could do to help protect her team, her reserves were all but shot, her connection to Kyuubi all but sealed, and even worse she had lost her father's kunai while in the battle with that pale bastard. She was well and truly out of options. Just when she was at her wits end she heard a familiar humming and turned to see the seedling who had been sitting in the door way pull itself from a pile of dirt a little to her left. It seemed whatever the initial attack that the sound trio had launched had flung him back into the underside of the tree, and not actually harmed it. Looking over she smiled slightly seeing the seedling looking at her confused. Suddenly an idea shot into her head, and a wicked smile that would have scared off her team if they hadn't been unconscious.

Outside the tree the sound trio were looking at the entrance while waiting.

"Hey Dosu, what are they saying in there?" asked and annoyed Zaku looking over at his teammate with a clear amount of annoyance in his voice. Kin smacked herself slightly wondering why she was cursed with having such an annoying person as her teammate. Dosu was thinking much along the same lines as his teammate at about that time.

"Shut up Zaku I'd tell you if you would shut your trap." shot Dosu over to his teammate with a disgusted little glare at him before going back to his listening. What he was hearing was a bit confusing, however, and he was only able to catch the last few words which he muttered under his breath. Kin who was listening in couldn't help but ask what he heard.

"What?" she asked looking over at her teammate who turned to face her.

"It doesn't make any since all I heard was "get them"." replied Dosu even as a crash erupted from the bottom of the tree drawing all three of their gazes. What they saw was the same black figures that they had thought was some kind of sensory clone, or some kind of monitor. What they saw below them now wasn't any simple clone. As they watched the black creature turned its purple eyes upon them and a low hum escaped its face.

"What the fuck I thought you said that was a clone!" shouted Zaku as the Seedling looked over towards his teammates with a scowl. Kin just glared down at the black creature pulling out handfuls of senbon as she did. Dosu for his part just pulled back his cape revealing his sound gauntlet and glaring down with one eye towards the creature.

The Seedling was scanning its eyes back and forth between the three allowing its limited experience to try and help it prepare itself for the situation at hand… Unfortunately this particular seedling had been spending the majority of his time acting as a plaything for Mito and Hanabi so its expertise in these areas was limited at best. However, spending time with the two had given it one major advantage.

Before the sound trio could make their move they stared in odd fascination as five perfectly formed chains formed out of the seedlings back all clinking and moving in unison as though they each had a mind of their own. At the trio watched two of the chains flew out in straight lines on either side of their team burying themselves deep into the trees on either side of them. As the sound trio looked to either side, they almost missed at the chains yanked the Seedling forward towards them. Dosu only noticed it at the last second calling to his team in a panic.

"GET DOWN!" he shouted ducking down along with the others just in time as the Seedling came hurtling over their heads. The Seedling was carried a few yards further on before its two chains released themselves from the trees they had been embedded in allowing him to flip over and land sideways on a tree a few yards above the trio looking down at them even as its chains continued to wave ominously. Without missing a beat Zaku raised both his hands palms up towards the figure above with a wicked smile playing across his face.

"Nice try you bastard but eat THIS!" he shouted as two concussive blasts of chakra laced balls of air shot out towards the Seedling. The Seedling had only just landed and couldn't register the attack in time to do more than take it full in the face. Which may have mattered if the blasts hadn't simply dispersed upon impact causing the fierce gale to fall out in a calm little breeze. Zaku's face almost didn't have time to fade before the Seedling shot off from the tree and was flying down at the three like some kind of large spider. Luckily for him Dosu kept his wits about him long enough to grab the scruff of Zaku's neck before pulling him back with enough force to have him fly back a few feet through the air just before the Seedling plowed into the ground with force of a cannon blast. Dosu not missing a beat leapt forward swiping his sound gauntlet forward charged with enough chakra to make the creatures head explode. As the Seeding's eyes turned up to face forwards the gauntleted fist of Duos smashed into him with enough force to crack the steel gauntlets. There was a blast of sound ear bleeding noise and what felt like a low grad explosive tag and Dosu and the Seeding found themselves flying back through the air in opposite directions.

Dosu skidded to a halt landing awkwardly as Kin jumped over beside him a trickle of blood coming from where several bits of the tree had embedded themselves in his flesh. His female partner bent down for a moment looking him over before speaking her voice half panicked.

"What the hell happened, what is that thing?" Kin asked looking from Dosu to the Seedling who was slowly getting up from the tree it had been thrown into. Dosu took a moment to shake his head before pulling down some of his bandages so that he could spit out a glob of blood.

"The damn thing somehow stopped my sound blast for targeting it," here he spat out another glob of blood before pulling up his bandages, "The sound just blew out in every direction, I caught some of the backlash." he finished pushing himself to his feet as he looked over to where Zaku had just made it to his feet as well.

"Fuck first Zaku's cannons now your sound what the hell is this thing made of!" shouted Kin as she filled both her hands with senbon and launched them towards the creature with a cry of rage. To her and the rest of the sound Shinobi's surprise the creature became peppered with her senbon and staggered back slightly. Without missing a beat the other two sound shinobi pulled out Kunai and Shuriken of their own, and soon the three were hurling everything they had downrange at the creature. Hit after hit buried themselves into the Seedling as the hits continued to be forced backwards by the onslaught of weapons plunging themselves into it. Finally the onslaught paused at Kin allowed the final needle to fly from her fingers, leaving all three sound shinobi slightly out of breath, and more than a little panicked at the image in front of them.

The seeding was still on its feet, one of its arms dangling from its shoulder weighted down by the myriad of weapons sticking out of it. It's legs too seemed to be little more than scraps, and as it struggled to move both of them collapsed beneath it as it swung its only free arm forward to keep itself from falling all the way forward. Even then the Seedling continued to look forward at its attackers, with a small humming growl.

"What the hell do you have to do to kill this thing?" called Zaku his breath a little haggard as he looked at his teammates. Dosu only shook his head slightly at the sight before him, he had seen some dangerous things from Orochimaru's labs but this thing was quickly working its way up his list of nightmares. Kin was the only one of the three to keep her wits about her long enough to start weaving a quick set of seals.

Minami who had just managed to clear out the front of the burrow she had been hiding her team in looked over she saw the horrible state that the seedling was in, as well as the sound kunoichi land her hand on a final seal. As she watched Seed-kun seemed to somehow lose sight of its surroundings and start looking back and forth as if it could no longer see anything in the clearing.

With a satisfied smirk Kin lowered her arms and let out a low breath. "It's ok I trapped it in a genjutsu so it won't be a problem anymore," she breathed out showing a bitter little smile to her team as she spoke. Good thing I hit it with so many bell senbon, hell I'd be surprised if anyone could focus with that many sound waves hitting them, its mind is probably collapsing in on itself from the strain." she finished with a chuckle as the three shakily made their way to their feet, and turned to see Minami staring at them.

"Well it looks like your guard dog is gone now little girl." mocked Zaku cruelly as he gave Minami a fierce smirk. Minami for her part just gritted her teeth before pulling out her two silvery star blades, and with a flick of her wrist caused them to start spinning becoming two disks of spinning steel, but it was a bluff, Minami had almost no strength left in her, and real panic was setting in on her. Just as she was about to start getting truly desperate, a vile feeling bust of chakra came from behind her causing both her and the trio to turn as Sasuke stepped forward with dark purple energy oozing out of him as he stepped up to stand beside Minami his fully developed Sharingan spinning wildly in his eyes as he looked around at those gathered.

A pulse of Sasuke's chakra flooded across the clearing, and even flowed over where the seedling lay forcing the disruptive sound waves to halt their work. From where the seedling sat a small humming growl came out of its body once again stronger that those previous as its purple eyes flashed dangerously over at the pulsing figure. This chakra was evil, by its very nature it was something the Seedling knew… and despite itself it felt a desire to destroy it, with every fiber of its being. With a great effort the Seedling pushed itself unsteadily to its mangled feet, even as Sasuke charged forwards into the sound trio flinging them effortlessly around the clearing.

Sasuke had just torn Zaku's arms from their sockets as the Seedling had shakily made its way to its feet, and looked his way. Minami was in a state of almost shock at Sasuke's actions. Sure knew that such violence was a part of their work, but something about seeing Sasuke seem so happy with his actions made her stomach twist uncomfortably. She had to stop him, something was clearly wrong with him, and with that driving thought she raced over to Sasuke to try and stop him before he went any further.

"Sasuke that's enough." She half pleaded half shouted as she ran to her teammate, but even as she neared him she saw the madness in his swirling eyes as he turned to face her, his mouth moving in a wicked little smile as he did so.

"Minami perfect, these weaklings aren't enough, fight me, test me, come on, come at me." Sasuke called in voice caught between joy and madness, as he turned to face his teammate even as she halted in her tracked looking at him as though he was mad.

"W-what Sasuke this isn't the time for this you need to stop, something's wrong with you." Minami tried to reason with the maddened Uchiha. Sasuke however, was having none of it pulling out a kunai and throwing it past the girls face so that it drew a small trickle of blood from her check as it passed. Minami winced slightly at the hit before feeling the wet stickiness of her own blood as it dripped down her face.

_Shit something really is wrong with him, he isn't acting rationally, that snake bastard must have done something to him. _thought Minami as she looked at the half crazed boy standing before her. As she took a cautious step back she noticed a flicker of movement off to her side where the Seedling had staggered to its feet, its wounds not healing.

The Seedling was on its last legs as it stood there, healing from the battle with Kabuto, Orochimaru, and now this most recent battle without time to rest itself with Naruto had dropped its reserves down to just about nothing. It didn't even have the power left to heal its arm that dangled by a strand from its shoulder still squired by dozens of weapons. None the less some primal force seemed to drive the creature forward towards Sasuke dragging itself shakily from one foot to the other as it went.

Minami looked over a stab of sadness and guilt at seen the state of the Seedling. It had done all of this, been hurt so defending her and her sister… sacrificing itself for them without thinking of itself at all…just like Naruto had done all his life. Tears started to fall down the redheads face some of the water mixing with the blood from her check and dropping crimson tears upon the forest floor.

_No…no more please you've done enough… please kami no more. _Minami thought her voice so weak that only her thoughts could cast themselves forward begging pleading for the reality of what she was seeing to stop.

But it didn't Sasuke's head slowly turned to see the slowly approaching Seedling an annoyed little look crossing his face as his eyes fell upon it. Whether he was too far gone to notice the appearance of the Seedling or that his battle lust had simply overridden his common since, whatever the reason he didn't question the creature's presence, and simply turned to face it flying through a series of hand signs as he did so. Seeing this Minami lurched forward to try and place herself between the two just managing it as a bout of flame escaped the Uchiha's lips and flying towards the girl.

Minami saw the flames coming, and closed her eyes tight as she felt the flame approach her, its warmth tickling her face as it closed in. But something else was there as well, another feeling something around her stomach. Without warning she felt a pulling sensation and her eyes flew open as she found her waist wrapped in a black chain that that pulled her out of the path of the flam. As she turned her eyes she found the wide eyes of the Seedling looking at her even as the flames rushed over him. The chain holding her faltered slightly as the flame continued to poor of the creature, and its form seemed to buckle under the pressure from the unending flames. Even as she watched she could see that the flame was dispersing as it hit the seedling, but the continued torrent of the flame kept the heat and flame fresh on the Seedlings form.

Even as she cried out she saw its damaged arm fall to the forest floor and slowly become swallowed by the flame even as the chain holding her also faltered dropping her to the ground as it did so. Through watery eyes she saw the Seedling slowly begin to crumble away as more and more flame covered it, till finally Sasuke halted his attack, and the flame died away from the seedling.

As the flame died away and the Seedling came back into view Minami almost cried out in sadness as she saw it. Both its arms had been burned away, even as bits of black seemed to break away like ash from the creature as it looked over at the Uchiha. The burnt ends of chains dangled weakly from its back were they had broken in an effort to get Minami clear of the blast. Even as the two members of team seven watched the seedling began to crack as bits of its face, and body fell to the forest floor and dissipated leaving large gouges across its form as it did so. Despite this and to both of their shock the Seedling managed to rise shakily to its feet, both its legs little more than mutilated lumps that were cracking and chipping away even as they watched. With a last bit of effort the Seedling forced itself to crouch slightly facing Sasuke before pushing everything it had left into a final shot forward towards the Uchiha who had begun going through seals once again.

The Uchiha was to late however, and before he could finish his final seal the Seedling had slammed its head straight into the Uchiha's face balling the two over to the forest floor. As the hit landed the menacing chakra from Sasuke seemed to explode from him even as the markings around his body proceeded to recede back into his neck. Minami forced herself to her feet and ran to the side of the pair even as the Seedling rolled off of the now unconscious Uchiha as its body continued to crumble, one of its legs cracking and blowing away as it did so. Just as Minami reached the spot the Seedling turned its remaining purple eye to her and let out a weak hum towards her. Minami dropped to her knees beside the Seedling feeling a stab guilt, sadness and everything else that came with the feeling of helplessness when someone sees something they have not power to stop. Tears still in her eyes she spoke softly to the Seedling even as the cracks reached its final eyes and the light started to dim.

"I'm sorry Seed-kun, oh kami I'm sorry." she said between tears as she looked down at the Seedling even as fresh tears began to form it her eyes. Before she could say more the seedling extended the last bit of chain it had left that was crumbling even as it did so to gently wipe away one of her tears with a soft hum that had the redhead speechless. As the chain fell the cracking finally reached the eye and the Seedlings form completely crumbled away leaving only a black orb where the creatures head had been, black and unmoving, with a faint pulse of purple energy coming off of it.

"**Minamai hurry put your hand on Seed-kun!" **called Kyu inside the girls head before she could collapse. Minami shook her head slightly before asking in a voice exhausted from her experiences.

"W-what?" she spoke the sadness and weakness clear in her voice.

"**I said hurry and put your hand on Seed-kun I may be able to give it some of my chakra to help save it before it's gone!" **shouted Kyu. Minami paused only for a moment taking in what the fox had said before she thrust her hand onto the orb ignoring the slight feeling of weakness that came with contact with the orb.

"DO IT!" she almost screamed as her hands meet the orb. She had failed to protect her team, she had failed to keep her family from falling apart around her, and she had failed to help the creature before her, but she would be damned if she was going to lose anymore. As her hands hit the orb a sudden pulse went through her and a blast of Kyu's chakra shot its way unabated through her arms and down into the orb. As she watched the orb pulsing seemed to grow a bit stronger and flickers of red could now be seen in the purple light it was given off. After what seemed like an eternity, she let her hands fall, and let out a tired breath.

"D-did it work?" she asked panting slightly as she did so. Kyu was silent for a moment as well its breath coming out in small gasps as it did so before finally speaking.

"**H-hai I think so, Seed-kun should be ok for now, but he needs to get back to Naruto and Kaasan so he can be fixed." **replied Kyu. Minami let out a soft happy breath as she looked around the clearing and noticed for the first time that the Sound trio had seemed to have go while the getting was good. So she stood after a moment taking a look around before picking up the orb gently and taking it back into the tree to place in her pack before returning to check on Sasuke.

Meanwhile in another part of the forest Naruto and the rest of team eight were helping a Seedling pull what looked like the entire contents of Konoha's armory out of itself.

"Ya you were right there was no way the Seedlings were going to get into trouble." Joked Kiba as he pulled a mace out of the back of the Seedling with a grunt of effort. Naruto just gave him a tired look as he pulled out what seemed like the hundredth kunai from the Seedling.

"Always looking at the negative Kiba, look at it this way, we won't be short on weapons." Replied Naruto halfheartedly as Hinata suppressed a giggle as she sat with a seedling of her own scanning the area with her Byakugan keeping a watch out for anything.

"So what number does this make anyway, we need to get to the tower sometime today." asked Kiba as he rose stretching his back slightly as the seeding stood as well, helping to pull out the last few weapons. A moment later the seedling had collapsed into a Seed orb and flown back to situate itself on Naruto's coat, as the blond rose to.

"This guy makes five, but we are still mission one out there somewhere." He replied with a small note of concern in his voice. True a Seedling was nothing to shake a stick at but they weren't invincible, and if by some bad luck one did fall in battle and he wasn't there to retrieve it he could kiss a year's work goodbye, and kami help him explaining to Mito that one of her playmates wasn't going to be around. The blond suppressed a small shiver at the thought as Hinata stood as well walking over as the seedling that had been with her retreated into Naruto's coat as well.

"Still Naruto, Kiba makes a point, we do need to get to the tower, and if we don't hurry we might not make it on time." She spoke softly looking over at Naruto with a soft smile. Naruto turned to face her before letting out a breath and relaxing.

"Ya I guess you're right, lets head out for now, with any luck we'll find it on the way, and worse case I'll just keep the pollen net up to find it after we finish this part of the exam. " finished the blonde as the team set off towards the tower.

A few hours later found them standing before the towers base facing two open scrolls that were smoking slightly. The next second there was a small burst of smoke and Kushina steeped out to them smiling around at the three her red hair waving behind her.

"Well done team, you've passed the second exam." She said beaming around at them all. Team eleven all looked at one another smiling as they did so, but before they could do more than give each other a quick smile a commotion from the entryway into the tower drew their eyes.

As they turned they saw the haggard members of team seven entering into the room, all sporting the clear signs of battle and exhaustion. As Naruto looked over he felt a familiar, if not somewhat altered pulse form over by Minami that seemed to be coming from her pack. As his purple eyes meet her red ones she gave an almost impossible to notice nod of her head. From inside Naruto's head he heard a small sound of Juubi giggling.

_What's so funny Juubi, and why am I getting a weird vibe from Minami? _Asked Naruto trying to figure out what he seemed to be missing. There was a short pause where Juubi seemed to be collecting herself before she spoke again, her voice unmistakable in a tone of happiness.

"**Oh I can't wait to see what my little Kyu-kun did, something tells me you just got Mito and Hanabi a new present." **Giggled the Juubi leaving Naruto to wonder what on earth she could be talking about.

**And end…wow that chapter got out of hand fast, I have to say fight scenes are really easy to get writing once you get the hang of them. Ok to head off any complaints let me answer a few questions I am sure people will bring up. First yes the seedlings are basically immune to chakra, and yes they can leap through a fireball without much effort. But there is a difference between shirking off a small compact burst of fire that dissipates quickly enough to not leave much heat, and getting hit with a flamethrower. True it disperses but the heat doesn't as fast as it continues to be replaced. Second Yes Kushina has a special type of chakra that Orochimaru can't duplicate. He can however, figure out how it works, and make an imitation of sorts. Finally yes Seedlings are powerful, but they aren't invincible, just hard to put down and fight. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks again for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows that make this story continue. Also small point I will be starting class soon on top of the job I work, so my pace for chapters will slow a bit, I will try and keep up the pace but other things may slow that down. Till next time Songbird out.**


	15. Chapter 14

**\+ I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Contest is coming to an end very soon, so feel free to keep guessing on the summoning jutsu that Naruto will use in the exams. Remember Toad, Snake, and Slug are already off the table, and it has been hinted at from the very first chapter, and little things are placed throughout the story foreshadowing it. Good luck.

Summoning technique coming up fast it won't be but a few more chapters before it's here so guess away there have been two so far to get it.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them

Oh small note that I'm really excited about I found a really great artist on Deviant Art named Zil-Zeki who is working on a personal cover for this story. The work is progressing well and I'm really excited to put it up on this site as soon as possible. If you have some time take the link from my page to go and see her site, she does great work for a fair price so show some support for her work. Thank you and enjoy the story.

Oh and those who are wondering about the invasion I have given it a lot of thought, as well as planning rest assured that Orochimaru will not be going into it without one heck of a plan. This guy is a bond villain, and one thing they do is plan it out to the ninth degree. Also there is a small kind of evil point, but remember that Orochimaru cares nothing for the sand and sound forces at play, if they all died horrible painful deaths to have him give the leaf a black eye he would do it with a smile. So don't think of him as a military commander, he is willing to burn an orphanage if it gave him a second to get in a cheap shot while someone was distracted. So just trust that the snake will be a snake.

Also small note I'd like to add here, some people have voiced their confusion on how a seedling was so damaged. Keep in mind that their bodies are basically completely made of chakra. True justus don't really work on them but if two forces meet to cancel each other out the cost is there. Fire enough things at a seedling and they can be brought down, it will just take a lot more chakra to wear it down than most ninja will have to through at them. However, battle after battle, on top of constant activation does mount up to a point. The most effective method as show is weapons or physical combat, as those bypass the chakra shielding. Now with that said the little buggers aren't fun to get in close with either, but it is possible. Also I don't know if anyone has kept the time in mind but you may like to know that six is very soon going to become seven… well enough from me enjoy the next chapter.

**Chapter 14**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-The way the chips fall-**

As they turned they saw the haggard members of team seven entering into the room, all sporting the clear signs of battle and exhaustion. As Naruto looked over he felt a familiar, if not somewhat altered pulse from over by Minami that seemed to be coming from her pack. As his purple eyes meet her red ones she gave an almost impossible to notice nod of her head. From inside Naruto's head he heard a small sound of Juubi giggling.

_What's so funny Juubi, and why am I getting a weird vibe from Minami? _Asked Naruto trying to figure out what he seemed to be missing. There was a short pause where Juubi seemed to be collecting herself before she spoke again, her voice unmistakable in a tone of happiness.

"**Oh I can't wait to see what my little Kyu-kun did, something tells me you just got Mito and Hanabi a new present." **Giggled the Juubi leaving Naruto to wonder what on earth she could be talking about. However, before the blond could do more than look confused at the situation Naruko stepped forward pulling out her set of heaven and earth scrolls with an exhausted look on her face as her blue eyes meet her mother's violet ones.

"Kaasan, we need to talk to Tousan now something big happened in the forest." spoke Naruko with a dead serious tone of voice that immediately caught everyone attention. Team eleven gave each other a worried little look as they heard her words. True they hadn't been sure as to Kabuto's actions, except they seemed to target Sasuke, but they had figured that they had at least scared him and his team off. With a small shiver they realized that the grass ninja that Kabuto had been talking to may well have been more dangerous than they had first expected, but now was not the time for worrying about such things as Kushina spoke up.

"Ok then Naruko, but why don't you just use his kunai to get him here if it's important?" Kushina asked casting a curious look around at her two daughters as she did so. Minami and Naruko looked down for a moment before Minami answered.

"W-we lost them in the forest when we were attacked, please Kaasan we need to tell Tousan about what happened as soon as possible." said the redhead a slight inflection to her tone that almost made it sound like pleading. Kushina was slightly taken aback at this. While her girls weren't brats they usually had a kind of pride in their voices that made it clear that while they may accept help, they were by no means dependent on it. Now however, both girls sounded…well almost broken, as though all of their pride had literally been beaten out of them. Kushina did not hesitate to step forward to the two and put a hand on each of their faces raising them to look her clearly in the eyes. Both girls looked up at their Kaasan with a small defeated look in Minami's eyes, and a harsher and self-loathing look in Naruko's. After what seemed like a long moment Kushina spoke.

"Girls what happened to you?" asked Kushina a clear amount of worry in her tone as she did so. Naruko closed her eyes and with an effort looked away from her mother biting back tears as she she did so. All her life the little blond had fought and trained, and sacrificed so that she could be strong enough to be the hero she believed herself destined to be. But back in that dark forest when she had stood before Orochimaru, she had found herself helpless to do more than watch as he took her team and her sister apart. That reality was destroying the girl, her world was shattering under her, and it took all of her effort to keep herself from simply collapsing into her Kaasan's arms and crying to her to help make this pain go away. Only with a great effort had she managed to keep from crying in front of her team, and team eleven.

Minami in the meantime was also feeling shame and guilt for her part in the defeat, and the cost that Seed-kun had paid to protect her and her team. She however, was able to keep herself composed enough to look back as Kushina and speak out a few soft words.

"Please Kaasan, not here…. please." The redhead practically begged looking up at Kushina whose face had knotted itself into a twisted look of pain as she looked down at her suffering daughters. Kushina took a moment, before she gave the two a small nod and turned to face her team while reaching into her pack.

"Team I need to get team seven to the hokage for now, I'll have to put off our time for a while, please head up to the tower, and get some rest." She said as she pulled out a familiar tri pronged kunai. Unknown to Kushina Naruto, and by extension team eleven had been able to hear the whispered conversation thanks to Minami unknowingly leaving her pollen connection open. Giving each other a quick look they nodded before turning to face Kushina who had just thrown the Kunai down a few feet to her left allowing a pulse of chakra to play its way through the seal on the kunai alerting Minato to its activation. Before the bright yellow flash could herald Minato's arrival Naruto spoke up in a calm voice.

"Kaasan, I believe that team eleven has some information that may pertain to what team seven is going to be reporting on, and we would like to also report to the Hokage if we could." Spoke the blonde boy as Kushina and team seven looked over at the members of team eleven with some confusion playing across their faces. After a second Sasuke spoke up, a note of annoyance present in his voice as he did so.

"Really, I can't see your team having anything to offer on the subject." Sasuke stated in a tone that carried a note of accusation with it. Minami shot him a dark little look while Kushina looked over at her team a small look of confusion on her face. Naruko, however, still being a mess of emotions latched onto something solid, if not negative, and turned her face to look over at Naruto harshly.

"Naruto this isn't time for one of your stupid games, something big is happening here, and Tousan doesn't need to waste his time cleaning up after you right now!" shot Naruko at her brother, in a broken tone, that only showed how little reason she was currently in possession of. This fact was not lost on the boy as he looked over at his sister with a sad little smile on his face. True he may not carry almost any love for the girl, but still she was almost having a fit thanks to what had occurred in the forest, she could hardly be counted upon to remain polite and rational. So with a small effort the boy allowed the anger that had risen up at her comment to fade before he responded calmly.

"Naruko this is no game, if I am correct then we both ran into a snake out in that forest, and the hokage will want to have all the information he can have on the subject," stated the blonde in voice completely devoid of anger, or happiness; "and if he is worth being the fourth hokage, then he can afford to waste some time with me…for once." Finished the blonde in a whisper that only Hinata picked up on.

Naruko looked as though she had just been hit by a slap to the face. Her mind was whirring as she heard Naruto speak the word "snake" and with a small gut retching moment an unfamiliar fear rose in her. One she had not felt for a long time. There for just a moment she had felt a horrible fear that Naruto…her Niisan had come across Orochimaru in the forest…and that she hadn't been there to protect him. With that came a fresh wave of self-loathing, what was the good of her if she couldn't even keep her family safe…what was the point of anything.

Minami simply nodded softly to herself assuming that Naruto and his Seedling had somehow been in communication. Kushina on the other hand looked confused, but before she could speak up to question what was happening a bright flash of yellow light appeared a few feet away from the group where the kunai had been laying a moment before. Now standing there was Minato, with a curious look on his face as he scanned the surroundings taking note of team seven and eleven as well as Kushina. His eyes flicked between the defeated looks on the girls faces for a moment, as a stab of worry entered his mind as he thought back to the prophecy, and only worsened as he saw the defeated looking state they were in. His eyes also flashed over to Kushina who was giving him a grave look that told him that whatever was happening it could not be good. For just a moment his eyes flicked over team eleven, pausing for a second on his son's eyes that looked over at him with a slightly bored expression. This caused another small pang of guilt to hit Minato as he saw the way his Sochi looked at him. However, with a small effort he pushed those thoughts back turning to look over at the girls, who seemed to be the source of his summons.

"Kushina what's going on?" asked Minato his eyes scanning over the haggard forms of team seven as well as the reasonably spry members of team eleven, before looking back at his love. Kushina took a moment to look around to make sure that no one else was present before nodding towards both teams indicating them to the blond before speaking.

"Team seven and eleven need to report some activity in the forest…and this isn't the place for it." replied Kushina in a hushed voice looking over at her husband. Minato seized upon her tone immediately and fell into his Shinobi deminer before giving her a brief nod and flying through several hand sighs. After a moment several seals began to appear around the groups spreading out like a web from his position and looping themselves around to form a dome around the groups. With a pulse and a flash of yellow Team seven, Kushina and Minato along with two members of team eleven found themselves blinking in the center of Minato's office. For a second the group just looked at one another before finally Kushina spoke up.

"Hey where's Naruto?" she asked looking around not seeing her sochi anywhere in the group. The rest of the group looked around for the blonde but couldn't see him anywhere, all eyes turned back to Minato who was looking just as confused as the rest of the party.

"Minato where is he?" asked Kushina with a note of annoyance in her tone as she did so. Minato turned to her and raised his arms slightly in a sign of surrender, a little concern on his own face.

"I don't know he should be here, my flying thunder god should have taken him with us just like everyone else." spoke the blonde genuinely confused as to how the boy had been left behind. Something like this had never happened, and it was more than a little unnerving to the blonde Hokage. Kushina looked over at Hinata and Kiba for a moment before a thought entered into her mind courtesy of her pollen.

_Um Kushina-sensei Naruto's chakra probably messed with the seal around him somehow!_ Thought Kiba looking over at Hinata who nodded slightly in agreement. Kushina paused for a moment before silently agreeing with the Inuzuka. However, this put her in an awkward position, as it left them without a means by which to explain the boy's absence. Luckily Minami came to their rescue, having been involved in the discussion as a silent listener.

_Kaasan let me distract Tousan, you go get Niisan ok, just have him think of something to explain it on the way back I'll stall till then. _The red eyed girl sent silently over their mental connection. Kushina sent her daughter a small thankful smile before turning to the still confused Minato before speaking.

"Look it may have something to do with what they ran into in the forest, I'll go get him, in the meantime let team seven tell you what they need to, I'll be back in a second with Naruto." Kushina instructed as she turned to walk out of the room with a small wave of her hand. In her wake she left a very confused and slightly concerned Minato, who could not shake the feeling that he was missing something very important. Kushina was down the hall and heading for the forest a moment later even as team seven started going through their experiences upon encountering the grass Shinobi.

Meanwhile back in the tower Naruto was currently banging his head against the inside wall of the tower chanting something about stupid immortal guardians of Kami, and their side effects. This was the reason that he didn't hear or see as team ten entered into the tower, all looking like they had walked through a minefield and sporting happy, if exhausted expressions. As the three entered they spied Naruto's odd production and for a moment just sat there watching, not knowing what to say to the blonde. Finally Ino seemed to have enough and called out to the blonde.

"Yo Naruto what the heck are you doing?" called the pig tailed girl as Naruto stopped his pounding to turn to face the source of the voice, a large red mark on his head a testament to his recent activity. As his purple eyes swept over their haggard appearance he had to fight to suppress a flinch. Choji had one arm in a sling, as well as several bruises lining one side of his head. Ino looked like she had been thrown through a particularly rough set of bushes, several bits of leaf and twig having worked their way into her hair and dress, and all matted down with an application of sweat. Shikimaru looked like he hadn't slept in a few days, and carried the same look as Ino. After a moment Naruto spoke up.

"What the heck happened to you guys, it looks like you've been through hell?" asked Naruto after he finished looking the team up and down, a note of concern in his tone. Choji gave him a weak smile before speaking up.

"It looks worse than it is we just ran into a few teams trying to lay traps near the tower, but we made it out ok." spoke the thick boy with a note of happiness as he pulled out a set of scrolls to show the blonde. Naruto nodded returning the smile even as Ino spoke up.

"Ya they were nothing especially after that freaking black monster." She said shifting her arms in proud little shrug that seemed to indicate that nothing much could shake her after her recent experiences. Naruto's eyebrows rose at the girl's words, and a small sweat drop formed in his mind.

"Um…Monster?" asked Naruto trying to make himself look more curious than accusatory. He had more than a bad feeling as to what they were referring to. Heck if that seedlings appearance hadn't tipped him off to something than he would have to be blind. Shikimaru shook his head slightly before speaking.

"Ya some black thing, mimicked our moves, did you run into anything like that?" asked Shikimaru a shrewd note in his voice as he did so. True Shikimaru didn't have the facts he needed to do more than speculate, but still he was almost positive that Naruto's team must have at least run into the creature at some point for it to have Naruto's appearance. Naruto fidgeted for a second while a mental panic began to set in.

_Oh crap, oh crap, that stupid seedling went and attacked them, and Shikimaru is piecing it together…damn this isn't good, sure it's going to come out eventually, but what the heck why now! _Naruto mentally shouted to himself. Juubi who was watching decided to add her two cents worth into the blondes panic.

"**Well it's not like you didn't know this was going to happen if you entered into this exam, but I guess telling them the monster they fought was Seed-kun may not go over well." **replied Juubi with a contemplating look on her face as she did so. Juubi placed a single figure under her chin and leaned her face down onto in a thinking pose for a moment before speaking up.

"**I guess it would be best just to tell they you saw something like that but your team didn't hang around to look at it, and just continued on; worst case they just think it's odd."** Finished Juubi as she leaned back against her tree, and raised her hands up in a small shrug.

_Right thanks Juubi. _Naruto shot back blinking a few times before looking back over at Shikimaru who was watching him one eyebrow quirked up as if waiting for the blonde's response.

"Now that you mention it I think we saw something like that out in the forest, kind of a black silhouette, but we didn't stick around long, Akamaru didn't seem to like it's smell so we just kept going." said Naruto as he looked over at the members of team Ten. Shikimaru let out a sigh before rubbing his head in a lazy gesture, while Choji smiled a little and Ino dropped her head in a heavy audible sound that sounded a little like a groan.

"You did the right thing then, cause whatever that thing was it took us apart." Spoke Choji with a gesture towards his arm with a small grimace. Shikimaru looked over at his teammate with a small cringe before turning to Ino who was just speaking.

"Ya and that stupid thing was running around looking like me! I swear if it does anything perverted I'll find it and kill it with fire!" shouted the blonde girl small flames in her eyes as she finished causing all three of the boys to take a small step back from the girl. Juubi almost fell off the back of her branch laughing at the mental image of the Seedling being chased around by the angry blonde.

Before the group could say anything else Kushina dropped down beside the entrance and walked forward into the towers base looking over team ten and Naruto. She offered a small smile to team ten before turning to Naruto and motioning him over.

Naruto seeing this nodded and stepped forward to greet Kushina.

"So this is where we left you." Half joked Kushina as Naruto blushed slightly and muttered something about a stupid chakra, before he flinched slightly as Juubi gave him a mental smack. Kushina allowed her lips to quirk upward in a small smirk as she imagined Juubi giving Naruto a mental telling off. Kushina just shook her head before looking over at team ten.

"Well I guess I'll be seeing your team in the next round, congratulations," she stated as the members of team ten looked around at each other, "I'll tell you parents I saw you, but I have to take Naruto here to a meeting." she finished jabbing a thumb back at Naruto who smiled sheepishly. Without another word Kushina lightly grabbed the scruff of Naruto's jacket and hauled him off through the door of the tower and off towards the Village using small body flickers to quickly cover ground faster.

While this was happening Naruko had just finished recounting the last thing she remembered before waking up to Minami telling them they needed to get moving. Minato had a mixed look of barely contained fury upon his face for the traitor Orochimaru's actions, mixed with a twinge of relief and happiness at his daughter's safety. As Naruko finished Minato turned to face Minami with a concerned look.

"Minami after Naruko fell, what happened?" the blonde hokage asked as he looked at his red headed daughter. Minami paused for a moment before answering; internally hoping that she would be able to come up with a convincing enough story to satisfy her father.

"Well after Naruko was taken out, I charged Orochimaru, but he used that same seal move to seal up the Kyuubi chakra, and slammed me into the tree." Started Minami both Minato and the other members of her team looking over at her with no small amount of curiosity, Sasuke and Naruko hadn't had a chance to ask exactly what had happened to them.

"Anyway that is when this clone or something showed up and I kind of passed out," continued Minami as the others listened, "when I woke up Orochimaru was gone and I hauled Naruko and Sasuke to cover. We stayed mostly safe for the night, while I tried to patch them up and set some traps up." Minami continued, as Minato seemed to notice something odd in her words.

"Minami," interrupted Minato causing the girl to halt her story and turn to face Minato with a slightly worried look in her eyes, her mind raced hoping she wasn't going to be caught in her lie. Minato tapped his index figures together for a moment before speaking.

"You mentioned some kind of clone that you saw before you passed out, what do you mean by that?" the hokage asked not taking his eyes off of his daughter as he did so. Minami froze for a moment, a shiver running down her spine as she looked into her father's eyes, even as she prepared to lie to him to protect her Niisan, for what felt like the first time in her life.

"What I mean," she began taking a small breath, "is that at that time I didn't get a good look at whatever it was, all I could see was a black silhouette, I couldn't make out any defining features." The girl spoke even as Minato's eyebrows rose slightly.

"At that time?" he asked in a calm little voice.

"Yes later, once I set up the camp we were attacked by another team and whatever it was showed up again." continued Minami, as Minato settled back to listen further.

"The team from sound was about to engage me, but then that same thing attacked them, it looked like some kind of clone but was all black, and seemed capable of some kind of shape shifting when it was fighting. The sound team eventually overpowered it and made a move to attack us again, they seemed fixated on getting at Sasuke for some reason." Minami said looking over at Sasuke who shifted uncomfortably rubbing his neck absentmindedly as he did so.

"Then Sasuke came out of the defensive area where I left him, and something was odd with him, some kind of marking was coving him and he was pumping out an immense amount of chakra. Next thing I knew he was attacking the sound team, and decimating them. After that he turned to take out me and the clone." continued Minami a small bit of anger in her voice as she finished. Sasuke for his part looked half angry, and half embarrassed at his actions. Minato looked over at Sasuke for a moment, anger in his eyes, if he had not had control of himself he might have leapt over his desk to attack the boy, but he forced himself to remain calm. From what he had heard it sounded like Sasuke had gotten hit with Orochimaru's seal of the heavens, and what was worse it sounded like the bastard had managed to complete it since his time on Anko. Minato and Jiraiya with the help of Kushina had managed to find a way to deconstruct the seal, but it had only been thanks to all of their talents that Anko hadn't died on the operating table. Even then it had only been thanks to Tsunade that the final release of chakra hadn't killed her. True the seal hadn't been complicated once all three got involved, but Orochimaru had been a sore kind of loser and built in a dead man's switch to trigger if the seal was messed with. Knowing that snake the new seal was bound to have managed to fix that error. With a shake of his head he motioned for Minami to continue.

"Anyway after that the clone or whatever it was hit Sasuke before dispelling. After that I waited till Sasuke and Naruko woke up and we headed to the tower." Minami finished calmly, praying that she wasn't about to be found out. Minato took a moment to look around at the three members of team seven before taking a small breath and speaking in a quietly controlled voice.

"Thank you for telling me this girls, I couldn't be more proud of either of you. No other team of Genin could have possibly stood up to one of the three sannin and still be around to talk about it." Here he gave the girls a particular happy smile as he looked over them. Naruko and Minami smiled softly at their fathers praise before turning to look at Sasuke with a bit of worry in their faces. Minato then turned to look at Sasuke taking a breath before starting.

"Sasuke from what I've heard you have received a dangerous seal that Orochimaru has developed, and it would seem that it has some control over you. I am going to have Jiraiya and Kushina work to seal it for now until we can exam it further. I don't hold you responsible for its influence for now, but I warn you if you ever attack a teammate again, it will mark the end of your shinobi career." Minato said gravely narrowing his eyes at Sasuke for a moment. Naruko looked between Sasuke and Minato for a moment before stepping forward to speak.

"But Tousan it wasn't his fault it was that Snake guy." Naruko said trying to stand up for her teammate, if she couldn't save him in the forest she would at least try to save him here. Minato looked from the determined face of Naruko over to the slightly angry face of Sasuke before giving a small sigh and turning to face his blonde haired daughter.

"Naruko be that as it may Sasuke whether he likes it or not has a dangerous seal on him, and he has a choice to make, if he wishes to remain in active duty he must carry the burden and responsibility for his actions," Naruko begin to speak but was silenced by one of Minato's hands rising for her silence, "if he wants to take a temporary leave until we can fully remove the seal that is also a choice but I will not give him a free pass to knowingly endanger other members of Konoha without making it clear that punishment will be carried out swiftly." Minato finished in a tone that left no room for argument. Naruko looked from her tousan to Sasuke and then over to Minami who simply nodded her head in agreement. Before Naruko could speak again the door to the office opened and entered Kushina and Naruto.

Minato looked up at them before motioning for team eleven to approach. Hinata, Kiba, and Naruto stepped forward to stand in a line before the Hokage, all looking at him waiting for him to prompt them to speak. Minato took a moment to reseal the room before turning to face them.

"You have expressed that you have some information that may pertain to the events in the forest that team seven encountered." Stated Minato receiving nods from team eleven before Hinata took a small step forward to speak. Meanwhile Kiba was filling in Kushina and Naruto via the pollen on what had been happening in the office while they had been gone.

"Hai Hokage-sama, while we were in the forest we encountered another leaf team lead by Kabuto, who was trading information with a Grass ninja, that was most likely the same one that Orochimaru was disguised as." started the girl getting a few questioning looks from team seven and the two adults. "After we were spotted we engaged them, and managed to secure them, but Kabuto managed to escape." Finished Hinata softly, prompting a soft snort from Sasuke causing team eleven to look at him with cold looks.

"Is that all, you ran across some genin that may have had some connection to Orochimaru, what proof do you have that they are even the same grass ninja we ran across. Heck that Kabuto guy failed the exam seven times just because you couldn't get ahold of that failure doesn't mean anything" Fired off Sasuke, his mood not improved after being given the recent ultimatum from the Hokage. Naruto turned to face Sasuke slowly until the boys purple eyes were boring into Sasuke's own black ones before he responded.

"Sasuke the proof we have is that when Kabuto fled he did so by using a snake he summoned that was the size of a house." said Naruto his words slow and filled with barely suppressed rage as he looked over at the Uchiha. As everyone digested this information Naruto took the opportunity to take a step forward toward Sasuke while taking ahold of the front of the Uchiha's jacket and pulling him slightly forward before speaking again in that same slow controlled tone.

"And if you ever try to speak like that to Hinata-chan again, make sure to reeducate yourself on how to speak to a lady… I suggest you apologize to her now." finished the blond. Sasuke was at a loss as he felt a tingling sensation from his neck and had to fight to suppress the urge to attack Naruto then and there. Kushina for her part simply stood in place watching Naruto's actions, and trusting him to act appropriately, also she couldn't help but suppress a small smile at her Sochi's actions in defending his team and his Hinata-chan. Hinata looked over a small blush mixed with concern on her face; this was the first time since the bridge she had seen Naruto truly angry and it still gave her small shivers just seeing it. Minami was at a loss as to what to do, one part of her wanted Sasuke to pay not just for what he had done in the forest but also for how he was acting, still so smug and self-assured. Minato for his part looked like someone had slapped him. He had never seen Naruto like this, and his mind was in freefall trying to find any memory he could that would account for the boy's actions.

Naruko was by far the worst, however, after the exhaustion, the fear, and the mental breakdown she had been undergoing recently she was teetering on the edge of not simply collapsing under all of her mental turmoil. Whether for better or worse she had seized upon her idea to protect as her final bastion, and seeing her teammate threatened even by Naruto set off the alarms in her mind. So she stepped forward to grab hold of Narutos arm and make sure that nothing else happened, speaking as her arm roughly grabbed Naruto's.

"Naruto stop it, Sasuke has been through a lot, we all have, and we don't need you trying to act tough in front of your girlfriend right now. Stop acting like a child and try acting like the shinobi you barely are!" shouted Naruko allowing her own mental frustrations and self-loathing to pour out towards the blonde boy. For a moment no one moved then Naruto's head slowly pivoted to look into his Neesan's. For a moment Naruko saw Naruto's eyes flash pure black, but when she blinked they were again purple, but with a silent rage that she had never seen in them before. True she had not been close to her Niisan for years, but when she had looked at him she had always seem a happiness or life in his eyes. Now they were cold, almost threatening. For several moments the two siblings looked into each other's eyes neither moving before Naruto finally spoke.

"You know so little." he all but whispered as he pushed Sasuke away from him and with a small effort pulled his arm from Naruko's grasp. Naruko looked angry at this and was about to retort before Minato's voice rang out over the two prompting them to face him.

"Naruto stop this I will not have you starting conflicts in this office, especially between fellow Konoha shinobi." Minato started giving the boy a hard look. Mentally Minato agreed with his Sochi's actions towards the Uchiha. Still what he couldn't have was the teams turning on one another at this time, particularly the girl's team, if they faltered now they could be at risk of losing both girls especially if Orochimaru was involved. A small piece of him, one that had been nagging at him recently could not help but point out to him that once again Naruto was being punished so that his ideal of the world could keep spinning, but he ignored it again pushing forward.

Naruto looked over at the Hokage for a moment before shaking his head slightly as if looking at someone who continued to disappoint him before turning to leave the other members of team seven falling into step with him. Minato raised a hand to activate the seals on the door and halt them as they reached it, not wanting them to leave just yet.

"Hold, team eleven you have not been dismissed, and Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze we still have things to talk about." stated Minato in a commanding tone. Naruto did not even turn as he raised one hand in front of him and spoke.

"No Hokage-sama our team has already given you all the information we have, we now have to get back to the tower to rest before the next stage of the exam." replied Naruto placing his hand on the door in front of him and giving it a small push. The seals on the door flickered and died as the blonde pushed it softly and the office doors swung open to Manito's and most of team sevens shock. Team eleven left the room, before Naruto spoke once more before the door swung shut behind him.

"And I already told you, I am no longer a Namikaze, the name is Naruto Uzumaki." The blonde finished as the door swung shut. Minato and team seven sat there in silence for a moment before a sigh drew their attention over to Kushina who was giving both Naruko and Minato a harsh glare.

"I think I will depart too Hokage-sama I don't trust myself to stay here much longer without doing something I may regret." Kushina said turning to face Minami with a soft smile and walking over to give her a brief hug.

"I'll see you later, stay safe ok." she said turning to look over at Naruko a pained expression on her face as she approached her other daughter. Naruko looked confused at her mother's expression, she had never seen her Kaasan look so disappointed in her, it had always been pride or happiness, but like Naruto those emotions seemed absent from her eyes at the moment. Kushina looked down at Naruko with a mix of happiness and sadness. Then she pulled Naruko into a silent hug not speaking to her, but trying to fight past her anger enough so that she could at least express her happiness at the girl's safety. The motion was stiff and awkward and ended a moment later with Naruko looking even more confused at her Kaasan's actions.

Kushina rose from Naruko to look over at Minato and there was only disappointment in her eyes as she looked over at her husband. Without saying a word she turned and walked out of the room without a word, pushing past the doors as she did so, and not sparing a glance back at the office as the door swung shut. She met up with her team moments later on the base of the stairs and escorted them back to the tower just as the sun was setting for that day. After they had arrived Kushina turned to leave but was caught in a small hug from Naruto that she allowed herself to sink into letting the tears she had been fighting back pour out of her eyes. Her family was tearing itself apart before her, and she was no longer sure if there was anything that she could do to stop it… worst of all she wasn't even sure if she would be doing the right thing by saving it at this point. So Kushina stayed there for and cried into her son's arms as the team sat in their room and calmly begin to wonder what came next for these exams.

Meanwhile back in the Hokage's office Kakashi had arrived to escort his team back to the tower leaving the blonde man alone in his office with only his thoughts. Flashes of the looks of Naruto and Kushina kept bombarding him, even as he fought to keep his mind focused on what Orochimaru may be planning. He silently cursed as he stabbed one of his three pronged kunai down into the desk in front of him squiring a clump of papers as he did so, accompanied by small cracking sound that caught his attention. Lifting up his Kunai and pulling off a few stray bits of paper, Minato saw that one of the photos on his desk had somehow worked its way down to the bottom of the work pile, covered with a thick lair of dust. The frame had been cracked, and the glass was shattered by the kunai's tip. Carefully the hokage reached down and pulled a photograph from the shattered remains to look at it.

The photo depicted a smiling family, sitting in the middle was Kushina her long red hair pulled into a long strand that cascaded over the front of her blue kimono. She was sitting there smiling up at the camera a giggling little girl with a bright tuft of red hair sitting in her lap and reaching two small baby hands over trying to grab hold of her mother's hair. In front of her stood three children Minami and Naruko the latter with her hair in pigtails gave the camera whisker cheeked smiles both standing slightly off to the right of their mother at the feet of their father. Minato's form stood right beside his wives, one arm resting softly on her shoulder while the other rested on the top of Naruko's head, his white coat fluttering behind him as a bright smile crossed his face. The final member of the family stood directly beside his sister's, right beside his mother his blue and purple eyes smiling along with his face into the camera, and one arm looped around Minami's shoulder as he smiled happily at the camera. The Kunai's blade had stabbed down so that its tip tore a hole in his former self's chest, as if he had tried to rip out his own heart.

_M-maybe that's all I've been doing_. Thought Minato as he cradled the photo to him, and allowed a few tears to fall from his eyes as he looked down for another moment. After a short time a knock came at the door and several Anbu filed in to report on their findings. Minato stowed the picture away into a breast pocket turning to face the men and women at his command. He would have to face his own demon's at some point but at the moment a real demon was at their door, and he needed to face it.

At some point later Kushina had gathered herself up enough to head out, and pick of Minami from the Hyuuga compound to take back to the Namikaze home. After assuring her that she could come and see the next exam and her siblings Kushina had managed to put her to bed, while moving to strip out of her armor and gear, and into a simple evening gown that she now sat in, on the living room couch as she waited for Minato's return. She sat there as her eyes traveled slowly around the room, resting on photos of her smiling family, or lingering on small dinks and stains each a memory of their time together. With a small effort she rose and walked to the sliding glass door placing one of her hands on its glass even as her breath fell upon the glass causing it to fog up slightly. Her eyes looked out over the back yard pausing at the areas where she could still remember teaching her three oldest to walk for the first time. As she looked she could almost hear the excited giggling of Naruko and Minami as Naruto had taken his first steps his arms held out in little fists even while his face was frowned in concentration as he took slow and steady steps towards the smiling face of Minato who was crouched down with both of his hands held out a look of pure happiness and pride upon his face as he awaited his sons approach. A small flash of yellow light illuminated her shadow on the window for a moment announcing Minato's return, and Kushina turned to face the man who she barely recognized as that smiling figure from her memories.

Minato stood in the living room an exhausted look on his face, and seemed to notice Kushinas presence just as she was turning to face him. His bright blue eyes meet her violet ones, even as Kushina slowly walked over and lowered herself onto an armchair that allowed her to face her husband as she lowered her hands to rest gently upon her legs. Minato could not help but notice as he looked at Kushina the delicate way her red hair fell down her shoulder concaving to her form as it did so. A brief flash of memory returned him, to a child looking at the fiery redheaded girl that stood in front of a classroom. A moment later the memory was gone and Minato found himself under the gaze of the focused gaze of the redheaded women before him. For several moments the two sat in silence before Kushina spoke in a soft tone that none the less carried with it an authority that did not welcome questions.

"We need to talk Minato….and we will talk before you force me to take what is left of this family and leave to save it." Kushina stated, no raised voice, no note of anger, just a simply statement of fact. Kushina had given Minato time, effort and even allowed herself to believe that he might have been coming around. Heck when he had given Naruto the kunai a few days ago, she had even allowed herself to hope that things were starting to mend. A few hours ago those hopes had died as she watched Minato and her own daughter verbally attack Naruto for doing nothing more than protecting the girl that he cared for. They weren't going to change….they weren't going to fix this themselves, and she would be damned if she let her family fall apart without at least trying to fix it.

Minato looked at Kushina as her words slowly ran through his head even as his heart seemed to freeze and a stab of fear plunged into his gut.

…_.L-leave….it can't be…s-she couldn't, she I-I couldn't go on without her...w-why is this all happening now! Good Kami why is all of this happening now! _Minato thought as these and other snippets of fear and sadness circled around his mind. Finally after a heavy breath he looked up to see Kushina had not moved and was simply sitting looking at him with a calm demeanor.

"K-kushina please, w-what, where is all of this coming from?" Minato said softly in a pleading voice trying to understand what was happening in front of him. Kushina did not seem to even hear him as she closed her eyes slowly taking a soft breath before opening themselves again to look up at him with that same focused intense gaze.

"Minato I am the one asking the questions," Kushina begin the words hitting Minato like a physical blow, not trusting his legs minato slumped back into the matching chair that faced across form Kushina even as she continued to speak. "I want to know why you and Jiraiya have been trying to abandon Naruto and focusing so much on Minami and Naruko." She started seeing a small twinge of fear entering into Minato's eyes as the words left her lips. Before Minato could do more than swallow Kushina continued on.

"Why did you always force him away from training, why did you drive him away, and why did you use me to try and do the same?" Kushina said small tears forming in her eyes, even as her voice broke slightly as her words continued. "Why have you turned from the husband and tousan that you were into a man I can't even look at without feeling shame, and fear?" at this the tears began to flow steadily drawing small glissading streams down her cheeks as she pressed on the pain evident in her voice even as she fought to keep her tone steady. "Tell me why Minato, why have you used me an everyone else just to tear this FAMILY APART!" finished Kushina in a shout even as the tears from her face flowed, and a few strands of her hair clung limply to her face as it continued to fight from breaking apart completely. Several moments punctuated by heavy breathing followed her final words as she fought to hold in her emotions, while Minato started to rise to go to her. However, as he begin to rise a single golden chain shot from Kushina stopping its spiked end just an inch in front of Minato's face, causing him to freeze as it did so. A few seconds later Kushina managed to get her breathing under control and leaned back in the chair brushing the loose hair from her eyes as she did so looking over at Minato from across her golden chain.

"No Minato I don't want your comfort I want your answer." She said even as the chain slowly made its way back to her even as Minato felt another stab of sadness enter into him like a dagger. He felt helpless, the yellow flash… the fourth hokage, and here sat the love of his life in pain, and he was powerless to do more than watch…worse he was the cause, and it was destroying him. After a moment Minato begin speaking softly.

"We didn't have a choice, a few years after the three were born Jiraiya showed up with a prophecy from the toads, it spoke of two children born from his student who would either rise or fall together, and they would shape the fate of the shinobi world with their actions." Minato began Kushina watching him, her eyes flashing with fear, confusion, along with a bit of anger mixed in. "The only clues were that the two would hold a great burden and would hold the blood of the forest." Minato continued causing Kushina to let out a small breath.

"So you thought it was the girls because of the Kyuubi." Said Kushina, it wasn't a question it was a statement. Minato nodded once before continuing.

"Hai, Jiraiya and I looked over the clues, and it all matched they held the Kyuubi, they were our children, and they were members of the leaf so they had the blood of the leaf in them so we had to make sure to make sure that they don't fall out." continued Minato as he continued to speak in a voice almost devoid of emotion. "So we started to train the girls to try prepare them so they would be ready for their future, if we didn't they could have fallen and with them the entire world. We had to make sure that nothing got in the way of them working together, they had to stand together or they would fall, nothing could get in between them…it was too much of a risk." Minato said Kushina's eyes narrowing at his words.

"So Naruto was one of those "things" to you? Some kind of distraction, he is our sochi, not some distraction to be thrown away!" fired back Kushina as Minato flinched at her tone allowing her to continued. "So that was why, for some stupid prophecy from a toad, that you lied to me, manipulated me and our whole family to throw away Naruto, just for that you threw away MY SOCHI!" Kushina said her voice rising dangerously as an ominous clinking of chains came from her back. Minato looked over at her for a moment before speaking again.

"Kushina the girls had to succeed if they didn't then everyone, every single person in this village and out of it would die if the girls failed. Damn it I love Naruto but what good is it for him to be happy if it means him dying along with you, me and everyone else." Minato shot back half begging for Kushina to see his point. Kushina took a calming breath and allowed her chains to slide back in before fixing Minato with an angry look.

"Is that all you have to say…some crap about the greater good Minato? What good is your greater good if our family isn't going to be able to survive it, what is the point of our children growing up in a world like that….why would that world even need to exist?" Kushina asked looking over at Minato who was unable to answer her for a moment.

"A world that existed Kushina… and things are already slipping out of our control the prophecy is changing and things are getting worse all around us, an S-rank ninja just attacked our girls in the forest for Kami's sake, if they hadn't been trained enough they may have died there." Minato said fighting hard to make some kind of headway with the discussion. Kushina, however only furrowed her brow at him.

"Don't you dare act like recent events somehow justify your actions, you could have been there for Naruto, you could have at least let me be there for him, but no our son had to wait and watch as you and Jiraiya pulled us along like puppets to your stupid prophecy. A prophecy your saying is changing even now!" fired back Kushina anger overtaking her voice interlay as she stared down the blond man in front of her.

"It had to be done, I won't lose any of you, I can't! If that mean Naruto hates me fine, but at least he will be alive, Kushina the prophecy changed, and now one of the girls could die, it says that one will fall and the other will rise, do you know what that means, Minami or Naruko could die, and I'm doing everything I can to make sure I don't see one of our children die in my arms!" fired back Minato a mix of sadness and anger intertwined with each other. For a second he thought he had managed to convince the redheaded women as her eyes went wide as though things were falling into place in her mind. Slowly she drew in a breath before looking over at Minato with tears in her eyes.

"Minato you have no idea what you have done." Kushina said softly a look of sadness twinged with real fear crossed her features. Minato froze for a second hearing her words, but before he could speak up a soft yawn drew his and Kushina's attention. There on the bottom of the stairs was Mito in a bright yellow onesie one arm raised rubbing at her eyes as her other held tightly onto the tail of a small red fox plushy. She had just finished a yawn and was blinking slowly as he turned her head causing her disheveled red hair to wave slightly behind her as she turned to face the living room he voice coming out in a soft tired tone.

"Ka-kaasan, Tousan what's wrong I heard shouting?" asked Mito in a sleepy voice as she continued to rub her eyes sleepily. Kushina rose and made her way over to Mito scooping her up in her arms and whispering softly to her as she rocked her back and forth slowly as she did so. Kushina turned to face Minato once more fixing him with a look before looking down at the smiling face of Mito who was nuzzling against her bosom.

"It's ok Mito-chan Tousan was just headed back to the office and wanted to say goodbye before he left." Said Kushina loud enough for Minato to hear, his head dipping slightly as the words fell upon him. Mito mumbled something that wasn't clear, as Kushina started to make her way up the stairs with the redhead gripped in her arms. Mito allowed a small chain to clink out from her back to give Minato a small wave as she squeaked out a soft, "night tousan.". Minato allowed a small smile to crease his lips as he stood from the chair he was in and turned to disappear in a small flash of yellow light as he departed back to his office, hoping that he could speak to Kushina again before he lost her.

Meanwhile back at the tower in the center of the forest Naruto couldn't sleep and was standing out on a balcony overlooking the forest. His mind was still a whirl of emotions that he was desperately trying to get a hold on.

_Damn it Naruto get you head in the game, what the heck were you thinking back there. You were thinking that that arrogant prick said something bad about Hinata and you team that's what you were thinking. True but that's no reason to lose your head. What that is the perfect reason to lose you head. _Naruto said arguing back and forth with himself.

"**As fun as it is listening to you argue with yourself Naruto you have some company."** spoke up Juubi as Naruto turned to see Hinata and Minami both standing in the entrance to the balcony both giving the blond worried looks. Naruto forced a smile as he turned to meet them trying to force his thoughts away. But the girl's concerned looks made it clear that he hadn't been able to keep his thoughts out of the pollen net. Hinata was the first to step forward her pale eyes catching the moon light as she looked at the blonde, obvious concern in her eyes. She made her way over to the boy slowly before Naruto spoke up.

"So, ya I couldn't sleep so I decided to get some fresh air." Naruto began before Hinata reached up a hand to place gently over his lips in a quieting motion that stopped his speaking. Naruto looked into Hinata's eyes for a moment as she shook her head very slowly and moved her hand down to rest on his chest before speaking.

"Naruto-kun I may not understand everything about what has happened, but you have to let me be there for you….please." whispered Hinata as she looked up at the blonde. Naruto looked down at the girl and started to speak before Hinata gently raised a hand to gently slap the left side of his head, stopping him before he could speak.

"No Naruto-kun you need to listen to me this time, you can't just be a shield to us all, we can't lose you either, and you need to realize that, or so help me I'll get Kushina and Mito to tie you down and I'll Juken it into you." finished Hinata with a small smile on her face and Naruto could not help but smile back at her in turn. Hinata then stepped back motioning for Minami to step forward. Naruto looked up as Minami stepped forward drawing out a black orb that pulsed faintly with a purple and red glow from her pack and held it out to Naruto with a sad little look on her face.

"I-I wanted to thank you for saving all of us back in the forest, and I'm sorry but I think seed-kun…I don't think he made it." Spoke the redhead sadly as Naruto took the orb with a puzzled little look on his face. Naruto looked down at the orb for a moment giving it a pulse of his chakra as he did so, and quirking one eyebrow up as he did so.

"Um thanks Minami, but it wasn't me that sent Seed-kun he must have just wanted to help you." Replied Naruto even as he looked down at the orb calling Juubi to help and figure out what he was seeing in the orb.

"Um Juubi mind telling me what I'm looking at?" asked Naruto aloud signaling the girls to listen in to. Juubi was silent for a moment before she giggled like she had back when she had first since the seedlings approach.

"**hehahehe, oh Kyu-kun you clever boy you managed to help the little guy out didn't you." **smiled Juubi towards Kyu who was also listening into the conversation. Kyu beamed at his Kaasan's praise his nine tails waving back and forth behind him as he looked out of his cage. Naruto and the girls gazed around mentally for a few moments before Naruto spoke up again.

"Um care to clue us in to what is so funny." asked Naruto crossing his arms slightly losing a little of his patience. Kyu remained smiling as Juubi simply sighed before speaking again.

"**Naruto your seedling was falling apart, it had lost most of its chakra and was about to crumble," **started Juubi Minami looking a little saddened at that, which did not go unnoticed by Juubi. **"Don't worry Minami the seedling did what it wanted to do, there is no reason to feel bad about it," **assured Juubi before continuing causing the redhead to give a small smile. **"Anyway my Kyu realized that his chakra and the seedlings was compatible so pumped in enough to help the seedling pull itself together…and well it may be a bit different from what it used to be." **finished Juubi with a smirk.

"Different how?" asked Naruto looking down at the orb in his hands, Minami and Hinata looking over as well, curiosity apparent on all of the teens faces. Juubi gave a mental shrug before answering.

"**It is easier just to see for yourselves go ahead and let it open up again." **said Juubi a knowing little smile on her lips. Naruto gave a small shrug and proceeded to allow his chakra to enter into the seed causing it to pulse again and crack open with the same purple chakra pumping out along with twinges of bright red intertwined with it. The three teens watched at the form slowly began to form in to a large orb that cracked in areas as several appendages moved out of it until what sat in front of them was….well it was different.

Sitting there was what looked like a mix between a seedling and the Kyuubi itself. It body was mostly that of the Kyuubi with human like arms and legs with small clawed hands, and covered in a small coat of black hair that resembled that of the Kyuubi. Small flashes of purple and red chakra danced across the fur all over it. The face remained mostly unchanged two bright eyes still shining out but now one was a bright shade of red, while the other glowed with the familiar purple light. On top of its head sat two large solidly black ears that looked exactly like those of the Kyuubi, something like a cross between a rabbit's and a foxes. The most distinguishing feature were its nine long tails that swished lazily behind it even at it looked around the three teens letting out a happy little hum as it did so. Naruto stood there dumbfounded for a moment before Minami and Hinata moved at the same moment with a single voice.

"Kawaii!" both girls said in happy tones as they bent down Minami wrapping her arms around one of the Seedlings tails feeling the soft black fur it now had, while Hinata chose to pet it happily even as the Seedlings free tails wagged happily behind it. Naruto just sat there looking at the scene before him for a few seconds before he dropped his head in apparent defeat.

"That's it I give up, my prized move has become a plushy, Mito is going to have a field day with this." the blonde boy said a true smile crossing his face as he looked over at the seedling who was humming happily at the attention it was receiving. Just as Naruto was about to say that it was time that they all headed back to get some rest he noticed something he hadn't before. The seedling seemed to have a small crease on its face…it was something given, that till now the seedlings had never had mouths or anything but smooth blackness there. A second before Naruto could speak Hinata gave one of the tails a tight squeeze and the seedlings mouth popped open like a bear trap showing a black interior with several black triangles like teeth showing as it did so. Without giving a second to think Naruto stepped quickly to the side as the Seedling let out a small popping sound and a small burst of chakra fired off like a cannon shot out of its mouth and up into the sky over the forest detonating a ways off with a small explosion that he couldn't quite hear.

All three teens looked from the sky where the blast had shot off to then back the seedling who was humming in apparent surprise itself as it quirked it head sideways its ears twitching slightly giving it a puzzled little look. After a few second Hinata spoke up.

"Um maybe we should get to bed now." spoke the girl prompting a nod from the other two even as the new seedling was sealed back into its seed form and placed back into Naruto's jacket appearing as a red fruit. As the teens made their way back to their rooms, Hinata and Naruto found their hands intertwined as they headed back to the room. Their lives may have not been getting easier, but at least they had each other to count on… and for now that was enough.

**Ok chapter done, may have noticed this was more growth and drama, well we will be entering the exams again, and that means more fights so I thought you had all earned a small break. If you need help picturing the new seedling think of the cloak form of a four tailed Naruto from the show then add five tails and turn it all black, and you get the basic idea. No it won't be as strong as the Kyuubi that would be stupid, but it did get a few tricks from the chakra. With the things with Minato and Kushina understand that one argument won't end this, there will be more. Also small point but try not to judge Naruko to harshly, keep in mind her idea was that she was supposed to be some kind of savior/hero from the time she was five. Now, she not only fails at that, but at the one moment her team and sister needed her most. This has rattled her to her core so when she was lashing out it was out of both fear and self loathing. Angry people don't think well, and mistakes happen in times like those. Keep in mind no-one is beyond redemption until they are dead. With that thank you for the support and hope you liked that chapter. I will be happy to answer any questions from reviews to PM so fire away. Till then Songbird out.**


	16. Chapter15

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Contest is coming to an end very soon, so feel free to keep guessing on the summoning jutsu that Naruto will use in the exams. Remember Toad, Snake, and Slug are already off the table, and it has been hinted at from the very first chapter, and little things are placed throughout the story foreshadowing it. Good luck.

Summoning technique coming up fast it won't be but a few more chapters before it's here so guess away there have been two so far to get it.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them

I'm really excited about I found a really great artist on Deviant Art named Zil-Zeki who is working on a personal cover for this story. The work is progressing well and I'm really excited to put it up on this site as soon as possible. If you have some time take the link from my page to go and see her site, she does great work for a fair price so show some support for her work. Thank you and enjoy the story.

Ok some people have voiced confusion around Naruko's actions in the last chapter as she seemed to be defending Sasuke even after he attacked her sister. While this is technically true this was more of a knee jerk reaction to protect her teammate, remember in her mind she had just failed her team, and her own position in the village. As a result she acted to protect what she could, and that was the result. Given time she will realize her mistakes but it takes time. So let's get onto the story here we go.

…I have 500 reviews….hehe! (and fall out of chair with smile now!)

**Chapter 15**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-Fighting only tells us the Winner-**

"That's it I give up, my prized move has become a plushy, Mito is going to have a field day with this." the blonde boy said, a true smile crossing his face as he looked over at the seedling who was humming happily at the attention it was receiving. Just as Naruto was about to say that it was time that they all headed back to get some rest he noticed something he hadn't before. The seedling seemed to have a small crease on its face…it was something given, that till now the seedlings had never had mouths or anything but smooth blackness there. A second before Naruto could speak Hinata gave one of the tails a tight squeeze and the seedlings mouth popped open like a bear trap showing a black interior with several black triangles like teeth showing as it did so. Without giving a second to think Naruto stepped quickly to the side as the Seedling let out a small popping sound and a small burst of chakra fired off like a cannon shot out of its mouth and up into the sky over the forest detonating a ways off with a small explosion that he couldn't quite hear.

All three teens looked from the sky where the blast had shot off to then back the seedling who was humming in apparent surprise itself as it quirked it head sideways its ears twitching slightly giving it a puzzled little look. After a few second Hinata spoke up.

"Um maybe we should get to bed now." spoke the girl prompting a nod from the other two even as the new seedling was sealed back into its seed form and placed back into Naruto's jacket appearing as a red fruit. As the teens made their way back to their rooms, Hinata and Naruto found their hands intertwined as they headed back to the room. Their lives may have not been getting easier, but at least they had each other to count on… and for now that was enough.

The next morning saw the remaining teams entering into an arena looking around and greeting each other while their sensei's and a few other familiar faces looked down on them from a circular ring around the top of the arena. Naruto and the other members of team eleven spotted the combined teams of seven, eight, ten and Guy all talking as they entered into the arena. With a nod in their gathered direction Naruto lead his team over coming within earshot of the group as they did so.

"So you ran into that freaking thing too?" said Shikimaru in a calm voice, as he looked around him a small amount of focus apparent in his eyes. All around him the other teams nodded their heads in assent before Ino spoke up again.

"Hey at least it didn't turn into you," started Ino drawing their attention to her, "I mean when I jumped into its head it was so weird, and now it looks like me." the blonde said in a half exasperated tone. This statement drew a few looks from those around her, and prompted Neji to speak up.

"Wait you got in its head, I thought your mind swap only worked on people?" asked the Hyuga as he and the rest of the group looked over at her puzzled. Ino withered slightly under their gaze slightly raising her two hands in a motion of surrender before her before replying.

"Ya I know but it's not like I have a whole lot to throw-out during a fight, and well I gave it a shot." Ino finished a little lamely. Sakura walked towards to her friend and placed a hand on her shoulder while shaking her head slightly in turn.

"I kept telling you not to rely so much on clan moves." The pink haired girl said in a tone that made it clear that she had, had this discussion before. Neji looked impatiently between the two for a moment before speaking up again.

"We don't care about your abilities, what we want to know is what was it like in that things head!" stated the Hyuuga in a commanding tone taking a small step forward towards the pair. At once Choji, Shikimaru, and Shino stepped in-between Neji and the girls all giving the Hyuuga a cold look.

"I would suggest that we keep this civil." Spoke up the calm voice of Shino as he looked through his glasses at the annoyed Hyuuga. Neji for his part simply glared back slightly. TenTen seeing this decided to intervene before a fight broke out.

"Hey we are losing track here, the point is to figure out what those black monster things were right." She said in a half pleading tone as she looked around at the gathered teams. For a moment they remained tensed but it was defused pretty soon by a small humph. Everyone gathered looked over to see Yakumo standing over by were Sakura and Shino had been a moment before.

"Don't call them monsters." Yakumo said simply in a voice with just a hint of annoyance at the girls use of the word. This ground to a halt everyone except the other members of team eight and caused them to look at Yakumo as if she had just grown a second head. After a moment of silence Choji spoke up.

"Um Yakumo, you sure you didn't bump your head or something that thing whatever it was attacked two leaf teams, and seemed to shake of blows like water, if that's not a monster I don't know what is." Stated Choji in a tone that one would use when talking to someone who they feared was somehow losing their mind. Yakumo looked over at Choji for a moment her eyes narrowed at his tone before replying.

"No Choji I didn't get a bump on the head, and I'm not crazy, we ran into one of those things to but unlike your teams we didn't attack first and ask questions later, and it seemed perfectly friendly to us." replied Yakumo slowly as the other two teams looked absolutely floored by her words. Sakura suppressed a small giggle.

"Sure you're not just saying that because it gave you that princess hug?" asked Sakura in a teasing tone that cause Yakumo to go bright red, and glare over at her teammate. Ino popped up at hearing that and looked over at Yakumo with a look of confusion.

"Wait you hugged it?" the blonde asked looking over at Yakumo as though she was crazy. A small cough drew the blondes attention over to Shino who was readjusting his glasses.

"It would be more accurate to say it hugged her; it then went on to attack the Sand team when they moved against us." spoke Shino in his collective voice as the other teams looked as though their heads were about to explode. Neji was fast losing his patience and once again tried to take charge of the conversation.

"Never mind that what do we know about those things, they could be another village's weapon, and one of us may come up against them again!" state the annoyed Hyuuga. During his encounter with the creature he had been completely humiliated, and he was in no mood to allow it to occur to him again. He was a Hyuuga, and he wasn't going to let some monster beat him, heck if he was like that he wouldn't be any better than his cousin.

Shikimaru looked around the group with a shake of his head, trying to figure out how he could keep them from attacking one another. After a moment he noticed that Team seven hadn't been speaking at all. It seemed odd to him, true Sasuke had the dialog consisting mostly of grunts but the two Namikaze girls were usually more vocal. Focusing his eyes on the two he picked up an odd little look in Minami's eyes as she listened to Yakumo and the members of team eight proceeded to explain the events around their encounter. After team eight had finished he decided to direct his attention towards her.

"Minami did you run into one of those things out there as well?" asked Shikimaru in a tone that did not hold any accusation but did carry a small note of suspicion in it that did not pass unnoticed by Minami. For a moment everyone turned to face Minami who seemed to be marshaling her thoughts before speaking.

"I think we saw one of those things, but it was hard to tell, best I could tell it just wandered into a fight, and then left once it was done, we weren't really paying much attention to it." The redhead said in a controlled voice, getting a nod from both her teammates. Sasuke was in no mood to explain how he had been bested and attacked by a snake, or that he had lost to whatever that monster had been. Naruko in the meantime had only her team's explanations to go off of and was more focused on keeping things under wraps like Minato had told her and the rest of team seven to do at their meeting.

Shikimaru stared at Minami for a moment before sighing and shrugging his shoulders slightly before speaking up once again.

"Troublesome, so we have some kind of unknown creature out there, we know chakra seems to react badly with it, and it seems to be some kind of mimic, but nothing else. It sounds like weapons and taijutsu is what you have to hit them with." The lazy teen said summing up what they had learned from one another getting a group of nods from the teams around them. His eyes tracked over to where team eleven had just walked up to them and spoke a greeting.

"So how about team eleven, run into any black creatures out in that forest?" he asked causing the other assembled teams to turn towards the approaching team. Team eleven in turn turned to one another fighting back smiles that threatened to cross over their faces. After a moment Kiba started asking what the other teams were referring to while playing innocent. Meanwhile up on the observatory the team captains were having a similar debate to their students.

"So your team to huh?" said Asuma as he bent forward to rest his arms on the railing and putting a fresh cigarette in his mouth as he did so. Before he could bring a lighter up to start smoking Kurenai had walked over and leaned over him to snatch the stick from his lips. This also had the effect of Azuma having a generous amount of Kurenai brush up beside him, and all in all he considered it a fair trade.

As a small smile worked its way over his as well as Guy and Kakashi's, Kurenai could not help but blush slightly turning away from the three even as Kushina suppressed a knowing grin of her own. Kurenai took a moment to allow her blush to fade before speaking.

"Y-yes my team ran into it to, just some kind of weird black figure the way the described it, it didn't act hostile to them though." She said looking around at the other teams captains. Asuma looked over at her with a confused little look on his face.

"Well good for you, whatever it was took my team apart, broke Choji's arm, and then transformed to look like Ino for kami only knows what reason." He said turning to look around the group. Kakashi stepped forward slightly to speak.

"Well we know Orochimaru is somehow connected, this sounds like some kind of a new weapon of his." Reasoned Kakashi getting a few worried looks from the other sensei. They had all been briefed on Orochimaru's presence in the last exam at an emergency meeting. Heck it had taken all four of them to keep Anko from literally jumping out a window and charging off to find her old sensei.

"Yosh my rival is correct this is just the kind of un-youthful thing that snake would do to use our students as a testing ground, how disgusting." Spoke Guy getting a few shakes of the head from his compatriots.

"Really Guy even during something like this you can still be so energetic?" Asked Kurenai looking over at Guy wondering how he could be so seemingly happy about his own team being attacked. Guy turned to face her striking his patented nice guy pose before responding.

"Because I know our flames of youth will allow us to overcome anything we face!" he replied flashing them a huge grin as he did so. Kushina couldn't keep it in anymore and had to bring a hand up to stifle a giggle. True they didn't know it but the same things they were stressing themselves over something that her daughter had recently been using as a playmate. Luckily for her everyone accounted her giggles to the simple absurdity that was Guy.

Before the group could continue, however, Minato arrived in a flash of yellow drawing all eyes towards him. For a moment everyone just froze as the blue eyes of Minato swept around particularly those from the other nations. Minato was something akin to the boogie man for most foreign shinobi, and the fact he appeared in a sudden flash of light didn't help things much. Before he could speak up a voice rang out from the other side of the arena.

"TOUSAN OVER HERE HEY TOUSAN!" called a redheaded girl who sat beside a dark haired boy both allowing their feet to dangle through the railing, even as the redhead waved excitedly over at them. Minato could only shake his head along with anyone who knew the excitable girls attitude. He waved over at Mito with a little smile, before stepping forward to address the teams below. As he reached the edge of the railing he cast his eyes around at the gathered teams before spreading his arms wide and beginning.

"First let me congratulate all of you for making it through the second part of the exams, each of you is a credit to your village." Began the blonde hokage, as he continued on to speak and explain the true meaning of the exams. At this time Kushina had excused herself from the group of sensei's and made her way over to where her youngest sat smiling and chatting excitedly with Hanabi. As she reached the spot she had arranged for the pair she also spotted Hitomi a small distance back from the railing smiling over at the pair a gentle happiness radiating from her.

Hitomi sat contently in her chair her hands folded over each other, and her white Kimono, that matched well with her long blue hair just like her daughters. As Kushina approached she turned a smiling face over to greet her long time friend raising one hand up in a friendly gesture of greeting.

"Hello Kushina-san." Smiled Hitomi her voice one of obvious happiness. Kushina was much less subtle than the calm and composed Hitomi and settled for just hoping over to give the women a tight hug, and large fox like grin.

"Oh come on Hito-chan we've known each other long enough when will you stop with the formal speech?" joked Kushina as she pulled back slightly from Hitomi as the women matched her smile in turn. Hitomi then raised a single hand to pinch one of Kushina's cheeks while giving her a competitive grin.

"About the same time you stop acting like a kid Ku-chan!" smiled back Hitomi even as Kushina and her started to giggle at each other. After a few seconds the two had let go, and Kushina had sunk into a chair beside her friend looking over at the two kids who were at the moment chatting excitedly over the coming events. After a second Hitomi spoke up.

"Thanks again for getting me and Hanabi to see the matches, it means a lot to me." said Hitomi. Kushina just waved her hand over at her friend in a dismissive gesture.

"Don't even worry about it, Mito was so excited to have Hanabi-kun with her, and besides I know you wanted to see how Hinata-chan was developing." Replied Kushina. Hitomi smiled looking down at her hands for a moment before speaking up.

"I-I just worry about her." spoke Hitomi softly in a tone with clear sadness in it. Kushina frowned slightly at her friends tone. She knew that Hitomi's condition hadn't allowed her to do much more than watch her daughter's progress. When Kushina had invited Hitomi to help with Hinata's training her friend had looked happier than she had ever seen her, but even that was a limited comfort. Hitomi had been bound almost helpless to do more than comfort her daughter, when her father or the elders belittled her. As a mother it had destroyed her to be so helpless.

Kushina looked over at the women with an equal sadness. Here she was looking at a woman who would give anything to be there for her family, and she herself could not help but remember her own failings towards her son. Hitomi noticed Kushinas look of distress, and it bothered her. Kushina was rarely anything but excitable, and happy, and this self-loathing bothered her. What was worse she had been steadily noticing it building ever since Hinata and Naruto had pulled their prank on the hokage monument. After a second to think about it, Hitomi decided to figure out what was going on with her friend.

"Kushina what's wrong, you haven't been yourself for a while now?" asked Hitomi a concerned note in her voice. Kushina paused for a moment allowing her mind to race for a second. She had come to grips with her own failings, but Hitomi had been one of her oldest friends, and the idea of being seen as some kind of failure by here was something she did not want to experience. Still she thought with a little inward chuckle walking away when things had gotten hard was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place. So she swallowed her pride and started speaking to Hitomi at a slow pace. Hitomi sat and listened to her friend without comment.

While the two women were speaking Hanabi and Mito were still chatting with each other.

"Look Hanabi over there," said Mito excitedly pointing over at team eleven "there's Aniki and Hinata-chan!" giggled the excited redhead. Hanabi looked over where Mito was pointing and spied the members of team eleven all gathered together. With a small pang of worry he also spotted team Guy not too far away from them and his older cousin Neji among them.

"Um Hanabi what's wrong?" asked Mito noticing the boys distressed look. Hanabi looked over at Mito for a moment before speaking.

"Nothing it's just I hope Oneechan doesn't have to fight our cousin Neji." stated the boy drawing a concerned look from his friends. Noticing this Hanabi sighed slightly figuring he was going to have to explain the situation to her.

"Mito my family isn't really like yours, it's all about competing with one another and my tousan and Neji's have been competing since they were kids. Now they are doing the same thing just with Neji-san and me, and he has become so obsessed with it." Hanabi said trying to explain his family's issues. Mito looked puzzled for a second as she absentmindedly scratched her head with one of her golden chains.

"Hey wait what about your Oneechan, why is she in trouble?" asked the confused little redhead her tone showing her obvious confusion. Hanabi looked over to where Hinata was standing down in the arena floor still listening to the Hokage's speech.

"Oneechan has it worse, tousan just ignores her along with most of the family." started the boy a sad little not in his voice. "For some reason Neji-san thinks it's because she's weak and he hates her for it." finished Hanabi in a sad little tone. Mito took a moment to digest all of that. After a few moments she used her usual amount of subtlety and simply wrapped her arms around Hanabi along with one of her golden chains. Hanabi was speechless at first, sure he had been grabbed by Mito's chains almost daily, but something about the softness of this embrace made his face heat up for some reason. Mito started to speak up a moment later.

"I'm sorry Hanabi-kun its ok, Aniki and Naruko oneechan are like that." said Mito in a sad little tone that caught Hanabi's attention even more than the hug had. After a moment he decided to figure out what was making his friend so sad.

"Um Mito-chan what's wrong, what do you mean about your Aniki?" asked Hanabi in a concerned tone. Mito had rested her head beside Hanabi's own and with a small effort Hanabi managed to push the redheads body away from him enough for her to simply be looking over the railing once more, her hands holding onto the railing even as her single golden chain remained wrapped around the boys waist. After a few moments Mito started to talk again.

"I don't really know why but Naruko and Minami didn't use to like Aniki back when he was taking care of me." started Mito her voice with a clear amount of uncertainty in her voice. "Then they tried to get me to stop hanging out with Aniki for some reason. I just don't know why I once tried to ask Kaasan about it but she just said they were fighting over something and not to mind it. I never understood why and Aniki just told me not to worry about what they said." finished Mito looking over at Hanabi with a sad little look on her face. Hanabi felt more than a little uneasy at Mito's sad look. The only other time he had ever seen her like that had been back when they were only about three or so, and Mito had just finished some kind of fight with her older sister. Back then he had just sat there unable to do anything about it, he wasn't looking to do the same.

Without hesitating Hanabi reached over and playfully poked Mito where he knew she was ticklish. With the first poke Mito let out a small giggle and tried to bat Hanabi's hand away from her playfully. Without giving her a moment to rest Hanabi kept up poking the redhead until she wrapped him in two of her chains to stop him. By that time she was giggling and panting so much she could hardly speak, but as she looked over at her friend Hanabi could see the wide smile present on her face, and couldn't suppress one of his own. As the two children laughed to each other Kushina was finishing up the simplest event surrounding her and Naruto's relationship, leaving out the boy's burden as well as his death.

Hitomi for her part had stayed completely silent from the beginning of Kushina's story, and as the redhead finished she took a moment to think about everything she had just heard from her friend. Kushina for her part simply waited for her friend to speak, looking up at her as Hitomi's thought over what she had heard. Without much warning Hitomi drew back a hand and slapped Kushina across the face, not in a violent way, but one to let her know how unhappy she was with the women. Before Kushina could even raise a hand to her now stinging cheek, Hitomi bent forward and caught the women in her arms pulling her close, while running on hand threw her long red hair.

"Kushina you baka," Hitomi whispered as she held her friend close, saying more in her simple embrace and the sadness of her voice than any words could have done. Kushina felt her heart well up slightly at the embrace and just allowed herself to rest in her friends arms for a time. After a few moments Hitomi pushed Kushina up to look her in the eyes, both of them having small glistening marks, the beginnings of tears in their eyes, and spoke again.

"You're lucky your Sochi isn't as big a baka as you or I wouldn't let him be with my Musume, and then we'd both be in trouble." Smiled Hitomi as Kushina couldn't help but have a small smile trace her lips as well.

"Hai, but your Musume better look after him or his imoto will see to her." giggled back Kushina even as she gestured a thumb over to where Hanabi and Mito had managed to tangle themselves up in the tickle fight they had engaged in. Hitomi looked from the pair back to Kushina before breaking out in fresh giggles that were soon joined by Kushina. A few moments later they became aware that Minato had finished his speech and that the teams were making their way to the upper balcony. In particular Kushina saw team eleven heading their way Naruto and Hinata walking side by side, as the drew nearer, both smiling as they spied their Kaasans and younger siblings.

Before the two groups could do more than greet one another, a call from below in the arena drew their attention down to a familiar purple haired woman dressed in a brown trench coat. Anko was not in a great mood, first her old bastard of a sensei had showed back up, second the hokage hadn't let her go out and track down the snake bastard and his little genin cabana boy, and now she was still looking after these genin instead of being with the tracking teams trying to find that rotten snake. She calmed herself just enough so that she didn't start throwing pythons at everyone around her.

"Ok Gaki's here's how it goes, when your name comes up you come down here and fight it out, I'll be keeping an eye on you and I'm not in a good mood, so make me break up a fight, and you won't enjoy it." Finished Anko allowing a single snake to slither out of her coat, and wrap around her neck. From the shivers around it was safe to say she had made herself clear to everyone present. Without any more waiting Anko waved a hand and the screen began to rotate like a lottery machine names flying by one after another. After a few moments the spinning stopped and with a small predatory grin Anko's voice rang out through the building.

"Ok Gakis Shikimaru of Konoha and Temari of Suna hurry up and get down here before I drag you down." called Anko in a half joking tone. Shikimaru muttered something about troublesome women before he made his way down the steps his hands thrust down into his pockets not seeming to pay much attention to anything. Temari let out a disgusted sound as she looked down at her opponent before turning to look at her sensei as if asking if they were serious. With a solemn nod from Baki Temari gave a small shrug of her shoulders before walking over to the railing and swinging herself over its edge gliding down to the arena floor with a small curtain of wind all around her.

As she landed Shikimaru had just reached the final step quirking an eyebrow as the girl alighted upon the arena floor.

_So a wind user, figures as much coming from Suna, dang that means that fan on her back must be for some nasty wind justus, gah this is why I didn't want to take these exams to much trouble. Still if I can get in a shadow fast enough she shouldn't be too much a problem. _Thought Shikimaru as he made his way over so that he stood an equal distance from Anko.

The purple haired examiner looked between the two for a moment before taking a few steps back. Once clear she raised her right hand up calling out as she did so.

"Ok Shikimaru of Konoha, Temari of Suna get going." She yelled, while the two genin leapt back from each other at the same time, Shikimaru pulling out and throwing two shuriken as he did so. Temari was faster however, and had managed to pull her fan in front of her enough to block the projectiles with a small flick of her fan unfurling it as she did so.

"Nice try but you're going to need more than some toys to stop this." called Temari swinging her fan, which was showing a single purple moon, and releasing a blast of wind in the shape of a scything blade of wind.

_And that would be the wind_. Thought Shikimaru as he dove forward arching himself under the blade of wind as he did so. As he came to his feet it was just in time to see Temari pulling back to unleash another blade of wind in his direction causing him to dive away once again to avoid the hit.

_This guy's a little faster than I thought, still he doesn't seem to have anything special to throw at me, as long as I keep him on the move he shouldn't be a problem. _Temari though to herself even as she hauled back and shot another blast of wind across the arena.

Above them the members of team ten and a few of the others couldn't help but flinch as every blast of wind missed Shikimaru and gouged another trench in the arena floor.

"Darn it Shikimaru hit her back already!" called Ino from her spot on the railing. Choji beside her could only look down worriedly at his friend. Asuma was standing over them simply looking down at his student with a small smile on his face. He reached down and placed a hand on Choji's shoulder causing the boy to look back up at his sensei.

"Don't worry Choji Shikimaru isn't going to be pushed into a corner so easily just wait and see." Asuma said in an obviously confident tone. Choji seemed to lighten up at this and even Ino flashed him a grin before continuing to shout down at the fight below. The other teams were also watching trying to figure out how they would take on either of these opponents if they were going to be facing them in the future.

Down below Temari had just sent another blast at Shikimaru causing him to dive forward sprawling only a few feet in front of the blond. Temari wasted no time in bringing her fan above her head to swing down at the prone boy. However, before the fan could hit its target she suddenly froze as if bound by several hands her arms going spread eagle and her fan falling out of her hands clattering to the floor.

"W-what the hell?" asked Temari looking down to see a sliver of black that must have been the boys shadow connecting with her own. Shikimaru let out an exhausted little sigh as he slowly pushed himself up from the floor staggering back a few feet as he did so forcing Temari to do the same, till the two stood a small distance apart.

"Shadow possession jutsu success." breathed out Shikimaru with a small smile as he straightened to face the blond girl.

"W-what the hell is this why can't I move?" called Temari through gritted teeth as she strained her muscles against the invisible force holding her but to no effect.

"It's no use my moves are your moves now." called Shikimaru, as he reached down to pull out a single kunai forcing Temari to do the same. "Now let's see which one of use has a higher tolerance to pain shall we?" he finished flinging the kunai forward towards Temari even as she was forced to mirror his actions.

The audience above watched as the two weapons shot towards the two shinobi aimed directly at each of their faces. Just a second before the blade would have stabbed into their faces Shikimaru bent backwards into a back bend his two hands planting onto the ground below him. At the same time Temari was forced to fling herself back and with a loud crack he slammed her head into the arena wall that Shikimaru's retreat had backed her up against.

Shikimaru let the shadow possession fade, as he hopped back onto his feet a small smile on his face as he turned ways from Temari, as she slipped to the arena floor without a sound.

"You need to mind your surroundings, I was waiting for you to let me get in close, and maneuver you over to the wall since the fight began." Shikimaru stated cracking his neck back and forth without looking back at her.

Just as he was about to leave the arena floor a harsh bark of laughter caught his attention.

"and you should learn to make damn sure that an enemy is down before bragging rookie!" called Temari as she flew through a few hand signs and spit out a cannon ball sized blast of air that slammed into Shikimaru's back flinging him forward crashing into the wall opposite him and knocking him unconscious with the blow.

Temari pushed herself up wiping away a trickle of blood from her forehead as she walked over to her fan. Anko let out a small bark of laughter at the end of the fight while raising a single hand up in the air before calling out.

"Winner Temari of Suna, someone get Shikimaru over to the medics." called Anko as Temari took a few shaky steps up the stairs and over to her team. Over with team ten Asuma was shaking his head slightly with his eyes closed. Choji was looking down at his teammate with a little worry as well, while Ino was busy shouting over the railing about how much of a baka Shikimaru had been to let her beat him like that.

"Give it a rest Ino." Sakura said after a moment calling over to her friend, even as the blonde turned from the railing to face her.

"Come on Sakura he had it won, and then he made a rookie mistake like that!" called Ino waving a hand behind her. Sakura just shrugged and looked over at the board that was once again spinning through names. As the rotary finished Anko once again called out the coming contestants.

"Ok Sakura of Konoha and Choji of Konoha get down here and let's get going. Sakura looked over to see Choji with his arm still wrapped up in a sling meet her eyes for a moment. Choji seemed to think for a moment before steeping to the edge of the railing and calling down to Anko.

"I forfeit!" called Choji causing Anko to shrug slightly before waving a hand for the monitor to start whirling again. Sakura gave Choji a small mile and walked over to him.

"Sorry Choji, I'm sure without your arm like that we would have had a good match." Sakura said looking over at the heavy set boy who gave her a small smile and nod.

"Ya but like this I don't think I'd do anything but hurt myself more." He said with a small twinge as he moved his arm. Sakura seeing this reached forward with green chakra extending form her palms as she did so.

"Here if I'm not going to fight i can at least do something to help you out with that arm." Said Sakura as her chakra began to seep itself into the arm, as the bone began to reseal itself under the bandages slowly. Both Kurenai and Azuma gave the pair an approving little nod before their turned their eyes to look over at the monitor as it spun to a halt once again.

"Right Sasuke of Konoha and Kin of Sound hurry up and get down here already!" called Anko, prompting the two to leap down into the arena and square off. As the two were getting ready to fight outside of the forest at the Shinju residence a familiar blond women was sitting on her back patio with her old apprentice enjoying some tea.

"So how do you think the gaki's are doing right about now?" asked Tsunade as she sipped a little more of her tea. Shizune looked over at her teacher, and paused to consider her question for a moment.

"I would say the better question is how much havoc do you suppose they've managed." Joked the women in a voice of obvious amusement. Tsunade allowed herself to think about it for a moment before allowing her mind to show her images of Seedlings running amok and letting out a small bark of laughter.

"Hai Shizune, I think you're right about that, heck I wouldn't be surprised if they mess up the whole exam, by accident. As the two women chuckled they almost missed it when a plume of smoke a few yards away in the middle of their backyard deposited an older man with long spiky white hair. The two women turned in their chairs to see Jiraiya making his way over to where the two sat a grim bit of determination apparent on his face. As he closed in on the two he called out to them.

"Tsunade we need to talk, its important." He said coming to stand across the table form the two as he did so. Tsunade caught the odd tone in Jiraiya's voice as he spoke and set her cup down to face the man.

"Nice to see you too Jiraiya, mind telling me what is so important?" asked Tsunade an equal amount of seriousness in her tone as she did so. She still hadn't figure out exactly where Jiraiya fit with Naruto's treatment, but a nagging feeling told her that he was involved in a big way. So for the time being she would wait and see.

"Tsunade I'm serious this is important there is something I need to tell you." replied Jiraiya, without pausing. Tsunade took a moment to lean back and fix her old teammate with a straight look before speaking again.

"Then say it, I'm waiting." stated Tsunade simply without blinking an eye. Jiraiya glanced over at Shizune for a moment but she just settled herself back with the same posture as Tsunade, and gave Jiraiya a look that dared him to try and tell her to leave. For a second Jiraiya was tempted to do just that, but with another look at the two women wisely thought better of it and with a defeated little shake of his head decided just to solider on.

"Ok fine." He replied pulling up a car and taking it across form the two women's gaze looking back and forth for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh and beginning.

"Look I need you to help me in training the girls again during the month between the second and final exams." Jiraiya began, while the two women looked at each other with quirked eyebrows, before looking over at him again.

"Um sorry I don't think I heard you properly, because it sounded like you're asking me to drop my work at the hospital as well as my work with my new apprentice to help out Minami and Naruko, who have you, Minato and anyone else they want at their beck and call for training." Interrupted Tsunade giving the man a look like he was crazy. Tsunade may have cared a lot about the two girls, heck they were basically family to her, but something about this didn't sit right with her. Jiraiya knew he was on thin ice, and he was doing all he could do was not to fall in. Still in Jiraiya's mind he wasn't going to fall in so he just continued forward.

"Tsunade you need to understand what is happening here." started Jiraiya, but before he could say more Tsunade had leaned forward and grabbed a figure towards the man's face in a threatening manner.

"You're right Jiraiya I do need to know what's going on, how about we start with why you and Minato seem to be focused only on the girls, and don't seem to care about anything else." fired off Tsunade, not giving him a moment to breathe before she continued again.

"Or how about you tell me why it seems like you and Minato are trying to move everyone you know around like some kind of chess pieces!" finished Tsunade bringing a hand down to the table top sending several cracks down the table as she did so. Jiraiya managed to suppress his flinch while clenching both his fists under the table and stealing himself to respond.

"Tsunade this isn't a game, there was a prophecy about the girls from the toad sage, and if we don't look after it the village, heck the whole shinobi world could be in danger!" Jiraiya half yelled at his old teammate. Tsunade and Shizune paused at hearing this for a moment, as a sage herself Tsunade knew what a prophecy could mean, and Shizune as the newest holder of the slug contract had been given enough teaching in the workings of the summon world to understand how dangerous a prophecy could be.

"Wait what the heck are you taking about a prophecy? Wait when did this happen?" asked Shizune trying to figure out what exactly was going on. The questions seemed to snap Tsunade out of her momentary stupor and she too turned her attention back to the toad sage.

"What?" asked Jiraiya slightly caught off guard form the question? Tsunade was the next to question.

"She asked you what and when did this prophecy came up, and I'm asking you right now why am I only hearing about it now if it's do so important?" Asked Tsunade her tone becoming more suspicious as the questions about the prophecy began to spark more questions rather than answers. Jiraiya looked between the two women before swallowing heavily before starting into a full explanation of the prophecy as well as the change in it.

Tsunade and Shizune just sat listening to Jiraiya, letting the facts of the prophecy fall into place as they did so. Naruto's apparent abandonment so as not to threaten the girls teamwork, the one would rise and fall, sparking what they knew surrounding the events in wave, and that they had all been effectively moving things around so that these two's ideas of a prophecy could come to pass. Jiraiya finished his explanation looking over at the two women, seemingly pleased with their shocked expressions.

Jiraiya allowed himself a moment to think he had actually managed to impress upon the two the justification for his actions, but he was more than a little wrong. Tsunade was just putting the pieces fully together, and was growing more and more disgusted the more she realized what she had a part been of.

_Those stupid self-rightchous bastards! You stupid toad loving baka's you don't even know what you've done to that boy do you? _Thought the enraged woman, her anger turning from a boiling rage to something beyond what she had ever felt, a rage so intense that it scared her to her very core. Shizune could almost taste the anger coming off of Tsunade, and instinctively moved herself slightly away from the blonde women fearing what was coming next. Jiraiya shifted slight in his chair as Tsunade pulled her two hands in front of her and intertwined the fingers together to rest her forehead on slightly so that she looked as though she was in prayer. Seconds ticked slowly by as Shizune and Jiraiya exchanged confused and slightly fearful look. This was not like the Tsunade they knew, she could be violent, loud, and scary, but this was something new. After a few moments Tsunade raised her head slightly to look across the table at Jiraiya so that only her eyes met his.

"Get out." the blonde said her tone one of icy cold anger. Jiraiya flinched slightly at her tone, but started to speak again.

"Tsunade don't you," he began, but before he could say more he heard a cracking sound coming form over where the women was sitting. As he looked at the source he saw that Tsunade's hands were incased in a small amount of green chakra surrounding her hands. At first he assumed it was some kind of excess chakra from her anger, but as he watched he saw that Tsunade's intertwined fingers were gripping so hard into their adjacent hands that the bones were cracking, and splintering under them. The green chakra was a result of Tsunade healing her hands, at the same pace as the damage was inflicted. With a shudder Jiraiya realized that if she had allowed herself to relax from holding herself in check he would likely have been literally in pieces scattered across her lawn.

Shizune noticed it to, and only through an enormous amount of willpower was able to keep herself from flinging herself over the table at Jiraiya; but like her old teacher she simply held it back forcing herself to stay seated.

"Jiraiya if I have to tell you one for time to get out I may actually kill you, now get away from me, and so help me if you try and argue the point you and sensei will be having a reunion party." Tsunade said again in that icy cold tone that left an almost tangible anger in the air as it went. Jiraiya gave the two women a final look before wisely deciding to disappear in a cloud of smoke leaving the two women once again alone in the yard. After a few seconds Shizune reached over and gently took Tsunade's hands wrapping her own in a light of green chakra to help in mending the cracked bones, and broken skin. For a time the only sound was the wind in the trees, and the small hum of chakra as Shizune took her time seeing to each wound and blemish on Tsunade's hands. True Tsunade could have fixed them faster, but she seemed to understand that Shizune needed to do this to allow her own anger to subside.

When the job was done the two women sat in silence for a time, just allowing what they had heard to process. Finally Tsunade spoke up.

"So that's was all this is about, some stupid prophecy gets told and those two run off to save the world and damn the consequences." She said in a tone of biting anger. Shizune's simply looked over at the blonde for a moment before bowing her head slightly before answering.

"Should we tell Naruto and Kushina?" asked Shizune looking out over the back yard with a sad little air to her tone. Tsunade turned her own gaze out towards the lawn as well taking a few calming breaths before nodding to her friend.

"Hai Shizune if they don't already know then we owe them that much, I just hope they can handle it." she finished pushing herself away from the table and turning to head inside her green jacked catching in the wind as she did so. Shizune turned with a small confused expression towards the retreating form of her old sensei.

"Tsunade where are you going?" she asked prompting Tsunade to stop for a moment and look over her shoulder at the still seated woman.

"I'm going to find the closest bar and drink until I don't feel like killing a pair of blonde and white haired men, care to join me?" she asked a small smile playing across her lips as she asked. Shizune took a moment to smile herself before she too pushed herself back form the table and rose.

"Hai I think I'd need that, and heck if we plan a few ways to get back at the bastards while we are drinking then that's just how it goes." Smiled the black haired women gaining a larger smile in turn from Tsunade.

"Hai it would be at that." She said as the two made their way into the house, and out towards the village.

Meanwhile back at the arena Naruto was currently trying and failing to pry two children from his legs while Hinata, Hitomi and Kushina looked on. Kiba was just making his way down to the arena for his match, and Naruto was starting to wonder if he would even be able to make it to his with these two little anchors attacked to his legs.

"Imoto, Hanabi, I keep telling you I can't let out Seed-kun right now I have a match coming up!" begged Naruto even as a golden chain snaked its way up to pull down an arm he had been using to hold a grip on the balcony. Meanwhile Mito and Hanabi both of which had wrapped themselves around his legs looking up at him with all to round pleading eyes.

"But Aniki we want to cheer on Seed-kun as well." Replied Mito in a tone part way between pleading and a whine. Hanabi just nodded his head in agreement with the redhead, causing Naruto to give the boy a little bit of a glare.

"You traitor." Whispered Naruto just as a second golden chain wrapped around the boys head and pulled him down into a pile with the two children. Kushina and Hitomi were trying not to giggle at the threes antics while Hinata sat up and made her way over to the struggling mass. Without any seeming effort she pulled out Mito and Hanabi holding both by the back of their clothing holding them above Naruto who was still looking a bit dazed.

"Hanabi, Mito that's enough, and Naruto stop playing around we need to cheer for Kiba." Said Hinata in a tone that made all three nod their heads to her. Kushina looked over at Hitomi for a moment one eyebrow quirked up in question, to which Hitomi simple smiled and pretended not to notice. Hinata managed to get all of them in line before Anko called for the match to begin.

"Ok Gaki's lets go Kiba of Konoha verses Karin of Kiri lets go." called Anko taking a step back as she did so. Kiba gave a small fierce smirk as he leapt back from the redhead girl he was facing down. Karin simply drew out a single Kunai sinking into a battle position of her own waiting for Kiba to make the first move.

_Ok Akamaru lets do this I'll head at her from the front, when we engage you get behind her, and wait, if I can't handle her in close quarters you hit her in the back. _Kiba thought through the pollen connection between him and Akamaru. Akamaru let out a small bark of agreement leaping behind the boy to get in position. Meanwhile Karin was trying to figure out her own move.

_Darn just what I didn't need, some stupid one on one fight, for the love of Kami we're shinobi, why would we ever want a fair fight? And it just had to be an Inuzuka, I can't match him in close quarters, and he has his partner on top of that, what am I going to do? _Thought the panicked redhead, but before she could find an answer to her fears Kiba had sprung forward towards her low to the ground with his features becoming more feral as he came on.

As Kiba closed he threw clawed hand forward in an open palm strike his claws extended towards the girls arm holding the Kunai. Karin twisted at the last moment in time for the arm to sail past her, but her relief was short lived. As Kiba's right palm shot by Kiba gave a twist of his body causing him to turn the diving strike into a spinning tornado of wind and claws. Karin was thrown back from the blow several small cuts opening up as the claws struck home. Kiba landed a few feet away canceling his spin and turning to face his opponent once again.

Karin meanwhile was making her way to her feet, a few red drops of blood running down her arms and on her uniform as she placed the kunai between her and Kiba, trying to keep her breathing steady. Kiba relaxed slightly as he looked over at Karin.

_Ok either she isn't a combat type or she's trying to lure me into a trap, heck Shino just did that to win his match with that weird sound guy. Still it doesn't seem like she's holding back, still Kushina-sensei told me to not give them time to plan so I guess there's nothing for it. _Thought Kiba sending a simple mental command over to Akamaru and pulling in the chakra around him.

Karin's eyes went wide as Kiba leapt forward once again transforming into a spiraling tornado of claws and wind. She was about to dodge away when she felt another chakra spike behind her, and looked over to see a second tornado heading her way.

"Oh come on!" shouted Karin seeing herself stuck between two oncoming attacks. Without pausing she flew through several hand signs before the attacks could connect. As the two tornados meet a sound like a buzz saw connecting with cement was heard and a splash of something was seen flying out from the point of contact. Several of the spectators flinched at this.

""Ouch that was a little much wouldn't you say?" said Naruko as she looked over at the other gathered teams. Sasuke only grunted at hearing this, he had been acting pretty cocky after his match. Kin had relied mostly on genjutsu's and the sharingan had rendered her helpless to do anything to take him out.

The remaining members of team ten looked down at the arena and then over to Naruko with looks of agreement. Ino in particular nodded herself nursing the injury she had received earlier from her match against that Haku person from Kiri. Heck she hadn't been able to even make a solid fight of it before she had been peppered with senbon, causing her muscles to give out under her. Luckily for her none of her injuries were too serious, and Sakura was able to put her right enough to stay and watch the following matches. Team Guy in the meantime simply stared down at the point of impact without comment.

Over with team eleven Naruto and Hinata had acted fast enough to cover their younger siblings eyes causing the two to protest loudly wanting to see what was happening next. Hinata looked over at Naruto with a small look of concern. Naruto looked over to her, then back down into the arena, before turning back to her with a small smile.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan it's ok." said the blonde letting his hands fall away from Mito's eyes, while the little girl shot him a look of annoyance at his actions. As Hinata looked down she saw that the dust was clearing and two Kiba's found themselves blinking at one another while standing around an apparent puddle of water as they did so. Hinata seeing this relaxed her hands as well turning her attention back to the fight below.

Kiba scanned the arena quickly spying Karin leaning against the wall wiping a bit of sweat from her brow, but giving him a small happy grin.

"Ha missed me dog breath." called Karin while she started to fly through several hand signs. However, just as she started to she noticed Kiba give a small smirk of his own as one of the Kiba's dispersed into a wisp of air, and her chakra sensory abilities screamed at her to move.

From her left leapt a small white puppy that let out a loud bark as it spun towards her becoming a ball of white fur the size of a basketball flying towards her face. Before she could do more than raise her arms up to block the blow Akamaru had impacted her forcing her to fly across the arena landing a few feet in front of Kiba who had knelt down into another fighting position. As she skidded to a halt she took notice of a shadow falling across her form causing her to look up at Kiba's form looking down at her.

"Oh to hell with this!" called Karin putting her hand up in a show of surrender. Seeing this Kiba allowed the chakra he had gathered to disperse, as he took a step back a large grin spreading across his face. Meanwhile Akamaru had run forward and hoped onto Karin's back barking excitedly at his victory. Kiba only chuckled while moving over to pick the pup off of the redhead. Meanwhile Karin was busy inventing and figuring out a few special swear words while waiting to be able to get up off of the ground.

As Kiba made his way to the stairs the rest of team eleven along with several members of Konoha's other teams let out cheers, at his victory. While Anko just shook his head slightly at the celebration while cocking her head over to look at Karin who had just pushed herself up and into a sitting position shaking her head slightly in an attempt to clear it. Meanwhile the board began to cycle through the names once again as Kiba arrived over with the rest of his team.

"Congratulations buddy, nice show" called Naruto flashing him a thumbs up which Kiba returned smiling as in turn. Hinata bent down to catch Akamaru up in a hug scratching the puppy lightly behind the ears as she did. Kushina also stepped forward to clap Kiba on the shoulder, and offer a few words of praise. Just as they were about to start talking about his fight in detail Anko's voice came sailing up to them from the arena below.

"Ok we have Naruto of Konoha, and Suigetsu of Kiri hurry up and get down here, and Karin hurry up and get up unless you feel like fighting again." called Anko in ringing tone directing her final words over toward Karin who had just managed to push herself up from the floor. The redhead shot Anko a small glare as she did so, and was about to shoot the women a dirty comment when Suigetsu jumped from the top of the arena to land beside the girl letting out a small happy call as he did

"Woo it's about damn time!" called the white haired boy as he landed flashing both Anko and Karin a shark toothed grin as he looked around at them focusing on Karin. "What's wrong red did the mean old puppy beat you up to bad?" mocked Suigetsu as he leaned in to smile down at the girl. Without missing a beat Karin hauled back and swung her hand to smack the boy across the face hard enough to make his face ripple once again, and even allow a few flecks of water to fall away from his form, but his smile never faltered.

"Just because I'm not an empty headed brawler like you are doesn't mean I'm going to put up with your crap!" shouted the girl her teeth grinding together, as she glared over at her teammate. Anko stood back a few feet with her arms folded enjoying the free show she was getting, and as a result none of the three noticed with Naruto had arrived standing beside her with his hands in his pockets smiling over at the scene before him.

"Aw what a cute couple they make don't you think?" asked Naruto speaking up for the first time causing the three to look over at him with a small amount of shock at the boys presence. Suigetsu at the boys words, threw back his head and let out a bark of laughter, at the blondes words, while Anko did much the same after she had gotten over his ability to sneak up on her. Karin in the meantime saw red at the blonde's words and marched over to him her fists clenched and her face turned into a mask of rage.

Naruto was suddenly struck by the vision of his mother the few times he had gotten her truly mad at him as Karin marched her way over towards him. His mind was still processing this as Karin reached him haling back a fist to slam forward at the blonds face. On instinct Naruto raised a hand to catch the girls blow, and as he did so he felt a familiar twinge as her chakra rushed over him. The shock was enough for him to totally miss the second blow that caught him across the chin forcing him back a step.

At this Suigetsu let out another bark of laughter, and Anko couldn't help but join in as well.

"Hey Naruto if you're done getting hit around you have a match to get to." called Anko in a slightly mocking tone as Naruto rubbed his jaw and stared over at Karin his eyebrows raised in apparent surprise. Karin just shrugged it off and moved back to the stairs to start walking up while Anko and Suigetsu looked over at him with mocking looks. At the same time up on the balcony Mito was calling Karin a meanie, while the rest simply chuckled about what had just occurred below. Over with the other groups Karin was just reaching the top and walked over to where Haku was standing the mask still acting to conceal the hunter ninja's face. As Karin got within range Haku spoke up.

"Well you certainly put on a show for everyone." Haku said turning to face the girls as she reached his side. Karin flashed another glare towards her teammate before looking down at the arena.

"Ya well what was I supposed to do I'm a medic and a sensor specialist, not a face to face fighter that's your and water boy's specialty. Haku paused at this the masked figures looking back down at the arena before speaking again.

"I was talking about your little spat between the blonde boy Naruto, and what was it he called Suigetsu, your boyfriend." Haku replied in a slightly mocking tone that caused the redhead to turn fiery red eyes over at him, but decided to leave it at that for the moment.

Meanwhile below Naruto and Suigetsu had squared off and were now waiting for Anko's signal to go.

_Hey Juubi? _Called Naruto in his head as he settled into position.

"**Hai what is it Naruto, wanting to know the right way not to get clobbered by a girl?" **Asked the Juubi in a teasing tone, that caused Naruto to give her an annoyed little look that bled into his tone as he replied.

_No I don't, I was going to say did you notice the way his face rippled when that girl hit him? _Naruto asked as she allowed a pair of premade chakra bars to slip down his sleeves so that their ends rested in his palms. Juubi seemed to pause for a moment one hand raised to tap lightly at her chin as she mulled over what he had just said before responding.

"**You know, now that you mention it I did, I mean when she hit you, you just stumbled back but he took it like it was nothing, maybe he's just tougher than you." ** Joked Juubi enjoying poking playfully at the boy. Ever since last night at seeing her Kyu's actions in helping the seedling she had been in a playful mood. Naruto in turn let out an annoyed little growl in his head causing Juubi to raiser her hands up in a playacting manner as if accepting defeat.

"**Ok, ok I'll stop," **she said brushing one hand back through her purple hair before continuing, **"I remember seeing something like that when I was up in the moon, some kind of bloodline that allowed a person to turn their body into a particular element at will, I'm guessing that's what this guy is, probably makes him mostly immune to physical damage." **started Juubi in a lecturing tone while Anko was looking back and forth between the two about to start the match.

_Ok so mind giving me a hint as of what to do about it? _Asked Naruto as Anko began to call out for the match to start.

"…**.Really come on Naruto your chakra will negate his ability, heck he may just fold after a single hit." ** Replied the Juubi in a tone that made it clear she was wondering if Naruto was even thinking clearly.

_Oh ya, thanks Juubi. _Replied Naruto just as Anko leapt back signaling the beginning of the match. A second later Naruto was forced to dive sideways as Suigetsu shot forwards pulling a flat blade from his back that seemed to be some kind of claymore. The blade smashed down into the arena floor cracking the floor where it hit, and sending small bits of debris away from the impact. Naruto skidded over from the blow letting the two bars slip out of his sleeves and into his hands as he landed. As the white haired boy was moving to yank out his blade Naruto sprinted forwards and jumped at his opponent twisting as he did so, so that his two bars swung together as a single hard blow across the boy's face.

From the smirk on Suigetsu's as well as the other members from Kiri's faces they had expected the blow to do little more than annoy the shark toothed boy. Instead the blow connected squarely on the boys chin and forehead, with a resounding crack sending the boy flying across the arena and into a wall with an impact that cracked its foundation, and sent up a small cloud of dust. Naruto landed turning to face the direction he had sent his opponent just in time to see the boy fall from the wall to the floor on his hands and knees, hacking up a glob of blood as he hit the ground. A feeling of surprise shot though the minds of all of those who knew about the white haired boys bloodline as they saw the blow land, none more so than the boy himself.

_What the hell was that, why didn't my body take the blow like it's supposed to? _He thought; his teammates and Sensei thinking along the same lines as him. Before he could do more than wonder why he had been hit he looked up in time to see that Naruto had covered the distance to him and was taking another golf like swing aimed at his temple. He managed to roll out of the way in time to avoid the swing of the black rod and swung his right arm out in a swiping motion his arm swirling into water as it went stretching out across the floor two wrap around his blade. With another motion he yanked the blade free of the ground as it flew back towards him, as he shot his left arm forward towards Naruto firing off a blast of water to attempt to knock him back.

Naruto was able to raise one of his rods in time to intercept the water causing the white haired boy to let out a shout of pain as the water he had transformed his hand into water destabilized and splashed down to the ground. The momentary pain caused him to lose his hold on his blade as well allowing the weapon to clatter loudly to the ground as it hit. As the boys arms re-solidified he turned his face up in time to see Naruto sweeping a leg out to give a spin kick to the boy's face slamming him back into the wall once again with another loud crack. After that the white haired boy slumped quietly to the floor, without letting out so much as a groan as he fell forward.

The arena was silent for a few moments, until a few voices rang out from a particular spot of the watching crowd.

"YAY ANIKI THAT WAS AWSOME!" called Mito jumping up and down while waving her hands above her head drawing Naruto's attention as she did so. Beside her Hanabi was also clapping along with Hinata, while Kushina wrapped an arm around Hitomi with a fox grin plastered across her face while flashing a piece sigh down towards the blond.

Naruto turned his head up to see the cheering group resting one of the bars lazily on his shoulder as he smiled over at the group letting his other arm fall gently to his side. With the rest of the teams most were just stunned at what they had seen. Naruto was never this strong that any of them could remember from the academy. Heck at the moment most of them were too shocked at the match's quick outcome to do more than gape. There were a few exceptions however.

Minami for one was smiling down at Naruto while clapping happily for her Oniichan's success. Sasuke was grunting in annoyance at the match, he had been watching the match with his sharingan activated to try and examine both opponents but for some reason he had been unable to focus them on the pair, it was almost as if he had been looking at them with some kind of interference.

Naruko in the meantime was simply stunned at Naruto's apparent brutality, and movements. Somewhere in the back of her head she recognized some of his movements as those her mother had once showed her, but what bothered her more than that was the odd feeling she was getting from those black bars that Naruto was holding.

Something similar was flashing through Minato's mind as he watch Naruto slip the two bars back into his sleeves and make his way up the stairs. More than that he was forced to wonder just how strong his Sochi had become after joining team eleven. Worse than that with a pang Minato remembered his promise all those years ago to train him when he was ready, now he stood having passed the second round of the chunnin exams, and Minato couldn't even tell what kind of technique the boy had been using.

Haku in the meantime was tracking Naruto's progress remembering how the boy had apparently shirked off Zabuza's blow back in wave. Now the boy had somehow bypassed his teammate bloodline with apparently no effort.

_Hm… the blows he landed on Zabuza messed up his chakra maybe he has some kind of bloodline having to do with that, I would probably be a good idea to look into this one a little closer._ Haku thought turning to walk over to where the Konoha teams stood gathered around one another. As Haku approached Ino, Sakura, and all three members of team seven seemed to notice him and turned in to face the approaching teen. Ino in particular seemed a little nervous about the figures approach, and was about to speak when the Kiri youth reached up to pull away the mask concealing their face.

As the mask came down a very feminine face greeted the group sparking a few different reactions from the group. Ino huffed in apparent annoyance at the figures looks, while Sakura turned a knowing little smile on her friend guessing at why Ino suddenly looked annoyed. Minami and Naruko looked mostly curious as to the shinobi's intention, while Sasuke had taken a double take and was now simply looking at the unmasked teen with a strange amount of intensity.

"Hello I am Haku of Kira, and I was wondering if any of you might be able to answer a question for me about the last match?" Haku started his tone calm and conversational, while also being somehow welcoming. Most of the group relaxed at the teen's tone allowing them to look around at one another, before Minami moved to step forward, but before she could Sasuke had taken stepped in front of her to speak first.

"Why should we tell you anything, just because blondie down there took out your teammate doesn't mean that you need to know what we do." replied Sasuke looking Haku up and down as he did so. Haku simply quirked an eyebrow up at the Uchiha's comment before looking over his shoulder towards the other members speaking over the boy.

"Is it possible to talk to someone who isn't an insufferable ass or is that just not going to happen?" started Haku in a tone that made it clear how little he thought of Sasuke's attempts at intimidating the teen. Without skipping a beat Haku then turned to look at Sasuke before continuing. "And if you don't mind please stop looking me up and down, I don't know about you but I don't swing that way." Haku said mentally cursing his own appearance as he did so. This comment hit the Uchiha like a blow to the face, and actually caused him to take a step back from the other boy. Meanwhile Ino's look of anger had been replaced by one of interest, while Sakura, Minami, and Naruko were fighting to keep from bursting out laughing at the boys comment. Without pausing Haku once again turned towards the group, and Minami decided to answer his questions if nothing else to help pay him back for putting Sasuke in his place.

"Well Haku-san my name is Minami, and I guess I can answer some of your questions about my Oniisan." started Minami, causing Haku to turn towards the girl, and almost do a double take as he saw her appearance. For a second he thought he was looking at a sister of Karin, but after a second he realized that the girls hair and eyes were a shade darker than Karin's and her face also didn't match up quite right. After a second Haku remember himself, and turned to face Minami a small smile on his face.

"Thank you Minami-san, I was just wondering if you knew if he had some kind of special kekkei genkai?" asked Haku in a polite tone. Minami paused at the question her mind recalling Naruto's new chakra and understanding what the boy was asking her for. After a moment she looked over at him.

"Well my mother and little sister have a kekkei genkai, but Naruto has never had anything like that." She responded keeping her tone even as she did so. Haku took a moment to watch her before nodding slowly towards her. Ino seeing this took the chance to step forward a small smile playing across her face as she gave a little wave to get Haku's attention towards her.

"Um excuse me?" she started as Haku looked over at her, "um I was just wondering if you could answer me a quick question?" asked the blonde, drawing a few looks form the Konoha teams around her as well as a nod from Haku.

"Um I was just wondering if you were seeing anyone at the moment?" asked Ino a small blush appearing on her cheeks as she asked? Sakura sighed at her friends question going so far as to smack herself on her forehead at her friend's priorities. Minami let out a small giggle, while Naruko just shook her head and turned back to watch the next fight. Haku to most of their surprise also blushed heavily at the question the red lighting up his pale cheeks very visibly as he did so. Before he could look more than surprised Karin had made her way over to the group marching up beside Haku giving him and the rest of them an quick once over before giving Minami a double take as well.

For a second they all just stood there in silence trying to figure out what to say next. In all likelihood they would have continued like that for a little while longer if Naruto hadn't walked past the group and like an agent of chaos managed to at once defuse and complicate the situation more than they could have believed possible. Without pausing he stepped through the group patting Minami gently on the shoulder as he passed her speaking loud enough for all of them to hear his words.

"Don't worry Minami you aren't going crazy," he said waving a hand over towards Karin as he continued forward, "she's an Uzumaki, I guess Kaasan wasn't the last one left after all, so she is like our cousin I guess." finished the blond. This caused both Karin and Minami to look first at the blond then over at each other before turning back to face Naruto who hadn't even slowed as he passed by the pair. Just as he was walking past Haku he gave the boy a small smile before tapping him lightly on the shoulder and giving him a small smile.

"Oh and Haku tell Zabuza he's got a mean swing with that blade of his." Naruto finished as he made his way past the group and headed over to where the rest of his team was standing leaving the confused group of teens in his wake. As he reached the group he was forced to duck as Mito tried one of her patented flying tackles to greet him. As he made his way forward he was greeted by Hinata and Kiba who both patted him on the back congratulating him on his victory. Hitomi and Kushina also smiled over at him offering their own congratulations. Naruto smiled around at them all before turning to smile over at Kushina how had wrapped three of her chains around Mito in order to give Naruto a moment without the small girl using him as her private plushy.

"Oh hey Kaasan, turns out we aren't the last Uzumaki that Karin girl is to, small world huh." Naruto said in a nonchalant tone causing Mito and Kushina to freeze for a moment before looking over to where they saw Minami and Karin standing side by side. Before the two could do more than stare however, the screen flashed to a halt once again and Anko yelled out to the room at large once again.

"Alright Naruko of Konoha and Dosu of Sound get down here." called Anko's voice, drawing team elevens attention to the arena floor where Naruko and Dosu had both leapt down to stand a few feet apart. The second that Anko had signaled the match to begin, Dosu was charging forward sweeping low bringing his gauntlet up to make a devastating haymaker towards Naruko's head. Naruko, however, didn't hesitate for a second and had already crossed her hands in a familiar handsign pulling out a small pulse of Kyuubi's chakra as she did so.

The next thing that Dosu knew he was surrounded on all sides by perfect copies of the redheaded girl all grinning at him dangerously. From all around him Naruko's voice coming from the crowd of clones around him.

"I'm going to teach not to mess with my team or my neesan!" came the call and as one a sea of blond haired girls raced forward like a flood swarming over the boy raining down blow after blown upon the Dosu the sound of hammering blows causing more than a few to flinch slightly and make their own mental note not to piss of the blond Namikaze girl if they wanted to retain control of their limbs. After a few minutes' worth of beating Naruko dismissed her clones, showing a severely beaten Dosu face down on the group looking nothing so much as one giant bruise. Naruko let a small pleased smile spread across her face as she looked around the arena her eyes focusing for a moment on where Mito was sitting.

Naruto noticed his sister's eyes focusing on Mito who was looking a little torn on how to respond. A small bit of sadness worked its way into Naruto's memory at seeing Naruko's gaze towards Mito. He couldn't help but remember all the times he had looked towards his Kassan and the Hokage with that same pleading look on his own face. Hoping, and wishing to see some kind of approval on it, and for that reason he made his way over to Mito kneeling beside her and resting her hand on her head gently. Mito looked up at Naruto who just smile down at her for a moment before speaking in a quiet tone.

"Mito, Naruko just fought a really good match cheer her on just like you did me ok." he said ruffling her hair as he did so. Mito blinked up at him for a moment before breaking into a small grin and nodding over at him before turning around to look back down at Naruko with a look of concentration on her face. Without missing a beat Mito hoisted herself up onto the railing brining her hands up to cup her mouth as she did.

"YOU SEE THAT EVERYONE NARUKO ONEESAN TOOK OUT THAT MUMMY GUY IN NO TIME!" cheered the little redhead, as Naruto gave her a small smile as he looked around catching Hinata's eyes as he did so. Hinata walked up to stand beside Naruto giving him a simple one armed hug as she did so. Naruko in the meantime was practically skipping as she made her way back up the stairs.

_Mito-chan thank you I was really lost there for a bit, but seeing you proud of me, heck I feel like I can take on the whole world right now. _The blonde thought as she made her way slowly up the stairs. As she went Kyuubi couldn't help but put in his two cents worth.

"**I swear you monkeys can get excited over the most pointless things." **Spoke the fox lazily lifting one eye open as he nestled his head to rest down on his paws. Naruko screwed up her face in annoyance at the fox's comment sending him a mental glare.

_Oh shut up furball, I'm having a good time right now thanks to Mito-chan and I don't need you messing it up! _Shot Naruko in the fox's direction as she made her way over to where the rest of her team was standing. The Kyuubi shook its head letting out a small huff as it did so in annoyance at its host.

"**I just had to get the host that is so blind she can't even see what's staring her in the face." **Kyuubi mocked closing its eyes and going back to sleep without noticing the girls confusion.

_Huh what the heck are you talking about? Kyuubi! Hey you furball answer me! _Naruko mentally shouted but without effect. Kyuubi had sunk back to sleep without waiting to answer any questions from the girl. Naruko meanwhile mentally cursed giving herself a little shake of the head before looking over at her team for a moment, and then back over to where she had seen Mito a moment before. As her eyes tracked over to her imoto she felt a small pang of sadness as she saw Mito turn to receive a small pat from Naruto and then go over smiling to her mother.

_Man its been a long time since I got so see Kaasan and Mito like that, they're usually with Nar…Oniisan. _Thought the blonde as she turned back to her team shaking herself once again and trying to force out the doubting voice that had started to speak in her mind.As arrived over to her team she accepted a small hug of congratulation for Minami, and a grunt from Sasuke just as the screen began to flash through the names once again.

Over with Naruto and his group Mito had maneuvered herself back over to the edge of the arena looking down excitedly at the arena excitedly chatting away with Hanabi as she did. Naruto and Hinata had made their way over to Kiba and the three were all discussing some of the other matches trying to figure out their own strategies against the winners in case they had to fight them next.

"Ok Hinata of Konoha, and Kankuro of Suna let's hope you two give a longer match than the last one." called out Anko a note of amusement in her voice as she said the words. Team eleven stopped turning to look over at Hinata who gave a small smile back before she made her way towards the stairs. Kankuro for his part just gave a small bark of laughter at spying his opponent, before he too made his way down to the arena floor. As the two descended down the remaining members of team eleven just moved over to the railing to cheer their teammate on. Kushina also pushed Hitomi forward so that they all could get a good look at the fight below.

Down in the arena Anko was lazily cracking her head back and forth waiting for the two teens to fall into position, casting annoyed little looks at the two as they took their time getting into position.

"Hey princess, cat guy hurry up I haven't got all day!" called Anko with an annoyed tone, that caused Hinata to jump slightly and hurry over to her position, while Kankuro just gave Anko a sidelong glance while making his own slow track over to his position, were he stood with his hands still stuffed simply in his pockets a smug smile on his face.

Hinata in the meantime settled herself back into her gentle fist style, raising a palm out to face towards Kankuro, her head bowed slightly to cover up the fact that her Byakugan was already activated. Once the chakra flooded her eyes, she was suddenly given a clear view of the entire area, everyone becoming clear outlines pulsing with chakra, except oddly the boy standing in front of her.

_But why, wait there's another signature coming from the bundle on his back, and are those charka strings? _Thought Hinata taking in the odd hollow figure that seemed to be standing in front of her before she put together what she was seeing.

_Wait I've heard of this from Shizune sensei he's a puppet user, that means that his real body is the one in that bundle. _The pail eyed girl thought putting trying to remember what she had been told of the puppet user's style from Shizune. _Ok sensei said they use poisons and traps primarily, I can see some strings that branch off to different parts of the puppet, I guess that's what those are for, so I have to hit the puppeteer or sever the strings if I want to take him out. _Hinata concluded tensing slightly in preparation for her coming fight. However, before she could set her mind to the fight a loud call from the above setting drawer her attention.

"LETS GO HINATA-CHAN SHOW THAT MAKEUP GUY WHO HE'S MESSING WITH!" called Naruto soon joined by the rest of their personal cheering section.

"YA THREE FOR THREE HINATA LETS SHOW THEM WHAT TEAM ELEVEN IN MADE OF!" called Kiba Akamaru barking happily in turn offering up his support as well. Mito had managed to bat her eyes and get Naruto to hoist her onto his shoulder where she waved them excitedly. Meanwhile Hitomi and Hanabi were cheering and waving in turn.

"GO FOR IT ONEESAN YOU CAN DO IT!" called Hanabi from where he stood beside his mother who smiled around at the cheering youth offering a happy little clap to the cheering while smiling down softly at her musume with pride. While the others may not realize it Hitomi knew that her daughter was able to see them clearly thanks to her eyes. Hitomi had taught Hinata this particular trick in covering up her eyes before a fight. "no point in having an advantage like our eyes if you are going to advertise it to the world" she had said, a smile of pride coming to her face as she remembered the time. Now she just watched with pride as her musume fell into a battle stance.

Down below Hinata allowed herself to break into a smile as she focused back over at Kankuro who was still confident in his disguise. Anko in the meantime gave the two a quick look before shrugging slightly.

"Well at least princess over that has the right idea about this," mocked the purple haired examiner giving Kankuro a small annoyed look as she did so. Without waiting for a response from the boy she simply lifted her right arm up before speaking again.

"Ok whatever Hinata of Konoha, and Kankuro of Suna." She called taking a small hope back from the two to signal the start of the match.

Without a moment to lose Hinata sprang forward like an arrow from a bow her right hand flashing forward charged with chakra formed in a hammering blow that crashed hard into the apparently unprepared Kankuro. There was a loud crack that caused a few people to grimace slightly their minds giving them mental visions of breaking bone.

Hinata, however did not pause, knowing that her blow had only hit the puppet, and that if she did not keep up the assault on the puppeteer she would accomplish nothing. Still in order to let Kankuro think he had her tricked she had to hit the puppet with her opening move, or the boy may catch wise to her. So as the first blow landed Hinata followed through with the hit spinning her body with the blow while dropping down and swiping her left leg out in a swift scything motion aimed at the puppets feet. Kankuro seemed to have fallen for Hinata's ruse as he did not even bother to have his puppet crow attempt to avoid the blow. With another crack Hinata's leg connected sweeping the feet out from under the fake Kankuro, causing him to fall back twisting slightly so that the weight did not come down on the package holding the real puppeteer.

With a dull thump the Suna boy hit the ground with a convincing moan of pain, meant to make Hinata relax her guard, and give him an opening. Hinata didn't give the ruse a second thought as she turned the kick into a roll coming up on one knee while pulling back one of her sleeves to reveal her five senbon launchers across her arm. Before Kankuro could do more that swear under his breath Hinata let five needles fly plunging one after another into the wrapped parcel on Kankuro's back. With a roar of pain the wrapping around Kankuro burst off bits of cloth flying around him as she jumped to his feet, the painted face turning his anger filled eyes towards where Hinata was settling back into her stance allowing her sleeve to slip down over her wrist once again, a small confident smile playing across her face. Kankuro let out a few choice swears as he gave his fingers a flick allowing crow to burst out of his porcelain shell and leap to rest in front of him.

"Not bad princess, but you just lost your best chance to take me down, I won't be making that mistake twice." Fired of Kankuro taking a small calming breath and focusing on his opponent seriously for the first time since the battle had begun. Hinata for her part just gave the boy a harsh look, without responding her mind racing slightly.

_Wait how is he standing those senbon had enough paralyzing agent to put down a bull…crap he's a puppeteer he must have some immunities to poisons after his training… he may be right I may have just missed by best chance at him. _Thought Hinata as she focused back towards her opponent. Kankuro for his part made two swiping gestures with his arms his fingers twitching in an intricate pattern as though he was conducting an odd orchestra. His three eyed puppet lurched forward towards the pale eyed girls its arms spreading wide with an eerie chattering sound to complement its oddly inhuman movements.

Hinata saw the attack coming in time to step forward her right hand raised up to parry as the puppets first arm came down a blade shooting form its wrist as it closed. Hinata's hand slapped the inside of the arm forcing the blade off course before she was forced to drop the same arm down to drive an elbow into the puppets other arm that had also concealed a blade catching just as it was about to punch into her open stomach. Thanks to her Byakugan Hinata was able spin right enough to avoid the other two arms that tried to grapple her towards the puppets chest where several barbed spikes were protruding.

Hinata carried the spin around dashing under the puppets arms, and shooting towards Kankuro once again. Kankuro let out an angered grunt as he yanked his arms down causing crow to fly backwards after Hinata. Seeing this, the girl leapt slightly swiping her arms back and forth in wide graceful arks like movements in a dance. Without warning crow fell forward skidding across the ground for a few feet his strings severed. Before Kankuro could act Hinata had closed in and had landed a glancing blow on the boy chest causing him to real back letting out a hiss of pain as he did so.

Before Hinata could follow up her attack Kankuro flicked a finger causing a pair of kunai to fly free from his belt forcing the girl to ark herself back into a dive to avoid the blades. Kankuro seized the opportunity to fling his chakra strings forwards to connect with Crow again having the puppet fling out a salvo of kunai flying downrange towards Hinata forcing her to continue to bob and weave away from the boy. As the last kunai fired Hinata looked up to see Kankuro once again positioning crow in front of him, a pained expression on his face has he moved.

_Darn she's a lot better than I thought…wait those eyes damn it I didn't even notice damn it that's how she saw my chakra threads, most of my projectiles will be useless…unless. _Thought Kankuro a small smile gracing his lips as an idea flashed across his mind. His apparent happiness did not go unnoticed to Hinata who readied herself for the next attack.

Up in the stands team eleven and their fellow watchers were all watching the match in anxious excitement.

"I have to say Hito-chan she's just like you were at that age." said Kushina giving Hitomi a small smile that Hitomi returned without looking away from the arena.

"Hai she does, still I can see she's been getting some of your bluntness mixed in." teased Hitomi giving Kushina a small nudge with her elbow as she did. Kushina gave of a small chuckle as she raised a hand to rub absently at the back of her head.

"I guess she does at that, though I think that has to do more with keeping my Sochi in line." Chuckled Kushina giving her sochi a happy look from where she sat.

Naruto in the meantime was excitedly watching Hinata's match, while a since of pride welled up inside him at her hard work. Hinata and he had been the out liners of their families, the ones that no one thought would amount to anything. Now he was watching as Hinata danced and weaved around her opponent each blow feeling like its own victory, carrying with it the defiance they had thrown in the face of all those who had seen them as second rate. If Naruto found himself falling in love with the pale eyed girl he had grown up with all over again as he watched her battle below.

"**You know if you're not careful some other guy is going to try and take your princess away after this fight."** Joked Juubi seeing the obvious love in Naruto's eyes as she gazed down at Hinata. The blonde smirked slight not taking his eyes away from the combatants below.

_I think I'd feed them to Kyueed. _Thought Naruto in an annoyed little tone at Juubi's comment. Juubi paused for a moment trying to figure out what Naruto meant by his words.

"**Um Kyueed?" **asked Juubi after a second quirking one eyebrow in apparent confusion at the name. Naruto waved one hand slightly before responding.

_Hinata-chan and Minami came up with if for the new Seedling that Kyu helped….come to think of it Kyu probably had something to do with it to. _Replied Naruto drawing a sound of recognition for Juubi. After a moment Juubi let out a small pleased giggle.

"**oh I can't wait to hear what Mito will do when she finds out she can name them." **Chuckled Juubi in a mischievous tone. Naruto froze for a second before a small shiver when down his spin as he looked over at the grinning face of Mito as she and Hanabi cheered Hinata on.

_Oh kami help us we're doomed._ Swallowed Naruto as he forced himself to shake the worried thoughts out of his head. Juubi continued to giggle away, as their attention returned to the fight below.

Hinata had just spied some of the water a small ways off from her left over from Kiba's fight, and with a small smile formed a few quick hand signs just as Kankuro refocused on her. Kankuro flicked his hands slightly causing Crows mouth to swing open releasing a hail of senbon towards the girl just as he landed on the final hand sign. Before the needles could contact her, a shining disk of water formed before her intercepting the needles and causing them to fling themselves away from it causing Kankuro to curse under his breath. From behind the disk Hinata flew through a few more hand signs before the water condensed itself into a compassed mass and there where suddenly two Hinata's standing before Kankuro, both lowering themselves into a battle stance before springing forward at him once again.

Kankuro let out an angry roar at this swiping his hands out to either side causing crow to shutter for a moment before its chest cracked open an a virtual storm of kunai tailing explosive tags shot forward towards the pair of girls. Hinata only had a moment to reach and pull her clone into another shimmering shield before the explosion rocked her back. The water shield had done just enough to dull the blow, but mixed in with the explosive kunai had been others smaller acting as shrapnel to the larger explosions and more than a few had found their target burying themselves into the girls arms and legs bringing her hard to the ground as a cry of pain escaped her lips.

A cry went up from where team eleven was standing and Kushina had to help Kiba in restraining Naruto and Hanabi from leaping over the railing to go to the girls aid. Down below Hinata had rolled to her side enough to push herself into a kneeling position her mind racing as she tried to fight through the pain she could feel pulsing all over her body.

_n-no I can't ahh, no not here not after everything; I'm not going to lose here. _Hinata tried to think fighting through the pain, as her eyes saw dimly the outlines of Naruto and Hanabi struggling and calling down to her, although their voices were oddly muted as she looked at them. She absently felt a hot trickle of something on her cheek, and lifted a hand that came away red. With a start she realized that her ears were bleeding.

Kankuro allowed a small smug look to cross his face as she saw the state of his opponent. True he had been forced to pull out crows biggest guns to take her on, but still the result was the same and he was confident now in his victory. He made a small gesture with one hand that caused crow to close the hatch on its chest, while allowing its mouth to once more fall open.

Hinata in the meantime was still trying to push past her own pain, her arms and legs felt weak, heavy, and despite here attempts she didn't seem to be able to lift them. Her head was still ringing with the muffled sounds, her ears still damaged from the blast, and her breath came in ragged breaths that she could only notice thanks to the feeling that came with them. The only taste was the metallic one of blood and her nose could only feel the same all around her blending into a wide eyed silence of her senses. It was there in that silence where all of her other senses seemed to have been either removed or occupied that she could hear the voice inside of her for the first time.

_Blood of my blood, eye of my eye, it is time to open once more. _Spoke an odd little voice inside of Hinata's mind causing the girl to suddenly focus on it, momentarily frightened by its presence.

_w-who is that, Juubi? _Asked the concerned girl in her own mind trying to grasp onto something she could understand as the voice spoke again.

_I am you, you are me, pull away the curtain, and accept what your eyes were meant to see, open your blind eyes and see the world that our blood made, open your eyes and accept the burden of your family's sin, and help save the tree that we wronged. _Spoke the voice again, both strong and commanding, yet carrying a hint of sadness and self-loathing with it at the same time. Hinata simple sat there dazed as the words reverberated inside her head. Even as Kankuro flipped one finger and crow spat out a purple ball that streaked down towards the girl, she found herself unable to focus on anything but the voice inside of her.

_I-i don't understand what/who are you? _Asked Hinata again even as the ball of poison hit the ground before her carpeting her and that side of the arena in a cloud of purple gas that hissed ominously as it spread around the enclosure. The voice was silent for a moment before is spoke one final time its voice seemed to be washing away as it did so.

_I am but a shadow of a man a foolish man that realized his mistake only in time to die with a heavy heart… I am that man's dying wish and your birthright, now awaken, open our eyes and awaken OPEN THE EYES THAT CAN SEE THROUGH THE DARKNESS OF THE PAST AND HELP LOVE THE ONE WE WRONGED! _Called out the voice its final words like thunder as it spoke. With those final words Hinata felt an odd pulse in herself, and her sight changed.

It was as if she had never truly seen before, like she was a child opening their eyes for the first time, and suddenly she could see the chakra around her flowing like a river, back and forth in the air, in the ground and in the people around her. She saw what appeared to be a small speck of oddly purple chakra that looked like Naruto's seem to fall apart in her as the voice finished, she also saw her opponent, his chakra lines, the chakra in his skin, his flesh and even in the fibers that linked together to form his threads. Absently she noticed the odd presence of a pressure on the sides of her head but she didn't pay them any mind. She saw the mouths of Naruto and Hanabi, along with her Kaasan's, Kushina's and Mito's mouths all calling her name, and she seemed to recognize that she was in a cloud of purple fog for the first time. Absently she forced the chakra in the air to separate itself from the poison allowing her to take a soft breath, but even as she noticed all of this she felt the pain of her body once again, her thoughts turned back to her opponent.

He was too far away to hit with a blow, and her arms were still too heavy to get a good shot at him with her launcher, but for some reason she sensed there was a way to win. As if on instinct alone she saw the chakra strings that wrapped all around the puppet, tiny threads that branched out from the ten strings to wind themselves around the puppet top to bottom coating it in what appeared to be a kind of spider web. If only there was a way to tighten that web, and with that as if guided to do so she raised a shaky hand towards the puppet and pulled her hand into a hard fist while letting it fall to the ground.

From outside the cloud everyone was shocked to see the puppet crow shake violently for a second before it seemed to fall in upon itself as though crushed by some giant hand, its wood limbs and body splintering with a loud crack and grinding as it simply fell to the ground in splinters. Kankuro looked equally horrified, and scared as he saw his puppet literally fall to piece before his eyes. Sure he had heard of puppets doing something similar, if one put too much force into their threads they could damage their puppet, but this was like he had decided to crush the thing, and that wasn't right. From the observation deck Hitomi's eyes grew wider, as she saw the outline of her daughter in the cloud. It was only for a second but it looked as though there were two large shapes sticking out of her daughters head, but a moment later as the cloud had finally blown away there still on her knees was Hinata bloodied, and exhausted and looking more confused than anything else.

Kankuro for his part looked absolutely floored at the sight of his opponent still conscious, and looking his direction, with no puppet left he was doubtful of his chances. Sure this girl was on her last leg but she still had a leg to stand on, he meanwhile may as well have been naked for all the good he was with his puppet in pieces. He gave a quick glance back towards his sensei looking for instructions, he could replace crow with time, but if he was injured now he may not be ready for the invasion, and his mission had to come first. His sensei hesitated for a second before giving him a curt nod, and with a sigh Kankuro raised a hand up before speaking. Unnoticed to either him or his sensei Gaara's face had twisted up into a horrifying grin as he stared down at the pale eyed girl a manic voice inside his voice calling out in bloody fury and exaltation as he did.

**It's here one of the cursed blood, YES HER BLOOD WILL BE A FITTING GIFT TO MOTHER YES THOSE TWO SHALL PAY FOR THEIR ACTIONS AGAINST HER! **cackled Shukaku half mad with happiness at the prospect of killing one of her blood.

"I forfeit, without crow I can't continue." Spoke Kankuro to a shocked crowd. Moments later Naruto had apparently managed to fight his way free of his would be captors and had leapt down to the ground floor as he sprinted over to Hinata's form even as she faltered slightly tilting to one side. Naruto reached her just in time to stop her from falling, and supported her as she turned her pale eyes up to his purple ones giving a weak smile as she did so.

"I-I did it Naruto-kun." She said in a soft whisper. Naruto took a moment to process her words before he gave her a returned smile and nodded.

"Hai you did at that, come on we need to get you looked after ok!" replied Naruto a note of worry in his voice as he said it. Hinata just gave him a small smile at his words and allowed her head to move forward slightly to rest on his chest. The medics arrived a moment later, and Hinata left with them Naruto refusing to leave her side. Hitomi and Hanabi, along with Mito hurried away towards the hospital, with Kushina quickly making a shadow clone to leave to watch Minami's fight and taking off after them Kiba and Akamaru taking up the rear.

An hour later found the group sitting around a hospital bed where Hinata laid breathing easily. The group had called Tsunade and Shizune to help them, and had caught them just as they were leaving a second bar. The two women had sobered up immediately and rushed to the hospital to see to the girl's injuries. Luckily they had not been very serious, the blades hadn't pierced to deep, and the poison on them and the cloud had been standard enough that Shizune had made up an antidote in quick order. Now the groups simply sat around waiting for the girl to wake up.

About a half an hour into their waiting Kushina had announced that her clone had dispersed and she had informed them that Minami had defeated Tenten in the next match, and that Gaara had devastated Lee in the final match. She explained to the group how the third exam would be set up, and then they had just waited, ideally chatting as they did so. Naruto for his part was sitting right by Hinata's bedside his hand resting on hers as he watched her.

After a while longer Hinata's eyes fluttered open, and the first thing she was greeted with was a hug from Naruto who cried out in happiness. Soon she was receiving kind words from all of those around her and being told everything that had happened after her fight. Soon enough Hinata had decided to recount her events in the fight as well as the voice that she had heard. As she finished she looked around the group with confused expression.

"W-what do you suppose it was?" asked Hinata the obvious worry present in her voice as she gave sound to the words. Most of the group looked confusedly around at one another for a moment before Hitomi cleared her through drawing their eyes to her.

"I think it may have something to do with our ancestor." spoke the women drawing odd looks from the rest of the group Hinata in particular.

"ah what ancestor Kaasan?" asked Hinata after a moment looking over at her mother curiously. Hitomi seemed to consider the question for a moment before responding.

"Well Hinata you've heard how we are descended from the Sage of the six paths correct?" asked Hitomi a series of nods going around the room. The Hyuuga council had always liked to rub that information in the faces of others whenever they were able, so it was pretty common knowledge in the leaf. "well that isn't exactly true." She said drawing confused looks form the group, but before they could voice their question she raised a hand, and silence fell allowing her to continue.

"You see the byakugan was not from the Sage but from his brother, legend has it he broke from his brother over an argument, and set out from him to found the first Hyuuga clan, it is from him that our eyes came, and it was said that his eyes saw the world as it is, and that the byakugan we know now is a shadow of his former eyes." continued Hitomi getting more than a few odd looks as she spoke.

**She is right you know, the sages brother did fight with him. **spoke up Juubi a sad little tone in her voice as she recalled the ties she had seen the man. Everyone with the pollens focused on this for a moment waiting for Juubi to continue. A moment later she did.

**They fought over my imprisonment, the younger brother had second thoughts about their mother's actions, and their own, and needless to say they had a falling out. It sounds to me that he must have left a kind of genetic switch to react to some kind of signal but I'm at a lost as to what I is. **said Juubi giving a mental shrug as she finished. After taking a moment to explain to Hitomi about what they had heard she nodded before speaking again.

"That would fit with what I have heard, I guess the only thing left is to see if Hinata-chan has the mark." said Hitomi turning to face her daughter with a quizitive look. Hinata returned the look before looking around the room her eyes confused. After a moment Hanabi spoke up.

"um Kaasan what do you mean a mark?" asked the boy Mito beside him nodding in agreement with his statement. Hitomi looked down at Hanabi with a small smile before bending slightly to lift the boy up onto her lap facing Hinata's bed.

"Well Hanabi-kun that depends on Hinata, you see she needs to try and pull out the power she used during the match, if what I know of the legend is right we should see the marking clearly if she does." replied Hitomi looking up at Hinata with a small smile. Hinata looked a little worried at her mother's words casting her eyes over to Naruto who nodded his head encouragingly giving her a smile to go along with it.

Hinata smiled back turning her thoughts inward trying to find that feeling she had experienced during the match. For a moment nothing happened, but then as if she was waking for a sleep she felt an odd sensation around her eyes, and the pressure returned to her head. Just as this happened she heard several startled sounds and one that sounded like excited giggling. Creaking her eyes open she saw everyone staring at her, mostly with open mouths. The giggling was coming from Naruto who was sitting beside her his small smile having spread out into a full blown grin, as she looked over at him as small hisses of laughter escaped his lips. Hinata looked concerned for a moment and spoke up.

"W-what is it?" she asked concern evident in her voice. Tsunade took a step back from the head of the bed allowing Hinata to look forward into a large mirror that faced her from across the wall. She noticed immediately what had everyone staring. The first thing she noticed were her eyes, their center had remained their pale violet color, but the whites had turned solid black, so that her eyes looked like two moons blinking out form a night sky captured in her face. However, that paled in comparison to her other change. From either side of her head above where her ears sat there were two white horns like appendages that made it look like she had grown a pair of bunny ears when she looked head on. Her gaze turned to Naruto who was still giving off a small giggle as he smiled at her his body shaking with trying to contain his apparent joy. After a moment Hinata spoke in a soft voice to him.

"N-naruto-kun w-why are you laughing, is th-this funny to you." Asked Hinata a small bit of hurt in her voice as she asked. Naruto fought to contain himself for a second before shaking his head a few time before he managed to speak.

"N-no Hinata-chan you look great!" he said giving her another smile, that relaxed her a little.

"T-then why are you laughing?" asked the girl still trying to understand Naruto's odd behavior. Being shocked she could understand but Naruto seemed positively giddy at her predicament. Naruto had to fight for several more seconds until he was able to reply.

"B-because y-your new ability is more kawaii than mine….bunny-chan." He replied finally failing to contain his laughter and just pulling the confused Hinata against him causing a small eep to escape her lips as he did. For a second she didn't react, until Narutos words processed, and she found herself letting out a small giggle that soon blossomed into a laugh of her own as she reached around and pulled herself closer to Naruto as she thought of how she measured up to his seedlings. The two's laughter was infectious and soon the whole room was laughing Hanabi actually falling off of Hitomi's lap and onto Mito during it causing another burst of laughter to ring out from the group as the two children rolled around on the hospital room floor.

What none of them could know was that just outside the room another figure was also laughing silently to himself, but unlike the happy laughter from inside this happiness carried the same madness that had been in the arena when he had first sensed the change in the girl. From in the hall a red headed boy, with dark rings around his eyes gave a final silent shake as he moved away from the door to the room and made his way down the hall towards where his last victim was sleeping having narrowly escaped his grasp.

**And done bomb. Ok small note here I hate…. I repeat hate the prelims as far as writing. Don't get me wrong they work great to get characters flushed out and introduce new ones, but for the most part they are an exposition dump and that is not something I really like writing if it's stuff you already know. I hope you liked this chapter and sorry that it was a little slower than usual. This may be the pace from now on, as class and work leave me pretty drained, but I will try to make sure I keep regular updates coming. Also small note the artist I mentioned has sent me some first stage colored pictures that you may have noticed. If you like them I encourage you to let her know via message. Really she does great work and I really want her to know it. Thanks to all who have reviewed, messaged, favorite, and followed, you guys are why I keep writing. Also to those who are angry that Tsunade didn't kill Jiraiya, think of it like this she punches him through walls, and it's like a game to them, here it wasn't a game it was personal thus it was different or at least that's my opinion. Thanks again and hope you liked it Songbird out.**


	17. Chapter 16

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Contest is coming to an end very soon, so feel free to keep guessing on the summoning jutsu that Naruto will use in the exams. Remember Toad, Snake, and Slug are already off the table, and it has been hinted at from the very first chapter, and little things are placed throughout the story foreshadowing it. Good luck.

Summoning technique coming up fast it won't be but a few more chapters before it's here so guess away there have been two so far to get it.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them

I'm really excited about I found a really great artist on Deviant Art named Zil-Zeki who is working on a personal cover for this story. The work is progressing well and I'm really excited to put it up on this site as soon as possible. If you have some time take the link from my page to go and see her site, she does great work for a fair price so show some support for her work. Thank you and enjoy the story.

I have had more than one person questioning Hinata's change during the last chapter, and I can understand a little bit of the confusion so I'll try and help clear it up here, and then later in the chapter. First no Hinata is not god powered, why in the name of god would I do that after making sure to avoid the same thing with everything else in the story. Really give me a little credit here folks. Second to those who feel that Hinata should have just blasted Kankuro away like a fly I have to ask why? In canon puppet fighters are damn sneaky, unique and hard ninja to fight, they are well structured to fight most opponents, and in my view a Hyuuga would be at a slight disadvantage to one. Yes a Hyuuga could see the chakra strings, and the inside of the puppet, but if I showed someone the inside of a car engine, I'm guessing they wouldn't know how it worked at a glance, the same principle applies the puppet is a complex machine don't sell it short. On that point true she can see the threads…. And that makes it easy to take them out why? In canon it is shown that threads can be severed and reattached with minimal effort, and keep in mind to get to those threads you have to get past the puppet, which isn't exactly easy. So I made the fight a hard one, let's face it a puppet is a mid to long distance weapon, while a Hyuuga is basically all close quarters, Kankuro kept Hinata back after the first blow, and was able to use that to his advantage, thus a good fight. Ok final point and this one is personally embarrassing… I forgot about Yakumo in the last chapter….yep completely forgot I ever wrote her…. I was convinced that I had an odd man out so I just gave Neji a pass that will be reckoned and the fight will be shown in this chapter briefly, sorry about that I have no excuses it just happened.

Small point this chapter is a lot longer than any I have written, so hand up like a roller coaster cause this rides going to be a long one Enjoy.

**Chapter 16**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-A lot can happen in a month-**

It had been a few days since the conclusion of the semifinals, and Konoha was still a hotbed of activity. Minato had kept his forces prepped for any possibility after Orochimaru's ability to infiltrate the village, and not only set up a successful attack on the exams, but also apparently position forces within the walls of Konoha themselves. The Interrogation department along with the Yamanaka's were running sweeps of their entire shinobi forces, while search teams of Anbu scoured the surrounding villages and boarders searching for any sign of the sannin. However, after a few days even Jiraiya had to admit that it wasn't likely they were going to be able to locate the traitor.

Minato was seated at his desk one hand propped up so that his fingers dug into his blond hair, while the other lay over the desk over a mess of spread out reports that had just come in on the most recent interrogations. With a small smile he saw that while Orochimaru had managed to get a few chunnin into the mix, his Jonin ranks seemed secure.

"Thank Kami for small favors." Whispered Minato as a slight breeze from behind him signaled the arrival of Jiraiya through his usual venue. Leaning up slightly the blond man spun his chair around slowly to see Jiraiya sitting astride the window sill a small concerned smile on his face as he looked down at Minato.

"Jeese kid you look like hell." said Jiraiya as he looked over his students form. Minato took a moment to look down at himself, letting out a small huff of agreement as his eyes took in his own sorry appearance. The Hokage's, usual pristine white coat was covered in ink, dirt and the small evidence of several office setting meals. His vest was much the same, most of the pockets flaps oven or otherwise folded around form his position at his desk all day. He could only imagine what his hair and face must look like given he had been only stopped his work long enough to splash water in his face, and hadn't been able to sleep for the past few days. Taking all of this in Minato gave a small sad little smile before looking back up to face the toad sage.

"Hai I suppose I do, but what can you expect with all that's been happening." replied Minato a small bit of anger in his voice as he said it. The past few days would have been hard enough on their own, but thanks to his actions along with Jiraiya he had not had the support of Kushina to fall back on. In its absence he only felt a hollow sadness, he had even forced himself to turn all of their family photos face down, just so his mind wouldn't show him her lovely face contorted into that look of disappointment she had looked at him with.

Jiraiya picked up the bite of anger in Minato's response and seemed to soften slightly at it. To see his student in such a state was painful for the man.

_Well I guess it's a good thing I'm bringing some good news then; kami knows the kid looks like he needs it. _Though Jiraiya as he looked into the tired face of his student.

"I know kid, but we'll make it through this." began Jiraiya before Minato fixed him with an angry glare that froze his next words in his thought.

"What the hell do you know sensei, why don't you tell me what you know!" started Minato his voice a mix of anger, and exhaustion that none the less still rang with a power belonging to a man like Minato. Jiraiya looked about to answer when Minato cut across him continuing on before he could start up.

"How about you tell me how your spy network wasn't able to locate your old teammate before he was breathing down our necks, or here's a though why don't you tell me what you know about having the women you love, the one you would do anything to see smile look at you like you are some kind of monster, OR HOW ABOUT YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT HAVING EVERYTHING YOU LOVE IN THIS WORLD DESTROYED AROUND YOU AND NOT BEING ABLE TO DO A DAMN THING ABOUT IT! TELL ME THAT SENSEI!" shouted Minato his voice coming out in an angry roar that caused Jiraiya to flinch slightly almost losing his grip on the window seal.

"MY DAUGHTERS WERE ATTACKED IN THAT FUCKING FOREST AND I COULDN'T DO A DAMN THING ABOUT IT! SO YOU TELL ME JIRAYA WHAT DO YOU KNOW HUH TELL ME W-WHaT I SHOULD DO…Tell me." minato finished his words falling out near the end into something close to pleading. Jiraiya hearing this stepped off his window seal and towards the blond reaching out to grasp both the hokage's shoulders in his hands as he did so forcing the man to face him.

"Minato, Kami kid what the hell happened to you?" asked Jiraiya his tone worried. Minato had been stressed about the girls, and about Orochimaru but he hadn't fallen apart like this a few days ago. The toad sage mind whirled trying to figure out what could have happened in the past few days to bring the man to such a low.

At Jiraiya's words Minato took several steadying breaths bowing his head slightly as he fought to gain control of himself. It took him a minute or two to regain enough composure to breathe easy, and at least straighten himself against his chair a little more. Once Jiraiya was sure the blond was stable he leaned back himself his eyes never leaving the blond.

"Ok Gaki now what the hell happened?" repeated Jiraiya as he looked at the man before him. Minato drew in a deep breath before starting to tell Jiraiya of his past few days.

-Flashback…..it's good to be back lol-

After the preliminaries Minato had paused only to congratulate his girls on their performance before heading back to the office to organize the Anbu teams that were still scouring the village, and organize the investigation of his forces within the village. It had been about a day later when he had just finished sending out another team of Anbu along with Jiraiya to begin searching some of the outline villages that it had happened.

The first sign was a soft knock at the door that drew the blonds tired eyes up from his desk to his office door. Muttering slightly to himself he idly wiped away some of the exhaustion from his face as he spared a glance over at the clock on the wall to see it was around eight in the evening. With a small sigh he cracked his neck slightly before speaking up.

"Hai coming in." he called out his voice a bit strained from exhaustion. For a moment he didn't think whoever it was had heard him, but a moment later the door to the office was pushed open slowly and a women's silhouette was present in the door. Minato had to blink one before focusing and seeing a familiar tale of bright red hair that identified the women standing before him. Without a sound Kushina stepped into the office her shinobi gear absent her form covered instead by a simple green and white dress she had favored when they had first been married.

The simple vestige of her in that dress was enough to almost bring tears to Minato's eyes, but he fought them down, and instead put a happy smile upon his face as he looked over at his wife. Minato began to rise, but Kushina raised a hand signaling him to halt, and stepped forward to sit down across from him in one of the office chairs her hand folding across her lap as she did so while her soft violet eyes looking at him with a sad little determination.

"Kushina-chan I'm sorry I wasn't able to talk to you after the prelims but I had to get the forces moving, with Orochimaru out there I just couldn't risk it." said Minato a true not of sorrow in his voice as he spoke. And he meant it, he had hated not being able to speak to kushina especially after the way their last conversation had ended, but the situation had him tied down. Kushina gave Minato a small shake of her head dismissing his comment before responding.

"No Minato I understand perfectly well where you were and why you had to be there, and I'm not angry that you headed out like you did." started Kushina her eyes not leaving Minato's face as she spoke. Minato seemed slightly relived at those words, but as Kushina continued his relief faded quickly.

"No Minato what I'm here to do is to continue where we left off that night, I'm sorry Minato but this isn't something I'm willing to wait on anymore." continued the redhead her tone never changing from the somber tone she had been using. Minato slumped slightly in his chair at her words idly raising one hand up to his head to rub slightly at his temples before speaking his tone carrying with I the exhaustion he was feeling.

"Kushina kami can we please do this another time, please I promise that we can talk about this later, but there are bigger things happening right now." replied Minato giving Kushina a pleading look. Kushina didn't waver in the slightest at the blonde's words simple shaking her head once again before speaking up.

"Minato you and I both know that our promises for another time are worth nothing, we lost that the day we chose to lie to Naruto seven years ago." replied Kushina softly drawing a look of slight surprise from Minato, but before he could speak the redhead continued on.

"I'm done waiting Minato you and I have hurt Naruto….we hurt our sochi and I'm doing everything I can to make it up to him, and you don't even seem to care….and I don't understand? What happened to you Minato…what happened to the man I loved more than life itself?" asked Kushina her voice laced with sadness as she spoke, but never allowing it to waver. Minato froze for a second before his voice cracked out.

"Kushina I had to, we had to the village, the girls." Started Minato, but once again Kushina just shook her head before looking back at Minato her eyes carrying with them a small amount of moisture.

"I know you did Minato, but that can't be all can it….please tell me that you didn't do all of this for such a stupid reason." asked Kushina her voice carrying with it an almost pleading note to it. Minato looked into her violet eyes and felt as though someone was squeezing his heart. Here was Kushina the women he loved past her anger at him, past her hate, and betrayal begging him, pleading with him to tell her that he hadn't sacrificed what he had….that he hadn't changed like he had. Minato couldn't meet Kushina's eyes any longer turning his head away from her his mind racing.

_Ku-kushina-chan please….please don't look at me like that..d-don't make me answer you, I've already damned myself in Naruto's eyes, I accept that damn it I may even deserve it, but please don't tell me that I've lost you to…please. _Thought Minato as he took a few steadying breaths in an attempt to control himself. Kushina waited never moving just sitting there looking over at Minato small tears running down her cheeks as she looked at Minato.

"Minato." said Kushina softly drawing the blonds face back towards her own before continuing. "you and I have almost destroyed the most precious thing in our world…and you don't even seem to care. You almost seem to do it out of habit, like at the prelims I saw you go and congratulate the girls, but not once did I see you spare a word for Naruto. Minato, I am trying to hold our family together, I'm trying to fix my sins, but they aren't mine alone, and I can't fix your mistakes if you aren't going to be there to help me." She finish pushing herself up from her chair as the last words left her mouth. Minato looked about to move to try and signal her to stop but Kushina raised a hand to him once again halting the blonde hokage.

"I didn't come here to fight with you anymore Minato…I didn't even come here expecting an answer out of you… but I am begging you to help me save our family." she finished turning slowly to make her way back out of the room the sound of her feet the only noise as she made her way to the door.

Minato felt a sense of panic as he watched Kushina leaving, his mind kept screaming at him that he had made the tough choice that had to be made. While another side of him, louder than his mind was bellowing for him to forget his damn choice, forget the prophecy, and forget the village and the world and to stop his family from suffering any longer. As Kushina reach the door Minato let out a choked little sound that caused her to pause turning her head slightly to face back obvious hope in her eyes as she looked at the blond.

"Kushina please…please I'm sorry…please." spoke Minato in a half broken voice. Kushina looked at him for a second before her head dropped the tears falling fresh again, her voice coming out almost as broken as Minato's

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to Minato…I'm just your accomplice." replied Kushina before she turned and exited the room the door swinging shut behind her, even as her tears fell faster from her eyes. Minato in the meantime sat there in his chair like a broken man, not able do more than let the self-loathing he felt beat down upon him.

-Flashback end-

Jiraiya sat there for a few stunned seconds after Minato finished recounting what had happened. The ending was pretty much what anyone could guess, Minato had all but fallen apart after that night, keeping himself isolated from his family and diving into his work trying and failing to escape the pain that was tearing him apart. After a few more moments Minato managed to pull himself together enough to look back up to meet Jiraiya's eyes. The old man's face was stricken with sadness as she looked at the blonde before him… but he was a shinobi first and there was a world to save, so with an effort he forced himself to look past his students pain and focus on what came next.

"I'm sorry kid, but we can't change the past… and even if we could we shouldn't." spoke Jiraiaya drawing a fresh angry look from Minato as he spoke, but didn't allow it to slow him down.

"You and I both knew what we were doing when we made our choice, we both knew that it wouldn't be easy, but that is what men like us have to do, we have to be strong enough to be hated, to take the pain and continue on, because if we don't no one will." continued Jiraiya taking a step back from Minato and looking down at the hokage with a strong tone in his voice. Minato seemed to falter slightly under his sensei's gaze his mind tracking back everything he was saying.

"This is what I means to be a hokage kid, I told you that the night that my sensei passed, it means that you have to lay down your life, your happiness for the sake of the village, and we don't always get to do it clean. Sensei go to leave as a hero, but we all won't be that lucky, we will have to watch as we are dragged through the mud, spit upon and hated, but that is what makes us worthy of being that kind of man. I know it hurts but without us this village, the people we know and love will be in danger, and if the cost is our own happiness… well kid that's a price we have to pay." finished Jiraiya fixing the blonde man with a sad look as he finished. Minato remained silent for a moment before replying his voice with a mocking little anger twigged with it.

"Oh and what has it cost you?" spat Minato in a cruel tone towards Jiraiya, looking up to see Jiraiya with a sad little smile on his face. Jiraiya looked back at the blonde for a moment the silence stretching out to hang over them like a cloud for several seconds.

"Did I ever tell you about how Tsunade stayed free in the elemental nations after Nawaki and Dan died…those years before she came back?" asked Jiraiya the question causing Minato to stop for a moment the question confusing him more than anything his sensei had ever asked him. After a second he managed to choke out a response.

"What, she had her sage status, she just wandered around for a time before she came back to visit Kushina and decided to stay." replied Minato a confused little note in his voice. Jiraiya shook his head slightly at that the sad smile never leaving his face as he did so.

"two hundred and fifty seven." Spoke jiraiya in a heavy tone, looking out the window with an apparent weight to his voice. Minato just looked at him confused for a moment before speaking.

"What?" asked Minato trying and failing to piece together what he was listening to.

"Two hundred and fifty seven, that's the number of shinobi that I had to kill in the shadows to give her time to grieve… the number of faceless graves that are scattered over her path." said Jiraiya clearly no hint of concern in his voice, he may have been discussing the weather for all it mattered. Minato just sat there shocked as he looked at the white haired man's back for a second trying to understand what he was heading.

"You see, the other village figured out she was out there, and in a fragile state, too great a target to pass up so the assassins gathered, and I made sure that not even one came within an inch of her….heck Ma and Pa had to take me to Mt. Myoboku just to clean off the blood half the time.. but it didn't matter she was safe." Continued Jiraiya, without pausing.

"Then she comes back here and I get to see her smile again with you and the girls, and you know what I didn't care anymore, I didn't care about the nightmares, the memories, all those faces I had seen screaming as the died… it didn't matter as long as I could see her smile. But I couldn't go to her any longer, I wasn't the same man I had been, she had dedicated herself to saving life, and I had become a monster to protect her so I had to be happy seeing her happy from the shadows…and that's what it means to truly love someone kid that's what it means to be a shinobi to be willing to give up everything you love, every happy wish you could want and throw it away for the chance that those you love can smile in a brighter world….one we can't ever be a part of." finished Jiraiya letting out a sad little sigh as he finished never taking his eyes off of the window. Minato just sat there stunned into silence by Jiraiya's words unable to speak, or move, fighting to understand what he had just heard.

The toad sage slowly turned back to Minato a sad smile still hanging on his lips as he did and fixed the hokage with an intense stair.

"So kid it comes down to the question of how much you are willing to suffer for those you love…because I'm willing to burn with a smile if it means that the world that she has found happiness in can go on spinning for just one more day." Said the toad sage his eyes burning with an intensity that made Minato slightly worried just looking at it. Minato took several second before nodding his head as if in surrender, but even as Jiraiya moving to start reporting on what he had found, and the two sat about discussing the next step in preparing for the coming month the same doubting voice spoke up softly from his mind before fading back to silence.

_Yes the world will spin on….but will anyone want it to at such a cost. _Spoke the voice even as the office became the center of work for the hokage once again.

The next day found the majority of the Namikaze and Uzumaki family all seated in the living room of their home awaiting the arrival of Minato. The night before Minato had sent a message to Kushina informing her that he needed to have a meeting with the whole family present, so with a bit of effort the redhead had managed to get all four of the children up and ready for the meeting. While Naruko, Minami, and Naruto had been easy enough to convince to head down stairs Mito had presented a bit of an issue. The little girl could be quick insistent about not leaving her bed in the morning, and with her chains it was less a matter of getting her to wake up, than getting her to let go of the darn thing. She had a bad habit of wrapping her chains around the mattress when she wasn't in a mood to leave. Luckily Kushina had gotten more than a little practice handling her youngest and within minutes she had dragged a soaking wet and pouting Mito from the room her two chains tied up by one of Kushinas own as she walked the girl into the bathroom to get ready.

Aside from the impromptu hostage escort Kushina had managed to get all of her children settled in the living room a few minutes before the scheduled meeting time, and so was able to relax a little sinking back into one of the room's armchairs with a satisfied sigh. Looking around she caught Naruto eyes as he leaned over to ruffle Mito hair again making the girl turn to him with a small childish pout which of course opened her back up for Minami to do the same along with Naruko. The scene brought a small smile to Kushina's lips, and for a moment her mind recalled the conversation she had shared with her sochi the night after her discussion with Minato.

-Flashback Mark II-

While Minato had been having his come apart after his meeting with Kushina, she was busy fighting to keep in control at least till she made it back to her room and bed. She had just entered the Namikaze residence living room, when she felt a set of eyes upon her. She turned to see Naruto sitting calmly on the couch giving her a smile that was just a bit to knowing. Before the redhead could say a word Naruto had pushed himself up from his chair, and walked over to her embracing her in a gentle hug as he reached her. Kushina felt her sorrow flood over her as Naruto simply held onto her. She found herself sinking slowly down to kneel on the ground her arms around the blonde her tears flowing out once again, while she struggled to catch her breath. After a few moments she managed to steady herself enough to blink over at Naruto and mouth a single word of confusion.

Naruto gave her a small smile before with a small twitch of one finger a small black orb the size of a marble drifted out of Kushina's hair and over to him. With a sudden flood of comprehension Kushina realized that her pollen had been on her over the entire course of the exams…that meant that her conversation with Hitomi…and even the one that night had been within the range for Naruto to be able to hear them. Realizing this she turned wide eyes to her Sochi who gave her a sad little smile and shake of his head.

"Kaasan you're not an accomplice, and you aren't to blame," started the blonde giving Kushina a slightly happier smile before continuing. "Your my Kaasan, and you were there when I needed you most, so please don't blame yourself anymore, leave the past in the past, and smile for me ok." Naruto said the smile still present on his face. For a second Kushina seemed at a loss at what to say, but before she could organize her thoughts Naruto spoke a final phrase before going back to simple cradling the women.

"And don't worry…I promise to help you fix our family… even if it may take a while with some." Naruto finished a slightly humors tone in his voice as he finished that caused Kushina despite herself to break out into a smile of her own as she whispered back to the blond boy.

"Hai sochi…. we will." She replied.

-Flashback Mk II house party protocol-

She gave a happy little smile as she saw her three eldest pestering Mito happily, the four of them hadn't been able to laugh like this for a long time, and even if it wasn't anything more than some sibling affection it was enough to make Kushina believe that there was hope for her family. Her eyes drifted around the sitting room for a moment, the children were all seated across from her on the large L shaped couch that took up one of the walls, the morning light shown in through the glassed sliding door that opened to the back yard. The light falling across the room's pale wooden floor and the small table and lamps scattered about the room, where a number of photos sat their occupants smiling around the room. It was a comfortable place, and with the sound of her children's happiness Kushina felt more at home than she had in the past few years.

Meanwhile Mito had just managed to figure out her predicament and had grabbed Naruko's outstretched hand with one of her golden chains turning a mischievous grinning face to her elder sister, even as Naruko flashed back one of her own before pulling on the chain yanking the little redhead into a playful hug that Mito giggled and struggled to break out of. After Mito's cheering for her at the prelims Naruko seemed to have gotten her second wind towards trying to bond with her sister, and will a small push from Naruto Mito had leapt into the effort as well. True the two were still far from being close as they had been, but there was a hope there, and that seemed enough for the time.

Before Mito and Naruko could go any further, and before Naruto and Minami got involved to try and save the sitting room from the coming playful spat a bright flash of yellow announced the arrival of Minato, as well as the familiar shape of Jiraiya. The twos arrival drew everyone's eyes, even as Naruko and Mito fell off the couch both their eyes looking sheepishly over at the two men. Minato couldn't help but crack a happy smile at the children as he cast his gaze around to find Kushina looking at him without a discernable emotion on her face. With a small effort Minato forced himself to turn away from her not able to meet her eyes as he made his way over to sit in one of the rooms chairs positioned so that the children were on his right, and kushina was on his left, Jiraiya taking a position opposite him while lazily leaning against a wall as he did so. For a second there wasn't any notice as the group looked at one another mostly in confusion, something was hanging in the air between them, even if not of them could be consciously aware of it.

Luckily for them Mito was the equivalent of quiets arch enemy and after just a few moments of silence she has waving her arms above her head while making small attention getting noise like she was trying to be called on in a class room. Everyone turned to face the girl as she let out a little huff and stretched her arms up with a kind of determination as if willing them to call on her. After a second Minato finally with a small note of amusement called on the girl.

"Yes Mito what is it?" he said with a curious little smile. Mito let her arms drop a happy smile playing across her face as she beamed at him before speaking.

"Thanks Tousan," began the girl before taking a deep breath, and beginning to speak. "Kaasan said you needed to have to talk to us, but I was sleepy and she dumped water on me again, and then she pulled me out of bed, and, then Minami-chan and Aniki kept poking, me and I have to see Hanabi-kun today, and I'm really hungry, and Naruko cheated and pulled my chain and." said Mito in a rapid fire that only young children are capable of producing. Everyone else in the room was practically frozen at the girl's rapid fire questions, unable to get a word in edgewise. After a moment most the group broke out into small grins at the girls antics before Minato pushed himself up and walked over to put a hand on the hyper little girls head causing her to look up at him with a confused little look.

"Ok Mito sorry for making you get up early after we are done here I promise will get you something to eat ok." spoke Minato in a calming tone that seemed to relax her a little. Mito then looked over at his other three children pausing a moment longer on Naruto's gaze than the others before speaking.

"Now on to why I'm here," he said moving to sit back in his chair. "First let me say how proud I am of all three of you in making it though the prelims you all did an amazing job and made both me and your Kaasan very proud." He started gaining two large smiles from Naruko and Minami, while a forced little smile from Naruto which he tried not to notice. "I wish I could say that I would be free to help train you during this break but, thanks to the incident with Orochimaru I'm having to stay and help prep the village in case he tries to pull something again." He continued getting small frowns from the girls and a confused little look from Naruto.

_Wait why would he be telling me this and not just Minami and Naruko….for that matter why the heck is he even bothering to include Mito and Kaasan, something seems off. _Though the blond while sending a small pulse over towards Kushina's pollen so that he could give her ask her the same question. Kushina in turn sent him back a small mental shrug in response her own mind following much the same path as his own.

"**Well I guess all we can do is wait and see."** Spoke up Juubi just as lost as the others in what was going on before them. As if Minato had been able to hear them he continued on without almost any pause.

"But that doesn't mean I haven't got something lined up to help you all out," continued the blonde man with a small smile. "I've been talking to Jiraiya and the toads, and I've managed it so that Jiraiya can take you to Mt. Myoboku to train for the month to train." said Minato looking around at the three, who looked surprised at his words. Naruko and Minami could remember all of the stories they had heard growing up and were excited to get the chance to see the mountain for the first time. Also there was the knowledge that it meant they were finally going to be getting to sign the toad contract. Minato had been telling the girls that they would get to sign his contract once they had visited the mountain for the first time, so the girls eyes were practically alight with excitement.

"Tousan does that mean we're going to get to sign your contract!?" asked Naruko excitedly bouncing up from her spot on the couch to stand up. Minami while not as vocal also looked over excitedly between Minato and Jiraiya. Both men smiled slightly before nodding towards the girls.

"Hai gaki that's right I'll be taking you to there to meet the toads, before starting your training in summoning the toads." The white haired man said a happy little tone in his voice as he spoke drawing the two girls smiling face over towards him. After a second Kushina spoke up her tone forcibly calm.

"What about Naruto?" she asked without giving away anything from her tone. Minato looked over at her without missing a beat before speaking.

"Kushina I said all, Naruto is coming to." Minato said as though the woman was asking something obvious. That caught Naruto and Kushina off guard, while even Minami and Naruko gave Minato an odd little look before letting their own excitement to move back to the forefront of their mind. The blonde's words seemed to confuse the two for a moment. Jiraiya cast Minato a small annoyed look at this. After he had gotten the blonde calmed down the night previously he had suggested the trip as a way to both protect the girls and to get them the training they would need for the finals. Minato had agreed but had put in a condition; he wanted Naruto to go along with them for the training. Jiraiya had begun to argue, but Minato had argued that Naruto had been targeted just the same as the girls thanks to his run in with Kabuto. It had taken some work but Jiraiya had eventually agreed to leave a shadow clone with the boy to look after his training while he was focused on the girls. Minato gave a heavy little smile as he looked over at Kushina and Naruto hoping that what little he could do would be enough. Sadly the two were still more confused than happy.

"Um Hokage-san could you Kaasan and I talk for a second?" asked Naruto his tone betraying just how shocked he was at the whole situation. Minato seemed to falter slightly before nodding while looking down at the three girls.

"Hai Naruto, Minami, Naruko could you go outside with Jiraiya for a second while I talk with Naruto and Kushina?" asked the three. Naruko was still so excited about her future training that she just nodded before making her way over to her godfather, while Mito followed after her giving the room a quick confused look before a poke from Naruko force another giggle out of the girl and causing her to run after her sister. Minami was the last to leave giving Naruto a sad look inwardly hoping that he would be coming along with them to train, while knowing that whatever was about to be discussed would be making that a remote possibilities at best.

As Minami made her way outside, and the glass door shut with a snap behind her Minato turned to face the combined look of both Naruto and Kushina, trying to keep a happy look on his face as he did so. Naruto in the meantime was looking at Minato with a slightly cocked head as if trying to figure out exactly what he was looking at. After a moment Naruto finally spoke.

"Why hokage-sama?" the blonde finally asked his tone expressing nothing. Minato flinched slightly internally at his sons tone. He had hoped that getting the boy some training would be enough to avoid such questions, but his life didn't seem to be giving him a single break as of late. With a small sigh he turned to face his fellow blonde.

"Well Naruto I thought it was about time that I started getting more involved in your training, and I wanted you and your sisters safe while Orochimaru is still out there. I'll be stopping by the mountain every few days to help with the training and making sure that your Kaasan and Mito can visit." replied Minato speaking in a hopeful tone. Naruto seemed to mull the idea over for a second before giving Kushina a sideways look.

_Kaasan I'm sorry I don't think that I can do this yet. _Naruto shot to the women through their pollen connection his voice carrying with it a heavy worry. He had promised to help fix the family, but he was still not quite ready to approach his tousan. Kushina for her part was torn, here was Minato apparently trying to take a step towards making it right with his sochi, but she also saw the obvious discomfort in Naruto's eyes, he had just recently learned of the blondes actions after all, and she herself couldn't help but feel a slight discomfort in letting someone else handle her student training.

_Sochi I don't know what to say, but don't do this for me….just make the choice you want. _Replied Kushina giving the blonde a small comforting smile as she did so. Naruto turned back to face Minato who was ignorant of the twos conversation. After a second Naruto spoke up.

"Hokage-sama I have to ask what kind of training I would be doing?" asked Naruto. Minato froze for a second silently cursing at the simple question. He had been so convinced that Naruto would jump at the chance he hadn't been thinking about how to sell the training to the boy.

"Um well first we would have to get a feeling for your level, I mean I saw you in the semi-finals and you did great, but we need to understand your strengths and weaknesses a little better so we can get you the best possible results." responded Minato trying to assure the boy. However, his poor choice of words caused Naruto's face to go slightly dark, while Kushina gave Minato an incredulous look.

Inside Naruto's head a memory flashed of a small boy sitting in his bed and being promised the same thing…those nights waiting, wondering what he had done to make his parents so disappointed in him. Next came the memories of all those times he had been left out, all that time waiting. The blonde had to bite back the anger he was feeling at that moment forcing him to look at the floor away from the Hokage. After a few moments Naruto managed to calm himself to respond.

"I think I'd prefer staying in Konoha Hokage-sama, I want to stay and train with Kaasan and my team." replied Naruto his tone one of forced calm. Minato gave Naruto a sad puzzled little look as his sochi spoke, but managed to keep his focus long enough to reply.

"Naruto I know Kushina is a great teacher, but between Jiraiya and I you could catch up to the girls in no time. I know it's taken a lot of time but don't you still want to train with me? " Minato tried to reason causing Naruto to shake his head slightly before pushing himself to his feet, and moving to walk out the back door.

"No Hokage-sama…that's what I use to want…..the boy who waited for you is gone, and it's going to take a lot more than the same old promises to bring him back." Naruto said before opening the sliding glass door to the backyard and walking out. Minato sat there to stunned to do more than stare after the boy for a moment before turning his head to see Kushina sadly looking towards the door Naruto had left.

"K-kushina?" started Minato an air of worry to his tone, as Kushina looked over at him her face with that same sadness etched in it that had been whenever she had looked at the blonde.

"This is the family you made Minato... and Naruto's right some empty words aren't going to change anything." Kushina finished pushing herself up to follow after Naruto leaving Minato alone in the sitting room, even as the sounds of talking drifted in from the back yard.

* * *

A day passed and Naruko and Minami had said their goodbyes and headed out with Jiraiya to begin their training. Minato had authorized Kakashi to take Sasuke out for some personal training so team seven was effectively absent from Konoha for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile the other teams were settling about to begin their training for the upcoming finals. Over with team eight the three genin were waiting in their usual training fired for their sensei to arrive, as they chatted about their matches and who they would be fighting in the coming matches.

"So Sakura, what do you think about facing off against Minami in the finals?" asked Yakumo as she rested her back against a nearby tree casting her gaze up from a sketch she was working on to spy her pink haired teammate. Sakura was over by a training post throwing a few practice jabs, but stopped as she heard Yakumo's question turning to face her.

"You know Yakumo-chan I really haven't got a clue, I mean all I can really do is keep working on what I already know, and do my best." replied Sakura with a small shrug. Yakumo fixed her with a wiry look that caused Yakumo to dip back behind her picture for a second, before responding.

"Well come on you and Shino did great, and you have to show off for team eight in the finals, I'm just wondering is all." replied Yakumo a little shyly thinking back to her own match. It hadn't lasted very long, Neji had closed in on the girl before she had been able to do more than pull out one of her cards, unfortunately she hadn't been able to do more than receive several sharp strikes by the Hyuuga that put her out of commission. Yakumo had been really embarrassed at her performance, but Kurenai and the rest of her team had been supportive of her, and assured her that it was just a bad matchup, and that it happens to everyone sometimes.

Shino who was sitting up in the tree that Yakumo was leaned against stopped his examination of the tree long enough to look down at the two's conversation his eyes catching Yakumo's drawing, and focusing on it. With a smooth motion he hopped down form the tree to land softly between his teammates looking over at Yakumo before speaking.

"You don't need to be concerned Yakumo we both know you only want us to do well, and you don't need to feel like you have somehow failed our team, you are a valuable member and a strong shinobi, one fight does not decide your status." spoke Shino in is usual stoic voice getting a comforting smile form Sakura directed at Yakumo as well. Yakumo looked up over the picture and gave her teammates a thankful smile, along with a nod.

Sakura walked over and gave Shino a small nudge with one of her elbows giving the boy a knowing smile. Shino may not have been the most vocal person, but when he cared about someone he always made sure that he did what he could to look after them and she knew it. Shino in the meantime accepted the shoulder block from Sakura without comment, but under his coat h gave an appreciative smile.

"So what are you drawing?" asked Sakura stepping forward towards the girl leaning over to try and see the picture. Before she could get a look Yakumo pulled the picture into her with a small blush on her face as she did so. This caught Sakura's attention, as she smiled over at her teammate, with a knowing expression.

"Oh I see your painting that forest friend of yours again, come on girl we don't even know what that thing was." Joked Sakura her tone amused as she did. Yakumo gave a huff before letting the picture away from her chest enough for them to see the creature's big purple eyes staring up that them from the picture. Sakura gave the girl a small smile, while looking down at the picture with a chuckle.

"I swear Yakumo here we have half of the rookie teams, and their sensei's freaking out about these things and here you are drawing pictures of them." chuckled Sakura as Yakumo let out an indignant little huff and turned her blushing face away from her teammate.

"Still it does seem to be a mystery, whatever that thing was, it apparently fought four teams to a standstill alone. From what we heard from Kurenai they weren't part of the exam, so what do you think they were?" asked Shino looking over at Sakura and Yakumo. The two girls looked at one another for a moment before turning back to him with a shrug.

"I don't know either Shino, I mean maybe Shikimaru was right and they were some kind of new jutsu, I mean he was right about them being mimics and all, so why not that to." responded Yakumo giving a small shrug as she responded. Shino nodded his head as Sakura gave a small sigh before speaking.

"Well I guess we'll never know, heck it's not like we are likely to see it again." Spoke up Sakura before she paused turning to notice Kurenai approaching them from across the field. The other two noticed as well and Yakumo made her way to her feet, stuffing her picture into her drawing pack on her waist as she did so. As Kurenai neared she gave a simple wave of greeting, as she stepped forward to stand before her team giving them all a small smile.

"Sorry for the wait, I had to finish up something before I could get here." said Kurenai absently looking around the group. The genin shared a knowing little smile between each other before giving Kurenai a small smile.

"Anyway," continued Kurenai pretending not to notice her student's knowing smiles, "I wanted to have a meeting to discuss the training for the rest of the month. Sakura I know you have been working with Tsunade-sama recently for your training so I am ok in letting you train with her as long as you meet with us at least twice a week, so that we can keep up our team exercises." began Kurenai causing Sakura to give her a happy little nod of thanks before Kurenai turned to Shino in turn.

"The same applies to you Shino I know your father wants to help you in managing your third hive over the next few weeks, so just make sure that you are here a few times for training ok." spoke Kurenai getting a stoic nod from the boy as well. Finally she turned to look at Yakumo with a smile.

"That leaves you and me Yakumo, I have to say your genjutsu is gotten to amazing levels over the past few months, and I couldn't be happier, but your match showed that we both need to work on our close quarters skills a little more. So you and I will be working with team ten on conditioning and weapons training, Azuma-san has agreed to help us out some, and with any luck we will be able to up our abilities in no time." Finished Kurenai to which Yakumo gave an enthusiastic nod of agreement.

After they had finished Kurenai set about going through some simple training exercises getting the team stretched out and ready for the day's work. A few hours later the team was resting beside the same tree as previously Kurenai passing out a few lunches she had brought for the team. After some simple conversation Kurenai spied a picture hanging out of Yakumo's bag and without much effort leaned over to where the girl sat on her right and tugged out the picture. It was the one that Yakumo had been drawing earlier of the strange creature.

Yakumo turned to see her sensei giving her a small knowing smile of her own that caused Yakumo to blush slightly causing both Kurenai and Sakura to giggle happily.

"Hey give that back." Said Yakumo swiping for the picture, but the black haired women just pulled it up out of her reach with a chuckle.

"Sorry Yaku-chan but I have to inspect this after all this is a picture of a known danger to the village, I may have to confiscate it." Giggled Kurenai as Yakumo folded her arms and shot a small glare at the women.

"Oh ya well maybe I'll draw a few pictures of you and Azuma the next time you two have a date, and see how you like it." called Yakumo with a grin. It was Kurenai turn to blush and look embarrassed, as Sakura and Yakumo giggled at their sensei. After a few moments the group settled down and Kurenai handed back the picture to the girl.

"Ok Yakumo you win, but really you better be careful that thing is apparently linked to some kind of security risk, and I don't want to see you get in trouble ok." said Kurenai in a bit of a lecturing tone as she did so. Yakumo gave a small nod as she accepted the picture back tucking it away just as Shino spoke up.

"I have to agree with Kurenai sensei Yakumo even if that thing was helpful to us we don't know its intentions or purpose." Spoke Shino as he finished his lunch setting down the box and pulling his coat back up over his mouth as he did so.

"Beside," Sakura said in a gentile tone, "it's not likely we will be seeing whatever that thing was again, at least not if we don't go back in the forest, or something." reasoned Sakura.

A higher power must have been listening and decided to have fun with the girl because just as she finished speaking a resounding crack rang out through the clearing as a black figure came hurtling through a clump of trees and skipped several times on the training field before coming to a rest a few yards away from where team eight had leapt to their feet readying for battle. The impact threw up a large dust cloud as whatever it was impacted the ground, and as team eight watched a figure stumbled slowly out of the hole. It bore a striking resemblance to Yakumo's picture except for the odd bits of padding that seemed to have been tied to it with mixtures of ninja wrappings and string.

Team eight stared at the creature open mouthed as the dust settled finally and what was standing in front of them was clearly the same creature they had encountered in the forest, all be it covered in pillows and looking dazed and confused as it wobbled drunkenly trying to stay on its feet. It seemed to stop and take notice of them for the first moment, and its large purple orbs turned to see each of them in turn, before it let out a happy little hum and promptly fell face forward onto the ground with a soft thump.

A few moments later there was another sound of movement and Naruto came running out of the forest followed by Mito, Hanabi, and Hinata all looking around hurriedly and spotting team eight still frozen at what they had just seen.

"Oops." said Hinata quietly as she saw the whole scene before her, as Mito and Hanabi rushed by the girl with concerned shouts as the two ran up to kneel beside the downed figure that was letting out a soft hum as though it was sleeping.

* * *

While team eight had been waiting for Kurenai to arrive team eleven along with Mito, Hanabi and Hinata had been in a secluded training field along with Tsunade and Shizune all discussing the coming training. Kiba had already said he would meet up with the group later, and was busy training with Tsume and Hana back at the compound.

The group was huddled around each while glancing over to where Hanabi and Mito were busy actively preparing the Seedling a short distance away.

"It will be ok Hinata-chan, you need to figure out your new abilities, and I have faith that you will be able to manage the contract to." spoke Hitomi in a soft voice as she looked over at her daughter. The night before Hitomi had spent time digging back through the main branches library, and had come across a few articles that dealt with the Hyuga clan's history. Unfortunately it seems that any techniques or descriptions of Hinata's new abilities were either missing or destroyed. Hitomi had been about to give up when she had stumbled across a simple scroll that she recognized from when she had been a small girl. She recalled her own Kaasan showing it to her once long ago.

-Flash back-

"You see this Hito-chan this is our clans summoning contract, it's been lost to us since the time before I was your age." Spoke a soft voice even as the owner gave the little Hitomi a small pat on the head. The little girl giggled slightly before looking up at her Kaasan with a confused little expression on her face.

"Kaasan, how is it lost if it's right here?" asked Hitomi her face screwed up in a look of confusion as she asked the question. Her Kaasan gave a small chuckle at the girls expression before taking her hand and leading her out of the library.

"Well my Hito-chan you see the summons won't answer anyone in the family anymore, but an old story says that when the eyes of a Hyuga are opened at last the summons will answer us." replied the women even as Hitomi tilted her head still in confusion.

-Flashback end-

After her Kaasan's time Hitomi had been one of the few to remember about the old scroll. The clan had moved on from old legends and useless scrolls. Hitomi however had managed to remember the scroll and was convinced now that Hinata would be able to bring life to the old contract.

Hinata in the meantime was still puzzling over her new abilities, and more than a little afraid at the possibility of it changing her. Luckily for her Naruto had been right beside her giving her a source of comfort just as he had always done. So she sat beside the blonde while the group spoke, leaning into his arm just enough so that she could feel him beside her without forcing him to hold her up. That was what she had decided, that she wouldn't lean on him anymore, but stand with him.

"So the gaki's look like they are just about ready to get started with the seedling; Hinata are you ready to try this new ability out?" asked Kushina her tone softly curious. Hinata looked over at Kushina with a small smile.

"Hai sensei I'm ready I think." replied Hinata, as she leaned up from Naruto taking a few deep breaths as she did focusing on opening her new eyes. For a second nothing happened and then there was a faint glow as chakra gathered around the girls head forming into two white horns that vaguely resembled a rabbits ears, and Hinata opened her eyes to show the shining moons of violet present in their black polls. Hinata let out a breath of air as she relaxed still trying to get use to her new eyes and what they showed. For her everything came into sudden focus, and everyone around her seemed to glow slightly with their own chakra. She no longer saw the simple lines of chakra but instead was able to see it present in everything, the air, the trees, and in the smiling faces that looked at her, it was breath taking.

Naruto for his part just smiled over at Hinata giving her a small one armed hug, as he did before she pushed herself to her feet.

"So Hinata-chan what does it feel like?" asked Shizune as she looked at her student, who she had to admit looked adorable with her new features. Hinata turned to Shizune with a small smile and she seemed to pause trying to find the words to describe the sensation.

"Well I guess it's like seeing a snowy day when the suns out, everything just seems to glow, it's not like the byakugan I'm use to there isn't any blackness or line, and I can't seem to see chakra pathways with them, it's more like I just see the chakra in everything, it kind of hard to explain." replied Hinata in an unsure voice.

"Ok well from what little I was able to get what you're seeing is the chakra in, now the only question is what you can do with it?" said Hitomi while adopting a thinking pose. The rest of the group fell into similar positions until Juubi spoke up.

"**Well from what little I recall I would say that she can sustain and move chakra around without it dispersing, but I don't really know how that helps?" **finished Juubi, getting a few nods from the assembled group. For a moment they sat in silence until Hitomi slapped a hand into her fist with a smile drawing the others eyes.

"That's it." she said in an apparent voice of triumph.

"Care to fill the rest of us in." spoke up Tsunade giving the women a small smirk. Hitomi smiled a little before turning to Hinata.

"Ok there are a few moves that have stayed with the Hyuuga clan since its foundations I only know two but if I'm right then they were likely made to work with your new eyes." started Hitomi drawing a few looks from the group. "You see there are two moves in particular the Hakkeshō Kaiten, and the twin lion fist that deal almost exclusively with pure chakra, the biggest issue has always been that the charka burns out and disperses to fast, and the drain on the user is intense. They have always been an issue, but if one was able to keep the chakra from disbursing then they wouldn't likely have any issue with making the techniques work." Finish Hitomi to a small round of nods from the rest of the group.

"I guess that would fit, but the issue is does Hinata know either of those techniques?" asked Kushina looking between Hitomi and Hinata both shaking their heads. Kushina let out a sigh at that before pushing herself to her feet and walking over to Hitomi settling a hand on the women's shoulder.

"Well I guess that means you will be handling most of Hinata's training over this month Hito-chan." smiled Kushina. Hitomi gave the redhead a small shove from her chair while smiling over at where Hinata was blushing as Naruto just kept smiling at her while running a hand down her new horns. As the two rest of the group turned to look at the pair Hinata let out a small giggle as Naruto touched the base of one of her new appendages.

"So my bunny-chan is ticklish there huh?" smiled Naruto as Hinata gave him a small push, but betrayed her true feeling with a happy little giggle. For a moment Naruto and Hinata just chuckling as Naruto and her just laughed at the funny little situation they were in. Until at least they noticed the rest of the group watching them and Naruto comically jumped behind Hinata, who was turning a bright red color similar to Kushina's hair. The rest of the group gave the pair a crowd of happy little smiles before Naruto peaked out from behind Hinata to speak.

"Hey you guys, I'm trying to spend some time with my bunny-chan would you mind?" asked Naruto in a mocking tone that got him a slight push from Hinata, as he did. With that the rest let out a few chuckles as Hinata blushed slightly before Kushina called attention back over to her.

"Ok you two time to get serious, from what we saw in Hinata's match she can mess with pure chakra like that puppeteers strings so I guess the next thing to see what else it works on." said Kushina while getting a few nods from the rest of the group.

For the next hour the group ran through a series of tests trying to figure out what Hinata's new limits were. What they found was that Hinata's ability to move and effect chakra that was not her own was very limited, in fact the chakra strings were one of the few that could have worked as well as it did. Elemental justus seemed almost completely immune to her abilities; likewise the chakra inside a person didn't seem to be effected unless she introduced her own into it via a gentle fist strike. However, where the new eyes shined was in her own chakra manipulation, she actually was able to keep her own chakra stable for a small distance form her body, adding an extra foot of range to her gentle fist strikes. The hour was slowing down as Hinata almost collapsed from the constant effort of keeping her new technique in action. Turns out the new addition to her abilities was more taxing that her basic Byakugan so keeping it up for long periods of time wasn't very practical, also it didn't help that she lost the ability to see in full three hundred and fifty degrees dropping it down to a simple 180 field of vision. As a result the new abilities were something she would have to practice before implementing. Luckily their testing dummy had been fit for the task.

-A few minutes earlier-

"Are you sure Seed-kun will be ok?" asked Mito in a voice with an obvious amount of nervousness in it. Naruto looked down at his imoto with a smile as he leaned down to ruffle her hair slightly.

"Don't worry Mito-chan I promise Seed-kun will be just fine, he's a professional at this." assured Naruto as he looked over at the seedling that was standing out in the back yard covered in what could only be described as pillow fort armor. Mito and Hanabi had insisted that the seedling be properly protected. To that end they had covered the seedling in makeshift armor made from every spare pillow and blanket that Tsunade and Shizune had to offer. The seedling could barely move as its arms and legs were spread out so that he had to waddle around from leg to leg. As Mito looked over the Seedling hummed happily as it looked over at her and Hanabi giving off a happy hum as it did so giving her a thumbs up causing Mito and Hanabi to smile happily.

A moment later Mito smiled happily nodding up at Naruto, allowing Naruto to look over and give Hinata the signal.

"Ok Hinata let it her rip!" called Naruto giving Hinata a wave from where he stood. Hinata gave him a small smile before turning around to face her target that hummed happily at her...that was before it was thrown through a tree by a blast of pure chakra that she had thrown together. A moment later Hinata had collapsed to her knees panting heavily while Mito and Hanabi rushed over to check on the seedling and Naruto ran over to check on her. After a time Hinata had managed to get up and head back over to where the rest of the group was watching from.

As the group settled down for a few moments, Hitomi pulled out an old looking scroll that had a simple white string holding it closed before passing it to Hinata. Hinata returned to normal accepted the scroll with a smile unrolling it in front of everyone to show a list of names only a few long. Tsunade and Shizune gave it a quick look before assuring Hitomi that it was an official contract, but seemed to have been abandoned for a long time. After a bit Hinata following Tsunade's instructions pricked her thumb with a kunai, signing her name on the contract before setting about memorizing the different hand signs depicted on the contract. Several minutes later she was ready to try it out, while the rest of the group gave her some space to try it out. With a small effort she opened her eyes again, and flew through the signs before slapping her hand down, and calling out in a loud voice "summoning Jutsu!"

There was a sudden eruption of white smoke from where the girl stood that momentarily covered her from and obscured her from vision. For a moment the entire clearing watched the cloud with anticipation as a low voice carried out of the cloud, ringing with some obvious cheer as it did so.

"Darn and here I thought we wouldn't ever be summoned again and by someone so small, I have to say the kids won't believe this when I tell them." spoke a voice, unfamiliar to all of them. A moment later the cloud dispersed and everyone was shocked at what was now standing in front of Hinata looking the shocked girl up and down from where it stood.

Naruto on instinct quickly grabbed Mito before she could fling herself forward to grab the creature out of shear instinct, while Hitomi stared her jaw hanging open at the legendary summon of the mighty and noble Hyuuga clan, while Tsunade and Shizune tried to style their own and Kushinas giggles as they looked at the being before them.

What was standing before Hinata was a furry creature that stood about seven feet in height, and was wearing a dark blue vest with the kanji for strength in bright white written across its back. Across the animals head was a white length of rope that had been tied into a headband slightly noted on to keep in in place. The creature had what was unmistakably a large hammer that had one longer end than the second and was currently resting on the creatures shoulder. This all would have made a quite striking if it hadn't been that the creature standing there was unmistakably a black furred rabbit…. The large animal seemed to bend down to study Hinata for a moment paying particular attention to her newest appendages, before giving out a small short of apparent satisfaction.

Hinata in the meantime was staring wide eyed at the giant rabbit standing just a few feet in front, and slightly above her.

…_it's….I…..big rabbit… _Hinata's mind raced as she looked at the creature before her a little too surprised to speak. The rabbit seemed to notice the girls discomfort before letting out a small huff of laughter, and patting the girl softly on the head with one of his massive padded hands letting out a soft chuckle.

"It's ok little one, I'm not going to hurt you, after all you're the new holder of my contract, wouldn't do to scare you off before I let you meet the rest of the family." chuckled the rabbit in a slightly deep voice that had the majority of the group realized with the happiness radiating from it. The creature's kind words and actions allowed Hinata to steady herself slightly enough at least to gather herself enough to speak up.

"Ari-arigato rabbit-san." Spoke Hinata giving the summon a small quick bow as she did so. The rabbit looked down at the girl for a moment before letting out a happy laugh as that echoed across the clearing. At that moment Naruto accidently lost hold of Mito who shot forward like a bolt her eyes sparkling and fixed on the giant fluffy rabbit in front of her. Before anyone including the summon could act Mito had impacted the side of the rabbit causing it to stagger slightly while looking down at the little redhead who had buried herself into his fur and was currently rubbing her face back and forth in the creatures fur. Everyone froze for a second before the rabbit, swiped a paw down sweeping the girl off her feet and up into the air by the scruff of her neck to stare at the girl who smiled happily back at the rabbit. For a second the two looked at each other before it let out a happy little chuckle before speaking.

"Well I see that I'm still popular with the little ones, well good to know some things don't change." finished the rabbit setting Mito back down getting an excited giggle out of the girl before turning to address Hinata again.

"Well Hinata, I guess you are the newest holder of my peoples contract, my name is Roku… don't laugh my Kaasan had over twenty kids and not much imagination." chuckled the rabbit looking down at the pale eyed girl who gave him a small smile before nodding.

"Hai, thank you Roku-san I'm looking forward to working with you." Hinata said, as Roku smiled around at the collective group, before his eyes settled on the seedling standing beside Naruto, his eyes focusing on the two, while his hammer tumbled from his hands to thump onto the ground as the rabbit's mouth opened wide with what he was seeing. Before anyone knew it Roku was before Naruto and the seedling taking a quick knee and staring into the boys eyes for a long moment before he seemed to find what he was looking for and gave a slow nod before standing.

"I must thank you summoner Hinata, it seems that you have given me a chance to see the age when our clan can at last wipe away the shame of our old sins, and help to protect the messenger of Kami we lifted our hammers against in the past." spoke Roku in a solemn voice as he stood and gave Hinata and Naruto a solemn nod. After a few moments Juubi let out a small sigh and a pollen floated up to rest before Roku's face and everyone in the clearing except for Mito and Hanabi was able to hear Juubi speaking once again.

"**There is no need to be worried Roku-san the wrong was not your own, and it seems that ****Hamura also sought to repair the mistakes he made during his life. Rest assured that I don't hold your clan responsible, but I would be grateful for your help with these children, I'm sure that your clan will be a lot of help in managing them." **echoed Juubi in a happy tone that caused Roku to nod slowly a small grin spreading across his face.

"Hai Juubi-san my clan will protect Hinata-san and her friends, and our hammers will crush any wall or enemy that stands in there way." responded Roku proudly, thumping on of his paws happily against his chest.

The next few moments had everyone getting to know Roku and in the case of Mito and Hanabi trying to hold onto the giant rabbit, while the group chuckled at the antics. Tsunade and Shizune even summoned their own summons to meet Roku. After a while the group decided that it was time for Roku to head back to announce the good news to his clan.

"Well Hinata-san I look forward to the next time you need me or one of my kin, we will all be ready to assist you whenever you are in need of us." spoke Roku causing Hinata to smile.

"Arigato Roku-san I look forward to meeting you again in the future." replied Hinata, while the rest nodded in agreement. Roku was about to leave when Naruto called out to the summons drawing its attention towards the blond.

"Hey Roku, before you go, I wanted to ask you something." Naruto said drawing the rabbit's eyes towards him. Roku seemed to consider the youth for a moment before speaking.

"Hai Naruto-san, and what would that be?" asked the rabbit looking down at the boy.

"Well you see Hinata-chan is very important to me, and I just wanted to make sure that I could trust you to look after her." replied the blonde in a tone that did not lack any amount of seriousness and respect. Roku seemed to consider the blondes words for a moment before smiling down at the blonde and hefting his hammer onto his shoulder.

"Ha just what I would expect from the one my summoner has chosen, very well what do you have in mind to test me?" asked Roku a happy smile on his face while his ears flicked back closer to his head as looked down at the blonde. Naruto also gave the rabbit a happy smile of his own, before pointing a thumb over to where the seedling that Mito and Hanabi had tied up in pillows.

"Tell you what Hinata-chan managed to launch that seedling through a tree, and the last summon I saw managed about the same, I would feel bad if Hinata-chan's new summon couldn't do at least that." finished Naruto with a smile that Roku mimicked a moment later.

Hinata started to make a move forward to intervene, but Kushina laid a hand on the girls shoulder before Hitomi joined her as well both giving her a small shake of their heads. Juubi spoke up a moment later while the group looked around.

"**Don't worry Hinata-chan this is something that was bound to happen sooner or later, both are just looking to make sure the other can look after you. It's a guy thing I wouldn't suggest you try and understand it." **spoke Juubi the other women giving nods of agreement as they looked over to see the Seedling standing in front of Roku giving off a happy little hum. Over the last few hits by Hinata the seedling had found the padding on it actually work rather well in protecting it, and as a result it was actually starting to enjoy being periodically thrown through the air. So as Roku approached it nothing it didn't even flinch. It didn't move either as Roku's hammer swung back and then forwards level to the ground so that it could hit the seedling right in its chest…. That was then the Seedling did move, both horizontally and at a great velocity.

Everyone watched as the Seedling when flying off into the forest, and they heard a shattering noise that signaled that it had broken through the sealing array Kushina had put up to shield the training field from prying eyes. For a second the group didn't move, before Mito and Hanabi both let out small shouts of concern, and raced after the direction that the seedling had flown, followed soon after by Naruto and Hinata, the previous of which was muttering something about not again.

Roku in the meantime gave a small happy huff before disappearing in a puff of smoke seemingly satisfied with his efforts. The four remaining women stared after the group before looking at one another, before Tsunade let out a small bark of laughter.

"It's never boring with these kids is it?" chuckled the blond while everyone else nodded mutely at what they had just witnessed.

* * *

So now Team eight found themselves staring as Naruto, and Hinata faced them, their two younger siblings apparently trying to take care of the downed figure that had just flown headfirst into their training field. For a long moment no one spoke, everyone just taking a moment to try and get over the shock of what they had just witnessed. Finally the silence was broken when a voice came over from where the downed figure lay.

"Naruto Seed-kun isn't waking up." called Hanabi, the boys voice carrying a little worry as he looked between the fallen seedling and Mito who was looking a little worried. Naruto gave the two a look before letting out a sigh and sending out a pulse towards the seedling, causing it to fold in on itself into its seed form causing it to slowly drift over to his open palm. Team eights eyes tracked the black orb along with the children's, as it alighted upon Naruto's outstretched hand. After a moment there was a faint pulse and the black orb gave off a purple little glow before it shot back over to float in front of the children, before cracking open and taking on its seedling form once again.

Team eight at this point was truly beginning to wonder if they had gone mad, here was Naruto, a boy they knew apparently creating and molding the creature s that they had been discussing not a few moments ago. As they watched the two children they recognized as the youngest of the Hyuuga, and Namikaze families let out sighs of relief before animatedly checking over the humming black creature that seems to have recovered without a scratch. Finally they couldn't keep silent any longer and a voice rang out across the clearing.

"Ok what the heck is going on here?!" called Sakura in a loud tone that drew everyone's attention even the seedlings, who let out a soft hum of recognition towards the pink haired girl. Hinata and Naruto looked over at each other for a moment before turning to face the members of team eight, the later raising a hand up to scratch the back of his head absentmindedly.

"H-hai….well this is awkward." chuckled Naruto his voice drawing Sakura's gaze causing him to stiffen slightly before jumping behind Hinata for cover. Hinata gave Naruto a level look before grabbing him gently by the ear and pulling him forward to face team eight.

"Oh no you don't Naruto-kun, you made this happen so you get to clean it up, right." The pale eyed girl said in a commanding tone. Naruto gave Hinata a pleading look for a moment before his eyes dropped and he nodded in defeat.

"Hai Hinata-chan." He said in a tone of surrender, as he faced over to team eight. Kurenai seemed to have surrendered to her own confusion for the time, and was just facing ahead without comment. Shino seemed to have managed to hold onto himself well enough, and was just standing there with one eyebrow cocked up as he looked over towards where the Seedling was standing Hanabi, and Mito seemingly trying to work it back into its pillow armor. Sakura stood beside Shino her arms folded and one foot tapping looking like a pink haired and younger version of her new mentor as she seemed to be waiting for some kind of explanation from the two in front of her. Finally Yakumo for her part was looking between the pair, the seedling, and finally her sensei as if trying to piece together what she was seeing.

"Well I guess you guys have heard all about Seed-kun over there?" Naruto said his tone not so much one of a question but a statement. Team eight nodded their heads slightly before, Naruto continued.

"Well then no way around it I guess, you see it's kind of a technique of mine that I lost track of during the exams, the little guys are pretty harmless, unless you attack them, and well it seems like a lot of the teams did just that." continued the blonde, as team eight nodded their heads slowly at his words.

"Anyway you see we were doing some training and he….he went airborne there at the last minute…and well here we are." Finished the blonde with a small chuckle as he looked at the stunned faced in front of him.

"Wait that's it?" asked Sakura her tone disbelieving. Naruto only gave a small shrug in response before Kurenai seemed to find her reason, and started forward towards the blond.

"Naruto Uzumaki, I'll have to take you in to see the Hokage about this, that," here she gestured over at the Seedling, "thing is considered a threat to the village, and I'm sorry but I'll have to take you in so that we can clear this whole thing up." continued Kurenai reaching point just a few feet away from the blonde and looking down at him. Naruto for his part only stared back at the red eyed women for a moment with one eyebrow cocked before looking over at the seedling who had just managed to trip over its own feet, in an attempt to chase after both Mito and Hanabi at the same time before fixing Kushina with an inquisitive look.

"You mean that," here he to gesture over to the seeding, that Mito had pounced on with a laugh, "is a threat to the village….ya I don't think so." He responded his tone, one of challenge. Kurenai hardened her gaze on the blonde before taking a few steps forward to look down at the boy her tone becoming more authoritarian as she did.

"This isn't a suggestion Uzumaki, this is an order from a superior." continued Kurenai not breaking eye contact with the boy. While she didn't truly believe that the thing a few yards away was a danger, she had a duty to bring it to the hokage's attention, and besides she didn't particularly care for the tone that the genin before her was directing her way. For a second the two simple stood there staring each other down, before Naruto gave a small smirk and replied.

"Well if that's the case I guess you have to bring us all in don't you." replied the blond in a confident tone that caught Kurenai momentarily off guard. As she watch Naruto's coat seemed to ripple slightly before five more black orbs shot out of his back each shooting a few feet away before proceeding to break apart and form into a black figure of their own, all looking around while humming slightly in curiosity as they did so.

Despite herself Kurenai took a step back as she looked around at all of the purple eyed figures that were all looking at her in apparent interest. For a second everyone was silent until a small commotion from the tree line drew everyone's attention, and Tsunade along with Shizune appeared followed after by a chair bound Hitomi being pushed by Kushina. For a second everyone just looked around at one another before Shizune gave a small cough, getting everyone's attention.

"Um well this was unexpected, might I suggest we all sit down and discuss what's going on here, I think that's in everyone's best interests." reasoned the woman getting a few nods from the surrounding group. Kushina set about putting up a sealing barrier around the training field while the rest of the group including one of the seedlings set gathered in a circle to discuss what they were going to be doing. The seedling in question had seemed interested in Yakumo's drawing of itself, and had elected to stay besides her, humming as it twisted the picture back and forth apparently examining it. Yakumo for her part was just staring at the seedling seated beside her trying to decide what she thought about it. Sakura and Shino where splitting their time between looking over at Yakumo, and the Seedling beside her trying to figure out where they sat.

As Kushina finished she made her way over to where the group gathered as Kurenai spoke up her voice more confused than anything else.

"W-what is going on her Tsunade-sama, Kushina-san, Shizune-san, Hyuga-san, w-what is all of this?" asked the red eyed women looking around in compete confusion. The other women seemed to pause for a moment giving each other measured looks before Kushina spoke up.

"I guess the simplest way to explain this would be that Naruto has been working on these guys for the last few years, and the last few months, myself and everyone else here have been helping him work with them. They aren't like a normal clone, and tend to act mostly like children, during the exams, they got shot all over the forest, and well," here she paused to give a small smirk over at the seedling that was sitting over by Yakumo humming happily, "made an impression apparently." finished Kushina with a chuckle. Kurenai seemed to consider this for a second; it certainly fit, after all from what she had understood that meant that the clones or whatever they were had only attacked the Konoha teams in self-defense. This did settle her mind a little, but at the same time she could tell there was something that Kushina and the rest weren't telling her. She eyed them all with her fiery red eyes moving from one to the next considering her next words carefully.

"So these clones of are just a new move from Naruto," here she looked over at Naruto fixing him with a doubting look before she continued, "and this boy who happens to be only genin level just a few months ago, and apparently alone, created a brand new never before seen technique that is able to go one on three with darn near any team in the exams, and you are expecting me to believe that, what you have told me is all there is to it?" finished Kurenai folding her arms and looking around the group with an expression that dared them to call her out. For moment the group looked at one another in silence until Naruto spoke up.

"Well I guess that would sound pretty odd, but trust me the alternative isn't a whole heck of a lot more believable." He said getting a few nods from those around him. Kurenai turned to the boy with a look, before speaking.

"Try me." she said in a daring tone. Naruto gave her a smirk back before sending out a quick mental message to the others.

_Ok I guess we are kind of stuck here, what should we do? _Asked Naruto to the others.

_Maybe we should tell her, I mean it's not like we can cover it up at this point, and you were going to have to start explaining things after the finals anyway. _Reasoned Hinata.

_I don't know Hinata, I mean telling those close to us is one thing but Kurenai here is a diehard shinobi, even if we explain everything she may still want to inform the Hokage. _Reasoned Shizune, she was still getting use to the whole pollen connection having only recently gotten her own, along with Tsunade and Hitomi.

_Ya but what else can we do? _Asked Hitomi, not sure as what to do next. Tsunade considered what she knew for a few more moments before voicing her opinion.

_Look it comes down to two options, we tell her and she agrees to keep silent or we don't tell her, and she goes to the hokage, which she may do even if we do tell her…..or we kidnap her, and run away to another village, and start our lives over as a three ring circus, for all the craziness this little band seems to find itself in. _finished the blonde women, somehow putting both humor and annoyance together into her voice. The others let out a small snort at her words, making the members of team eight look at the group a little puzzled, before Juubi added her two cents worth into the conversation.

"**I say we just tell her, she is suspicious already so just let Naruto tell him what he feels comfortable telling her, and let's just get this thing out in the open." **Juubi said giving a mental shrug of apparent surrender as she did so.

"Ok," said Naruto calling everyone's attention, " I guess we just have to explain what's going on here, so let's start off with the biggest one, I have the tailed beasts Kaasan living in my head, thanks to the thirds sealing, and she is the reason I can make that." Naruto said pointing over to the seedling who had just finished looking Yakumo's picture up and down, and handed it back to the girl with a hum of apparent approval causing the girl to blush slightly as she took the painting from him with a quick word of thanks.

At hearing this team eight looked at Naruto and back to the seedling before looking at the adults as if hoping one of them would help explain what Naruto had just said. Hitomi and Kushina shook their heads in turn looking over at the confused group with knowing smiles.

"I swear I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of seeing people's reaction to that one." barked out Kushina while Hitomi just gave her a playful slap on the head, causing the red head to smile back at her friend.

* * *

While this was happening the final two members of team eleven were at that moment making their way through Konoha while stretching out some of their sore muscles as they did so.

"I'm telling you Akamaru, Kaasan and Oneesan are going to kill us before we every get to the finals." Joked Kiba looking down at Akamaru who padded along beside him. Akamaru gave Kiba a little huff in response before giving off a soft yip.

"Hai but it will be worth it." responded the pup, Kiba being able to understand him thanks to his Inuzuka blood. Kiba gave a small smirk at that before raising his two arms behind his head in a lazy motion.

"Ya I guess you're right, still that Suna kunoichi isn't going to go down easy, heck she managed to take out Shikimaru without much trouble and besides Kaasan always made it clear not to underestimate an opponent and hit them fast, without giving them a chance to recover, so that's what I'm going to do." Kiba said in a happy tone to which Akamaru yipped happily in response.

The two made their way down the road for a time before they came to the Konoha park, and decide to take a quick break there before getting back to training. The two found a nice spot on a small hill that allowed the shade to cover the two as they laid back for a moment just enjoying the small breeze as it played across his face bringing with it the smells of Konoha with it. This was something only Inuzuka's could truly experience, and Kiba loved to just lay relaxed while his nose allowed his mind to take in a day like this in his own way.

Just as he was slipping away into a short nap, his nose caught a familiar sent of wind. Something like desert sand mixed in with a wood polish smell and a hint of something that smelled like a cactus flowers though it all was muted behind a smell of sweat. The smell was unfamiliar to Kiba, and caused him to blink his eyes open and sit himself up to get another quick whiff of the air causing him to look over his right shoulder and towards the pig tailed girl from Suna he would be facing in the upcoming match.

Temari seemed to notice Kiba's gaze and stopped a few feet away giving him a quick once over before huffing out a sound that made it clear she wasn't impressed with the boy. Kiba recognized that attitude, he should after all he had seen it enough from his Neesan. The girl was issuing him a challenge, and didn't appear to be unfamiliar with showing her authority over others, and not backing down easily. Kiba bared his teeth in a small feral grin, as he saw this act and wasn't about to back down to her.

"You know you'd be better served spending your time preparing for our match, or are you just given up on winning it already?" asked Temari, her tone one of bating aggressiveness. Kiba never let his eyes leave the girl as he pushed himself up so that he was now looking only slightly up to meet her eyes, thanks to the slope of the hill.

"Sorry not luck, you don't get off that easy, so how about you stop trying to play the intimidation game with me, I have that all the time at home." replied Kiba without looking away from the girl. Temari seemed to become a little more excited at his tone folding her arms and leaning slightly over to rest her weight on her right leg.

"Is that so , maybe I gave you too much credit cause I can tell you that you wouldn't last one day in my family." responded the girl still with the challenge in her voice. Kiba smirked back before replying.

"What with pajama boy, and the one with Tanuki eyes, heck that's nothing compared to a family full of women who have packs of dogs at their beck and call." Shot back Kiba, smiling a little more despite himself. Inuzuka's always tended to have a feral streak in them, and the verbal battle they were having applied to that side of his nature strongly. Temari herself had to admit there was something refreshing about someone who wasn't backing down from her, but seemed to be treating her with some kind of respect as a kunoichi.

"Anyway I was just taking a break before heading back to work, I saw what you did to Shikimaru in the last fight, and I won't be making the mistake in taking you lightly. Heck if I did my Kaasan and Neesan would probably take me out before you got your shot." replied Kiba with a chuckle. Temari let out a small bark of laughter as well before replying.

"Huh maybe I should be fighting them in the next match instead of you then?" shot back Temari letting a small bit of her chakra form into a slight gust of wind that shot towards Kiba's face. On instinct Kiba drew in his own chakra letting it form into a gust of air that impacted Temari's own causing a breeze to push past both of them ruffling their hair as it went. Temari allowed herself a moment of surprise at the Inuzuka's wind element before a small yip drew her attention a few feet about a foot to Kiba's right.

The blonde girl looked down to see the ball of white fluff looking back up at her while its tail wagged back and forth behind it, a small content doggy grin on its face as it looked between the two. Akamaru had fallen to sleep until just a few moments before when the breeze from the two's wind had rustled him enough to wake up. Even as the two watched the pup let out a small yawn, before stretching to look up at the two in apparent interest.

Temari looked down at the pup and fought for all she was worth to keep her face from breaking into a happy smile. True she was a kunoichi first, and her aggressive nature was no act, but growing up in a desert had left her precious few chances to see something so unquestionably cute as a puppy just waking up from a nap. Her only memory close to it was when she had only been around two and her Kaasan had given her a stuffed ferret as a birthday present, before she had died not long after bringing Garra into the world. So she froze slightly trying to fight back the urge to simply bend down and scoop up the pup and nuzzle it affectionately.

However, she forced herself to remain calm, and focused back towards Kiba who seemed to have noticed her momentary hesitation. Taking the opportunity he took a step forward so that he and Temari were on eye level before responding to her last statement.

"Ya but if I let them fight I wouldn't get my chance to show how much I've been working, so me and Akamaru will be seeing you at the finals." finished Kiba turning to with Akamaru to leave the park. After a few steps he paused and flashed a small grin back at Temari, before speaking.

"Oh and that perfume of yours doesn't smell to bad." chuckled Kiba trying to catch the girl off guard. To say it worked was an understatement, Temari's face first became confused before a slight blush twinge her face, and she slung her fan from her back to wing it at the boy. However, Kiba and Akamaru had already left, and with a sigh she lowered her fan to rest on the park's grass while muttering to herself.

"Stupid spiky haired….red marked….grey coated….Jerk." muttered Temari fighting to keep her anger in check as she took several deep breaths while forcing herself to relax. When she had managed it she calmly slipped her fan back onto her back and turned to walk out of the park, and back to her training. As she went she let her face settle into a small smirk as she did.

"Just you wait you jerk I'm taking you out in the next round." Temari said to herself even as she grinned a little at the idea of standing over a beaten Kiba holding a happy Akamaru for extra effect.

A small while later found Kiba walking through his compound and back out into the clan's training field where he found Hana and Tsume waiting for him the later, turning to face him as he arrived.

"Hey pup about time you got back, what's the matter we pushing you to hard?" Tsume called in a happy tone that made it clear she was speaking in jest. Kiba gave his Kaasan and small smirk before running over to stand before her.

"Not a chance Kaasan, I'm ready to go, right Akamaru." Kiba said turning slightly to see Akamaru let out a bark of agreement. Tsume gave the boy a grin before giving him a soft punch on his arm, grinning the whole while. They were about to get down to business before Tsume stiffened for a second her nose twitching for a moment before a wide grin spread out on her face from ear to ear. Hana froze as well looking over at Tsume, before giving a sniff of the air as well, then slowly mimicking her Kaasan's actions. Kiba took a small step back from the two as the women gave him two evil smiles.

"Ka-kaasa…Hana…w-what is it?" asked Kiba while fighting a losing battle to not show just how afraid he was at the moment. Without speaking both women reached a hand up to point at their noses, and then took a small step forward. Kiba was confused for a second before he sniffed the air around him and froze realizing that when he had been arguing with that girl from Suna her blast of air had covered him in her sent. Realizing this he froze his mind racing as a small shiver went down his spine.

"Sochi is that perfume I smell on you?" asked Tsume her eyes flashing with a sudden intensity. Kiba gulped looking left and right as the two women closed in on him from both sides.

"Meep!" squeaked out Kiba just as the two women closed in on him.

* * *

While Kiba was busy being interrogated by his family for details, team eight had just finish listening to Naruto's abridged version of the events leading to what had occurred in the forest, and today. He'd been careful to leave out the elements having to do with his family, and most of the events in Wave, and particularly Hinata's new condition, but other than that he had told them most of the details. The group just sat stunned looking at Naruto as though he was insane.

"So," Kurenai began after a moment's pause, "you are the holder of the Juubi, and your chakra has changed, making you able to create these seedlings of yours, and you were testing some of their durability, and one got hit by Tsunade making it fly into this field, does that about sum it up?" asked Kurenai in a curious tone as she looked at the boy seated in front of her. Naruto for his part just looked back at her with a small smile.

"Yep that's it, nothing else to it." replied Naruto simply as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Well I'm going to go ahead and check and make sure Mito and Hanabi aren't causing any trouble, Hinata-chan, Sakura, Shino, Yakumo want to come with me I can let the Seedling meet you so they will know you if they see you again, offered Naruto looking around at the members of team eight. Hinata rose from her seated position a moment later, followed soon by the rest of the genin who proceeded to head over to where the seedlings were gathered, along with Mito and Hanabi. As they left Kurenai turned to address the women left once again but found them all staring at her with calculated eyes.

"W-what?" asked Kurenai giving them a slightly worried look. Kushina was the first to respond.

"Well now comes the part where we explain to you that you won't be telling the Hokage about what you have learned today." said Kushina in a tone that didn't quite hint at violence, but made it clear that the redhead was serious. Kurenai looked back and forth between the group seeing the same look from all of them. Now Kurenai was no coward, far from it, but to be under the gaze of four women, three of which she knew to be her superior in strength, skill, and experience. Heck she didn't even like her chances against the wheel chair bound Hyuuga women at such short range, and what was more confusing was that she didn't really believe that it was even the right choice to tell the Hokage anymore.

Really when she got down to it, this was a case of an authorized technique that was used during an exam where inter-fighting was expected and encouraged. Really the Seedlings as they were called hadn't done anything outside of the rules during their actions; heck the one her team had run into had likely saved their lives. After a few more moments she gave Kushina an understanding nod.

"Alright I'll keep it quiet for now, but I can't make any promises about keeping it a secret if these things keep flying into training fields all over Konoha." Kurenai replied letting a small smile come her face as she finished drawing a small amount of happy sounding sighs from the assembled women.

"Well that's a relief, now I guess we go and see what kind of trouble the genin are getting into." chuckled Tsunade as she pushed herself up from the ground. The rest soon followed and a short ways across the training field they found a little play going on. The five women found themselves arranged in a line looking down into a valley like area where the genin, as well as Mito and Hanabi were moving around with the Seedlings walking around in turn.

Below Naruto and Hinata along with Sakura and Shino were standing off to one side, watching as Mito and Hanabi were moving Seedling after Seedling in front of Yakumo waiting for something to happen. The brown haired girl seemed to be fidgeting slightly as each Seedling in turn was led up to her and then away, without comment. The four women made their way down the hill and Kurenai spoke up looking over at Sakura and Shino.

"What are they doing with Yakumo-chan?" asked Kurenai obvious confusion in her tone, as she looked as the next Seedling was maneuvered in front of the girl. Sakura smiled a little before replying.

"Well apparently Yakumo-chan told them about the seedling she met in the forest, so now they are trying to figure out which one of them it is so that she can see her friend again." chuckled Sakura as the next seedling was brought up in front of the girl.

"Then what are they waiting for?" asked Kurenai looking at the situation causing Shino to shrug slightly in answer. Just as Kurenai was about to ask what was going on the last seedling was maneuvered in front of Yakumo and stared at her for a few moments before letting out an excited hum and jumped forward at the brown haired girl that let out a small yelp of shock. Kurenai was about to leap forward before she stopped and started trying to hold back giggles at what she was seeing.

The seedling in question had leapt forward and wrapped it arms happily around Yakumo's waist twirling the girl in seeming happiness at seeing her. The Seeding hadn't seen the girl after it had run into the redheaded boy in the forest, and hadn't been out since. So seeing its newest friend safe seemed to have excited the seedling who was now expressing itself.

Most of the group let out similar giggle to Kurenai after a moment, and soon everyone, including the spinning girl, was laughing at the scene around them.

* * *

It was a few days later in Konoha, Minami and Naruko had decided to take a day off of their training to stop by home and see everyone. Kushina had been thrilled to see the two as they could testify once they managed to get air back in their lungs after her bone crushing greeting. Naruko had decided to spend the day between visiting her friends and hanging out with Minato and Kushina. Minami in the meantime had decided to spend some time with her mom, before heading out with Mito for the afternoon to share some time with Naruto.

The two redheads were currently sitting up by the Hokage monument their feet dangling over the edge while Mito licked happily at an ice-cream cone Minami had gotten her. The two sat there while Mito hummed happily as she looked out over the village. Minami in the meantime was smiling over at Mito enjoying seeing her imoto so seemingly content with herself. After a bit Mito paused looking down at her ice-cream her face screwed up slightly in a look Minami couldn't quite place.

"What's wrong Mito get a brain freeze?" asked Minami leaning over to get a better look at the brighter redhead. Mito shook her head slightly in response before looking over at Minami for a second and then out over the village as if trying to find what she wanted to say. Minami seemed to pick up on the girls discomfort, and decided to prod a bit.

"Mito if something wrong you can tell me, I promise it will stay between you and me ok." said Minami softly causing Mito to look up at her as if a bit afraid as what might come out if she spoke. Finally she seemed to decide on something and turned to look out over the village.

"Neesan why did you and Aniki use to fight so much?" asked Mito in a sad little voice that caused Minami to freeze, the words turning her blood to ice as she heard them. Mito just sat there for a second looking out over the village before she continued.

"You know Aniki use to bring me up here sometimes, when you and Naruko-chan were training, and he use to cry sometime, he tried to make sure I didn't see him but I did. Whenever I asked him about it he would say it was noting and just go on smiling. And now things are better you and Kaasan and Aniki, and we're all happy, but I'm scared I don't want it to go back to how it used to be." Finished Mito a few tears falling from her eyes even as the ice-cream cone slipped from her figures and fell down off the monument.

Without a moment's hesitation Minami leaned over and wrapped her arms around Mito running one hand gently through the girls long red hair while making shushing sounds and whispering in the girls ear.

"Shhhhh its go Mito, its ok I promise everything will be ok, Naruto and I aren't going to change I promise, we're not going to change, it will be alright shhhhh." Whispered Minami as she pulled Mito gently into her lap rocking her back and forth gently as she continued to hold Mito close to her, even as Mito let a few small sobs escape her mouth and buried her face into her older sister chest, crying softly into it. After a few moments Mito managed to breathe enough to look up at Minami her small face showing evidence of her recent crying.

"Neesan, why?" asked Mito looking up at Minami the older girl letting a few tears fall from her eyes as she looked down at her sister, shaking her head slightly before replying.

"I don't know imoto….i don't know any more I was scared he was going to get himself hurt, and I… I made a lot of mistakes." Finished Minami looking out over the village for a second remembering all the times she had judged Naruto growing up, all the times she had yelled at him about being lazy, all those time that seemed so long ago. After a moment one of Mito's chains reached up to wipe away a tear from Minami's face causing the older girl to look down at Mito who was giving her a soft smile, even though her watering eyes.

"It's ok Minami Oneechan, you're better now." said Mito as though Minami had gotten over some kind of sickness that had caused her actions. The darker redhead turned her dark red eyes down into her sister bright pale ones, and smiled a down at her giving her a soft nod.

"H-hai Minami I'm better now, how about we go get you a new ice-cream cone?" asked Minami smiling down at her imoto. Mito smiled back brining up a sleeve to wipe away a few stray tears.

"Hai Neesan!" Mito said as the two redheads stood up and made their way down the steps and into the village. As they were making their way through the food market, they noticed a familiar redhead who was at that moment exiting a familiar ramen tent calling back to the two cooks as she left.

"Arigato, it was nice to see you two again." called Kushina as she turned to leave the small ramen stand. As the redhead took a few steps down the road Minami called out to her.

"Kaasan, hey Kaasan!" she called waving her left hand in the air, while Mito waved her right. Kushina paused and turned to see the pair giving off a bright smile as she did so, and making her way over towards the pair.

"Hello you two, where are you headed?" asked Kushina as she made her way over to the two.

"Well Kaasan I'm just taking Mito here to get an ice-cream cone, I see you just got done with some Ichiraku ramen I swear I'll never know what you and Naruto see in that stuff." Chuckled Minami as Kushina gave her musume an annoyed little look before throwing her hands over her head in mock anger.

"How could I raise a child who was not in love with the miracle that is ramen, tell me kami where did I go wrong." asked Kushina as if calling to kami to answer her. All she got was an annoyed little look from Minami, and a happy little giggle from Mito. Kushina held her pose for a second before letting her arms drop, and giving the two girls a bright smile.

"Well mind if I come along with you two?" asked Kushina looking down at the two. Minami and Mito nodded their heads in response and soon the three redheads were making their way through the village headed towards the park where the stand was located.

When the three arrived in the park they heard a small disturbance coming from over where they knew the fountain to be. The three looked at one another for a moment before deciding to head over and see what all of the ruckus was about. As the three arrived on the scene they saw the source of the commotion.

Two figures were standing by the fountain while a third what had apparently been thrown bodily into the fountain was shouting at the two standing a short distance away. Minami took a moment to recognize the three members from the mist village that had participated in the prelims with her. The one currently standing in the pond was the white haired boy known as Suigetsu, he was currently shouting at the boy named Haku, and…and Karin. Minami realized with a sudden shock. She had completely forgotten what Naruto had said to her during the prelims until just now, and looking over at Kushina and Mito she realized that she hadn't even thought to tell either of them anything about it.

Meanwhile as the three Namikaze's watched Suigetsu raised a hand pointing over at Karin flashing a shark toothed smile as he did.

"That's it Karin, we do this now, I don't care if we start a war, that is the last time you throw me like that!" called the white-haired boy, as he looked over at his two teammates. Haku just shook his head in apparent annoyance while Karin just waved a hand dismissively at the boy.

"Ya well maybe next time you won't shoot your mouth off to me, ever think about that water boy?" Karin asked in a voice thick with disapproval. Kushina decided to intervene before the genin from mist got underway in their fight and possibly wreaked the whole park. As Kushina stepped forwards Haku seemed to notice her presence and turned freezing in place as he did. Kushina for her part did the same and the two just looked at one another for a few seconds both remembering their brief encounter in wave. For Kushina the memory was a nasty little reminder of what the first mission had cost. Meanwhile for Haku the effect was slightly different.

_OH KAMI, OH KAMI PLEASE TELL ME THIS ISN'T HAPPENING PLEASE TELL ME THIS ISN'T HAPPENING! _Thought Haku seeing the women in front of him that had literally almost beaten his master to death with her bare hands. Karin seemed to notice the twos reaction to one another and decided to get to the bottom of it.

"Hey Haku what's up with you and the tomato over there?" asked Karin her tone more curious than anything else. Time seemed to stop for a moment as Kushina's eyes narrowed and her hair started to separate into nine tails of hair that rose slightly behind her in a dangerous fashion.

Haku apparently sensing danger moved slowly off away from the pair of redhead, joined soon after by Minami, and Mito the latter of which was taking shelter behind Minami's legs while giving the other pair of redheads a nervous little look. Kushina seemed to stare at the girl for a moment her eyes shining with a kind of fire, while there hair waved dangerously behind her.

"Would you mind repeating that for me I don't think I heard you?" asked Kushina in a dangerous little tone that caused the three watching members to take a step back from them, almost on instinct. Karin glared back at Kushina her own eyes narrowing slightly as she did seeming to be reading herself for a fight. Neither of the two redheads got the chance to fling themselves at each other, however, because at that moment Suigetsu hopped out of the fountain striding over to stand between the two and cocky look on his face as he spoke.

"Hey you red beat it, me and four eyes over here have something to discuss!" shouted the boy, in an annoyed tone. Poor Suigetsu had unknowingly placed himself at ground zero, and he didn't even recognize the danger he was in.

Without warning the two redheads whirled around both slammed their fist into the white haired boys face causing him to fly back into the fountain his head exploding into a shower of water, as it impacted the fountain and slipped below the water line. For a moment no one moved, before Haku leaned over and in a soft voice whispered over to Minami in a hushed voice.

"Don't move…they can sense fear." He whispered in an anxious whisper that caused Minami to snort slightly letting it go into a loud giggle. Mito joined in moments later, and Kushina and Karin turned to find the three onlookers letting out little bouts of laughter. The two redheads turned to each other for a second and back at the fountain before letting out a few barks of laughter as they looked at the situation they were in. After a few moments they stopped and the five moved over to talk, Karin catching sight of Mito for the first time, and then Minami halting for a moment as she recognized the redhead.

"Hey wait you're that girl from the prelims" said Karin pointing over at Minami, who gave a nod of agreement.

"Hai that was me, and this is my Kaasan Kushina and my imoto Mito, your Karin right?" finished Minami looking over at the other red eyed girl who turned to each person in turn and finally gave the girl a short nod.

"Wait where's the blonde, the one that said we were cousins?" asked Karin looking around, in apparent confusion. Kushina and Mito froze at the other red haired girls words, and tracked their eyes over to stare at Karin, Kushina's mouth hanging open slightly as she looked at the girl, noticing the similarities between her and Minami for the first time. Mito in the meantime had skipped the thinking phase and had jumped straight to the welcoming phase. This meant that one moment Karin was standing there looking around at the group and the next she was staggering back as a small red-haired comet impacted her chest with a cry of greeting.

"I have a cousin that's so awesome wait till I tell Hanabi-kun!" shouted Mito two of her golden chains flying out of her back to help her wrap around the form of Karin. As soon as the golden chains came in contact with Karin there was a sudden flash of golden light that caused everyone to cover their eyes in sudden surprise at the blinding light coming from the two. Kushina practically fainted at seeing the light before her. It had been the same when Mito had first grabbed onto one of Kushina's chains when she was only two, a bright flash of golden light had erupted and, the next thing Kushina knew Mito had been sitting in the living room shrieking with apparent delight as she waved her hands happily at a small golden chain that had sprouted from her back.

It was discovered later that when Kushina's chakra had come in contact with Mito directly Mito's own had awakened at that moment. This meant that the girl standing before her was unmistakably an Uzumaki, and more importantly she had the same chakra as them. A few seconds later when the light faded the group was able to see that Mito was sitting ontop of a confused looking Karin as several golden chains had dug into the ground behind the red eyed girl holding her up a few feet from the ground even as Mito smiled up at her.

"Wow you have chains just like Kaasan and me that's awesome!" continued Mito looking around excitedly at the gathered figures. Haku looked like he was about have a kind of conniption as he looked between his teammate and the other redheads, his mind whirling.

_GREAT NOW THEY ARE MULTIPLYING, OH ZABUZA SAMA HELP ME! _thought the dark haired boy in a small panic. Minami just looked confused, as she looked over at Karin, who for her part had passed confused about ten miles ago, and was fast approaching critical mass. She noticed idly that she was being supported by something but it felt odd to her. Turning her head she saw that several golden chains were sticking out of her back and into the ground behind her holding her up, looking a lot like the ones coming from the redheaded girl that was still attached to her at the hip. Karin did possibly the most sensible thing and promptly passed out, her chains shattering into golden light as she plopped softly to the ground followed by Mito who looked down at her in confusion.

A moment later Kushina managed to shake herself out of her stopper enough to take a few steps forwards and lift Mito off of Karin slipping an arm under the girl as she did so, and pulling the now unconscious girl up enough to move her over to a nearby pavilion followed by the other members as she sat the girl down on the bench beside her smiling slightly as she simply looked down on the red eyed girl with something akin to wonder. Here she was another Uzumaki…she wasn't the last, that meant that this girl's mother or father may be out there, some for her family might still be out there in other nation alive.

The group sat there for a few minutes waiting for Karin to wake up. When she finally did she saw that Minami and Mito had headed off at some time, while Haku was sitting on the bench beside her never taking his eyes from where Kushina sat facing them. She let out a small grown as she sat up grabbing her head slightly as if trying to hold back some kind of pain in it. Haku didn't move his gaze but put a hand behind the girl helping her up to sit up while she worked to steady herself. After a moment she managed it looking over at Haku with a small smile of thanks before she turned to face Kushina who had not taken her eyes off of her for a moment.

"So," spoke Kushina seeing that Karin was now fully awake, "you're going to feel a bit out of it for a while, that happens the first time you awaken your bloodline, particularly with our type." said Kushina not taking her eyes off of the girl. Karin and Haku gave her an odd look before Kushina spoke up again.

"I guess it kind of obvious now, but I would say that you are definitely an Uzumaki at least on one side of your family, parents probably changed their names, and went into hiding when Uzu fell. I won't ask you to tell me if you don't want to but I'd like to know a bit about you if I can…and maybe your family." finished Kushina her tone not wavering at all as she looked into Karin's face.

Karin for her part just stared back at Kushina without knowing what to say in reply. Haku picked up on his teammate's distress and stood for a moment causing Kushina to turn to face the boy.

"Thank you for the offer Kushina-sensei, but I would ask to wait until we can discuss with our sensei, before we make any decisions after all our villages are still not in an alliance at the moment. So with respect I would like to run this by our sensei before we continue this conversation." spoke Haku in a firm tone that held a familiar tone of a true shinobi. Kushina let out a small sigh before nodding her head and pushing herself up.

"I can respect that, I will wait for a response from either you or your sensei, if possible I will be willing to organize a meeting between your Mizukage, and the Hokage for a chance at discussing this in earnest." replied Kushina before leaving the pavilion taking a few steps away before pausing and turning her head over her shoulder to give a two a small smirk.

"Hey by the way get your teammate out of the fountain before he drowns will you." called Kushina as she turned and made her way through the park.

* * *

While half of the Namikaze family was over in the park a particular blonde girl was sitting out in an open training field her back leaned up against one of the training polls while having her knees drawn up to her chest as she looked out over the field without doing more than looking out while trying to figure out her own feelings. The last few weeks she had been feeling small hits of sadness as she continued her training with Minami and the toads. It had started when Naruto had walked out to explain to them that he wouldn't be coming with them on the trip, and continued to pop up every time she thought of Konoha and everyone there while she would talk with Minami after a training session.

"**So meat bag, are you just going to sit around all day, or are you going to do something interesting." **Asked the Kyuubi annoyed slightly at his hosts moping.

_Shut it furball I'm not in the mood for your taunting. _Shot back Naruko harshly sending a mental glare Kyuubi's direction for good measure. The fox just huffed slightly before continuing.

"**Or you'll what, heck it seemes to me I'm one of the few things that will actually listen to you any longer, like how you've forced Naruto out of your life." **mocked Kyuubi trying to get a rise out of Naruko. Naruko let off a little burst of chakra almost on instinct as her grip tightened around her knees drawing them in closer to her chest.

_I SAID SHUT UP YOU FUCKING FURBALL I'M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR YOUR CRAP! _Naruto mentally yelled trying to force the fox out of her head.

"**Why so you can go back to moping, what's the big deal you were the one who decided to come back here instead of staying on that mountain to train, heck even those filthy toads are some kind of company." **replied the fox his tone more confused than anything else. Naruko let out a harsh grunt before closing off the connection to the Kyuubi.

"Stupid fox, what the heck does he know about anything, Tousan was just busy today, and Minami and Mito wanted to have some time alone, I still got to visit Ino and Sakura for a while. So why should I feel bad." Naruko asked the empty field a burst of red chakra blasting forth from her and cracking the trees and ground around her as it released from her. From inside a small voice spoke up to her.

_Maybe because you don't want to meet with your friends but with your family…the one you left behind. _Reasoned a small bit of her. With a shake Naruko stood up and was about to move out of the field when she heard a small movement from behind her. Naruko spun in place turning to have her bright blue eyes scan back and forth around the field behind her, without catching any movement. For a second she froze, until she heard a voice speak up from above her position.

"You never did look up when we use to play hid and seek; it's why I always won when it was your turn." Came a voice from the tree a few feet from the training logs. Naruto froze as she heard the voice looking up to see Naruto sitting in the tree above her looking down at her a small smile on his face. Before she could respond the blonde boy hopped down from the tree, and landed softly the center training post before letting himself fall into a sitting position on it, never taking his purple eyes from her blue ones. After a moment Naruko spoke up.

"W-what are you doing here?" she asked her voice carrying a small bit of hostility in it, even though she hadn't meant it to. Naruto didn't even appear to have noticed the tone as he looked at her his smile lessening a little until he was giving his fellow blonde a sad little smile that seemed to be made more for pity than for anything else.

"Are you trying to spy on me to figure out my training for our upcoming match, is that it or are you here to try and psych me out and hope it messes up my training?" Naruko called towards the purple eyed boy who just sat looking at her his face never changing.

"What, why are you looking at me like that, is it because your angry at me! Angry that I'm stronger than you, or is it that I got training from tousan and Jiraiya? Well?" asked Naruko her tone becoming more and more pained as she continued. Her voice seemed to carry with it more suffering than actual anger.

Naruto didn't respond but just looked at her with his sad expression, not responding to her questions, just looking at his neesan with a sadness hanging over her.

"Well tell me! huh what is that stupid look about, are you still angry about the training, is that why you didn't come with us, huh? Is that it your angry that you didn't have to spend your time training that you could be with Mito and Hinata, heck with anyone you wanted while Minami and I were being trained to protect the village? Is that it, IS IT I NEVER ASKED TO BE A HERO FOR THIS VIALLAGE, BUT ITS MY JOB I HAVE TO PROTECT EVERYONE, AND WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO DO NOTHING, THAT'S WHAT! SO STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT! DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE I NEED YOUR PITTY! I DON'T CARE IF YOU HATE ME FOR IT I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE IS PROTECTED!" Naruko finished screaming as she did so even as a large amount of red chakra bubbled out around her forming first stage chakra clock as it did. Meanwhile the blonde's nails and canines of the girl lengthened into points and her eyes changed into slits, as she finished yelling her breath coming out in sharp breaths as she glared over at Naruto her mind racing even at the charka and adrenalin raced through her. For a moment neither child spoke the wind blew through the training field as Naruto continued to watch Naruto not moving just watching her with that same look in his eyes.

After a moment that seemed to stretch on forever his lips parted as he began to speak in a soft tone, in stark contrast to Naruko's bellows.

"Was I jealous…..oh course I was, I wanted more than anything to be right there with you and Minami getting to spend time with Tousan and Kaasan, and my Neesan's learning with you together like we always were… but it didn't turn out that way, it was you and Minami that were trained, and it hurt at first, seeing you two leave me behind getting stronger while I got left behind, but that faded after a while." Naruto said his voice calm and controlled. Naruko relaxed slightly listening to Naruto's words allowing the chakra around her to slowly begin to fade as she did.

"What I missed more than anything though was my Neesan's… playing pranks with you on Minami, or her having to break us up after we had taken a fight to far… I missed all of that, but you and her had to train, and I just sat and watched as you two left me behind. but I held on, waiting for my chance to train with you to, waiting for when we could go back to how we were all those years ago, happy together, but something happened. You and Minami started to change…maybe I did to, and we didn't talk much anymore, we didn't laugh and play anymore… it wasn't the training I missed anymore it was my Neesan's." continued the blonde the claws and chakra fading away from Naruko as she listened to Naruto speak.

"By the time Mito was old enough to be on her own, we were barely hanging on anymore, heck if not for meals I doubt we would have shared more than a few words with one another, and the worst part was that neither of you seemed to mind it. "finished Naruto letting out a small sigh as he hopped off his log and stood facing Naruko his face set in a look of determination as he did so.

"But none of that matters anymore Naruko, you said I didn't understand, that you had to protect me, protect everyone and be the hero." Naruto said, while Naruko gave the blonde a small nod to affirm his statement. Naruto continued taking a few steps forwards as he spoke.

"Naruko I don't need a protector, and I don't want a hero, none of us do… I want my Neesan back, I want the smiling girl that I use to play with back, I want to see her and Mito playing an laughing together like they should be instead of looking at each other like they don't even know what a sister should be to the other." continued Naruto standing just a foot in front of Naruko as he finished his last sentence Naruko looking at him a little confused as he stared into her eyes purple into blue.

"And if this world won't let you be my Neesan, if it can't keep spinning without my family being able to smile together, then I'll tear it down with my own hands, and make a new world were that can happen, because I'm through watching and waiting while the things I love are taken from me." finished Naruto with a kind of finality in his tone that made Naruko shiver slightly.

The girls mind raced at Naruto's words, hope, anger, fear, and a multitude of other emotions shot through her mind trying and failing to form a solid cohesive thought. Her mind was at a loss at what to do next, and her mind reaching for something familiar snagged on the one constant in all of her time since her training began.

"B-but I have to protect everyone…I have to save them." She said her voice cracking slightly as she spoke the words. Naruto looked at Naruko with a pained look as he shook his head slowly and turned to leave the girl behind.

"No Naruko it's you that needs saving, but you have to want to be saved, when you are I'll be waiting." Naruto said as he turned to leave. Just as he was about to exit the field there was a flash of yellow light and Minato arrived looking around worried. Thanks to his seals scattered around the village he had detected that last burst of chakra from Naruko, and fearing an attack had headed out to get to her concerned she was under attack. When he arrived he found the training field torn up slightly from what could only have been the foxes chakra, and a shaken looking Naruko standing there looking at a complete lost as to what to do with herself. As his eyes panned around he spotted Naruto apparently unaffected in the slightest standing a few yards off with his back to both Naruko and himself.

"What happened here?" asked Minato rushing over to check on Naruko who looked like she was about to pass out on her feet, while looking between her and Naruto trying to get an answer out of either of them.

"Nothing hokage-sama I was just talking to Naruko, that is all." replied Naruto without turning to face Minato as he moved to walk away from the pair with long deliberate strides. Minato looked down at the seemingly shaken girl before him before turning to look back at Naruto's retreating form, his eyes darkening slightly as he did. The next moment there was another flash of yellow light and Naruto found his path blocked by Minato supporting a still shaken Naruko.

"Hold it Naruto, you are going to explain what happened here first, Naruko looks like she just went through a fight, and you seem just fine with that, in fact you don't even seem concerned for her and I want to know why?" Minato said his voice hard. Although the Hokage didn't want to believe that Naruto had done something the situation he was looking at made it very hard for him to come to any other conclusion, and if Naruto was harming Naruko, his own personal failing aside he would not stand for it. Naruto didn't seem surprised by the hokage's tone or his words and just looked up at the man with a bored expression.

"As I said Hokage-sama we just talked, Naruko got a bit upset during one part of the conversation and let out a burst of chakra that's all." replied Naruto his tone radiating a lack of interest in talking to the blonde man before him; which did not go unnoticed by the hokage. Minato gave the boy a hard look that Naruto didn't appear to even care about.

"Naruto just because Naruko is your opponent in the next round does not excuse you to come at her in any way, she is you Neesan, and I would expect you not to attempt to psych her out." said Minato truly feeling that was what had happened. For a second there was complete silence, before a sudden feeling of absolute anger seemed to envelope the training field. Minato felt shivers run down his spine as he sensed it, it wasn't killing intent or anything like it that he could remember experiencing. It was more as if the very air around them had suddenly become heavy, as if attempting to hold some kind of negative feelings in check. And in that oppressive feeling Naruto lowered his head before speaking.

"…..i would never harm Naruko hokage-sama or anyone else I love, nor would I allow any harm to come to them. Unlike you If I was forced to choose between the world and my loved ones, I would hold them close as it fell to ruin around me, then I would rebuild it from the ashes so that those I loved would be safe in it." Naruto said his voice coming out in a soft voice without anger, or happiness, but simple confidence, like he was stating that the sun would rise the next day or that the sky was blue.

"And if the world didn't let my loved ones be happy I would light the match to set it ablaze myself hokage-sama, so don't you dare say for one second that I would do anything to hurt Naruko or anyone else I love, am I clear." asked Naruto never raising his head to look at Minato the whole time he spoke. Minato for his part felt a stab of sadness and anger as he heard his son's words, they matched to well with his own concerning the prophecy, and there was no doubt in his mind that Kushina had told Naruto about what had transpired the last few days between the two. Also with that came a pang of anger that Naruto would so flippantly throw away everyone's happiness just for his own apparent satisfaction.

"Naruto you don't have a clue what you are saying, you're talking like you wouldn't care if the village fell tomorrow as long as you and those you loved were safe, that's just selfishness, and a shinobi isn't meant to be a child!" shot back Minato a slight bite to his voice as he said the words. Naruto let out a small chuckle at that before slowly making his way away from the hokage walking in the direction back to town letting his words carry back to Minato as he left.

"If that is what it means to be a shinobi now a days maybe it would be better if the whole system did fall apart." Naruto said as he moved past Minato, not pausing to see the look of horror on Minato's face as he did. "Besides," continued the blond boy as he exited the field "If I make my choices with my heart I will never live to regret them, hokage-sama can you say the same?" finished the boy as he made his way back towards the village.

Minato stood there stunned for a few moments, his mind racing with what he had just heard Naruto say. After a moment he remembered Naruko's condition and flashed away to the hospital to make sure the girl was alright, sending out a summons to Jiraiya as he did so. A horrible fear had risen up inside him as Naruto had spoken and a since of dread was settling down on him surrounding his only son.

* * *

It was a few days later after Minami and Naruko had returned to training with Jiraiya. Naruko had recovered that same day from what the doctors said was just simple exhaustion, and neither Minato nor Naruto had spoken since the event. At the moment it was around one o'clock in the morning in Konoha and a bright moon was hovering over the sleeping village, staring down as the night guards made their patrols through the town, and a few late night parties were stumbling back to their homes.

Among those that were still away one in particular stood out against the rest, a red-haired boy sat perched on the edge of a building gazing up at the moon a twisted smirk playing across his lips as he looked at it with a hungry expression playing across his face transforming it into a terrifying mask of primal desire. For a long time he sat there until without turning his eyes away from the moon he spoke up his voice coming out twinge with a small bit of the madness playing through his eyes.

"So you showed up Mother said you would, and she is never wrong." Garra said his voice barely above a whisper. A moment later Naruto landed on the other side of the roof from Garra looking up at the moon as well his hands thrust down into his pockets as he looked up at the moon.

"I guess Shukaku isn't known as the smartest of the tailed beasts for nothing." replied Naruto casually never taking his eyes away from the moon as he spoke. Garra seemed to pause for a moment considering the blondes words before he spoke again.

"Mother says that you are like me." Garra said still looking at the moon. Naruto seemed to consider that for a few moments, before replying.

"Well Shukaku ought to know, after all what son wouldn't recognize his own mother. Heck Kyuubi recognized her almost at once." chuckled Naruto actually getting a confused look from Gaara for once.

"I have to say this whole back and forth is fun and all but I'm not here to talk to you," continued Naruto reaching behind him for a moment and drawing out one of his seeds holding it out to Garra. The redhead eyed the black orb apprehensively for a few moments.

"**Go on son grab hold it is a gift, I will not let it harm you my Garra." **Whispered Shukaku into Gaara's ear.

_b-but mother what if this is a trick, he's just like the others he's aiming for my life, I can't let him. _Garra shot back in a worried tone. The constant assassination attempts had given the boy only two emotions fear, and anger, what was worse the gear was stripped between the two. Shukaku seemed to pause considering its next words carefully, steering the red headed youth was difficult at the best of times, humans weren't meant to function in a state of almost constant paranoia.

"**There is nothing to worry about my Garra, I will allow no harm to come to you now take the gift trust me Garra." **replied Shukaku getting a slow nod from Garra who stretched his hand out to lightly touch his fingers against the black orbs surface. There was a sudden pulling sensation and Garra found himself blinking around in a sudden light. As he covered his eyes, he noticed he was standing in a sandy desert like area, with a light wind blowing white fine sand that rolled slowly over his feet. Looking around he saw that the white dunes came to a sudden end and gave way to a plain of bright green grass that waved lazily back and forth thanks to the soft breeze. For a moment he just stood there stunned until a gentle hand alighted upon his head, causing him to look up in shock at the touch. He glimpsed a heart shaped face and two large black eyes set above a sad smile looking down at him as a voice whispered in his ear.

"**Sleep now Garra, rest while you can." **Whispered Juubi softy as Gaara's eyes drooped slightly, and his mind surrendered to the soft embrace of sleep. As the boy's mind faded the white sand seemed to stir and several white claws formed slowly reaching out for the boy, threatening to drag him down below the shifting sands. Before they could reach the boy Juubi swatted them away with a swipe of one hand causing them to collapse again into softly falling piles of sand as they did. Juubi gave the sand a small saddened glare before gently lifting the boys form and setting him to rest on the grass a few feet away from the sand, its grains seemingly unable to encroach closer to snare him. Once the boy was settled down, Juubi rose, and turned to face the sand, a small glare on her face as she did.

"**Why Shukaku, what could this child have possibly done to you, that would make you attack him so?" **asked Juubi to the shifting sands that seemed to freeze suddenly motionless the wind halting its gentle course, and everything going suddenly still; that stillness seemed to stretch on for a second to long before the sand moved with a single fluid grace pulling back to pile upon itself forming a figure out of its mass. After a few seconds the excess sand fell away revealing the towering form of Shukaku sitting calmly across from Juubi his great arms folded in his lap as his bright golden eyes looked down at her figure a puzzled look on the great tanuki's face.

"**Why Kaasan, I would think the answer was obvious?" **replied Shukaku an actual note of confusion apparent in his tone as he looked down at the women, just looked back. Shukaku shifting himself slightly resting his chin in one massive palm before looking down at Juubi with one eyebrow cocked up in a look of genuine confusion.

"**He is a human, one of the retched creatures that tore me from you, and enslaved my siblings, your children. One of the disgusting retches that scamper about destroying all that they can touch, and understand, so I ask you Kaasan, why should I not make them suffer for their sins?" **ask Shukaku his tone indicating more a statement than a question. Juubi looked up at Shukaku with a pitying look on her face before shaking her head slightly at her eldest.

"**Oh Shukaku-kun is that why you have done this, is that why you play this charade of madness, just for a chance to hurt them more." **Asked Juubi sadly already knowing the answer before she had finished. Shukaku for his part looked like she had just slapped him. For a second the great Tanuki bowed it's head as if in prayer before its deep voice rang out again.

"**Is that why," **he replied softly the sand around him shaking slightly as the rage rolled off of him, **"is that not enough, have your forgiven them Kaasan, have you forgiven HIM THE MAN WHO RIPPED YOU TO PIECES, THE MAN WHO LEFT MY SIBLINGS TO BECOME LIVING WEAPONS, BOUND TO SACKS LIKE THAT BOY OVER THERE TO BE USED AS TOOLS! IS THAT WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE FOR ME KAASAN A SLAVE TO HIS WORDS AND DREAMS, NO KAASAN I WILL NEVER BOW TO HIM OR ANY OF HIS ILK I WILL DESTROY THEM WHENEVER AND WHEREVER I CAN THEY WILL ALL PAY FOR THE SUFFERING THEY PLACED ON MY FAMILY!"** Howled the tanuki in a loud rage slamming his great fist down onto the sand causing a wave of white to be sent crashing in every direction from the impact. Juubi did not look away or flinch at Shukaku's actions, she just looked over at Shukaku with small tears brining in her eyes as she did so.

"**Shukaku-kun," ** whispered Juubi walking softly forward her bare feet making soft indents in the sad as she came to stand before her eldest, her hand reaching out to gently lay against the massive tanuki's hand, as she turned her black eyes up to look into his golden orbs, a stricken look on her face.

"**Oh Shukaku-kun, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you, I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to protect any of you, but this isn't' the way, please, that bastard already condemned his sons to fight to the end of their lines, please….please don't let him do the same to you, just let it go, let the hate go please stop this act of madness before it consumes you...please." **Juubi said tears running down her face as she pressed herself into Shukaku's hand trying to hold the great Tanuki's hand with her body, giving it a squeeze wishing she could just hold her sochi, and protect him from the world around him, just shut out all the pain and sadness that had battered the tanuki for decades and decades. Shukaku seemed to pause for a moment looking down at Juubi a small weight falling on him at seeing her in such pain. As he watched his memories showed him scenes of Juubi torched, in pain and crying as the sage of the seven paths tore his siblings from her one by one. the sound of those screams still rang in his mind, they rang every time he had struck down another human fuelling his rage, and hate. With a great effort Shukaku moved a sliver of sand to brush over to Juubi softly separating her form his hand, and slivering up to wipe away the tears of her face. As the sand retreated Shukaku drew in a deep breath.

"**No Kaasan I can't let it go, not after what was done to you and my siblings. I will not stop my path, not even for you, I can't. "Shukaku** replied, Juubi looking sadly up at the great tanuki with sadness. **"That man may have died, but it is not enough, they all have to pay for what they have done…to you and to me. Go now Kaasan, I love you too much to raise my hand against you, but I will not allow you to stop me either." **Shukaku finished as she slowly started to fall back into the shifting desert even as Juubi called out to him her voice racked with sadness.

"**Shukaku-kun no please, please." **called out Juubi falling to her knees as she looked out at the shifting sands. As the sand finally settled a small soft voice reached her ears from across the great white expanse.

"**I'm sorry Kaasan, but I'm not the same Shukaku you knew from all those years ago…. I won't be stopped…not even for you mama." **came a sad voice from Shukaku drifting gently across the desert, as Juubi pulled her knees up to her chest and felt tears brimming out as she looked out at the slowly fading desert. She didn't notice when Naruto arrived. The blonde seemed to have just appeared beside her looking out over the sand as he did.

"It will be ok Juubi." Naruto said, causing her to look up at him her eyes still brimming with tears. Naruto looked down at Juubi giving her a small soft smile as he spoke again.

"He can still be saved, and we'll find a way, I promise you." Naruto said softly causing Juubi to let a small smile to twinge her lips as she looked up at the blond.

"**Hai Naruto, I'm not willing to let him go either…even if I have to smack him around to get it through his thick head." **replied Juubi forcing her smile to broaden slightly as she rose to her feet even as the mindscape began to fade and looking over at Naruto with a grateful expression. Naruto smiled back at her and nodded in reply.

Meanwhile back in Konoha Naruto blinked his eyes open to find he was laying down on the top of a flat roof looking up at the moon with a small pain in his back. Apparently as he had entered the mindscape his body had gone limp causing him to fall down onto the flat of the roof. Luckily for him the slope had not been enough to cause him to slide down to the street below. Without wasting any time Naruto pushed himself up and gave the unconscious Garra a sideways look before hopping away headed for home. Garra spent the rest of the night passed out on the roof, to say the Suna team had been horrified when they had found him the next morning was an understatement, Kankuro had given the sleeping boy one look before diving headfirst off the side of the building with a girlish shriek and headfirst into a conveniently placed fruit stand.

* * *

It had been a few days since Juubi's encounter with her eldest and she had managed to pull herself out of the sadness and towards her eldest and had focused herself towards helping Naruto and his seedlings prepare for the upcoming finals. Or at least they had been, at the moment most of the seedlings were busy with a few different actives strewn about the back yard of Tsunade's home. Two of the seedlings were busy going through a simple spar while Hanabi and Mito watched cheering the two on. The other four were currently sitting around a wide round table with a single blonde women all looking around intently at one another as Tsunade pushed a small pile of chips forward to add to a growing pile in the center of the table with a small smirk on her face.

"I've got you this time you house plant, all in." Tsunade said grinning down at the cards held in her right hand. The seedlings around the table looked from the cards held in their own hands back to Tsunade and then back down letting out soft hums of concentration. Three of the Seedlings put their cards face down on the table letting out short hums, signaling them folding from the hand and turning to watch their fellows. The final seeding gave a look over at Tsunade letting out a happy little hum of its own. Unlike its fellows this seedling didn't appear as a mirror image of Naruto, but rather as a faceless version of Ino. For some reason the seedling tended to transform into that form whenever it was concentrating. So far neither Juubi nor Naruto had managed to figure out why it happened, but decided it had to have something to do with Ino's activities inside the creatures head. For whatever reason the Ino-seedling was looking over at Tsunade over her cards before its pony tail came up and pushed a large amount of chips forward before letting out a soft hum, without looking away from her opponent.

Tsunade let out a small bark of laughter at that smiling over to where Shizune and Naruto looked on shaking their heads at the whole situation.

"Well gaki looks like your seedlings aren't that good at learning after all, cause she just screwed up big time." chuckled Tsunade showing her hand to the table. Tsunade showed a full house to the group of humming seedlings before folding her arms under her chest and fixing the Ino-seedling with a small smirk, before continuing.

"Well beat that houseplant." Tsunade said an obvious amount of happiness present in her tone. In answer the Ino-seed laid her hand down showing a royal flush of hearts, letting out a happy humming sound as her pony tail snaked its way over to the pile pulling the chips towards it. Tsunade looked over at the seedling for a few seconds before she slammed her hands onto the table flipping it over causing cards and chips to go all over the porch and throwing a few of the seedlings onto their backs.

"I WILL NOT BE BEATEN BY A HOUSEPLANT NOW GIVE ME MY WINNINGS!" shouted Tsunade charging forwards as the Ino-seedling let out an alarmed high pitched hum and turned to flee into the back yard pursued by an angry Tsunade raging behind it. Shizune looked at the scene before her for a second before letting her head drop comically as Naruto patted her softly on the back.

"You know I thought she wouldn't get like this since they were playing for fun." Shizune said in a slightly dejected tone, not raising her head. Naruto just let out a small chuckle before sending a mental command to the seedlings to start picking up the mess on the porch, which they set about and in moments a happy little amount of humming was coming from the group as they set everything back into position.

Meanwhile everyone was busy watching as the Ino-seeding had jumped into a tree and was currently looking down at a fuming Tsunade as she stalked around the base like a predator who had cornered its prey. After a few minutes of this Naruto finally called out to Tsunade in a cheerful tone.

"Yo Tsunade mind not killing my seedling, I don't have that many to go around." called the other blond as he made his way slowly down the steps of the porch with the other four seedlings in toe. Tsunade whirled around to face Naruto her eyes still ablaze with annoyance as she responded.

"I'm not going to kill it I'm going to educate it there's a difference, besides you popped one of these guys out brand new a few days ago, so what's it matter if I take this one out?" asked Tsunade jabbing a thumb up at the cowering seedling. Naruto froze slightly at the women's words, while issuing a small mental thought.

_Crap, please tell me she didn't hear that. _Thought Naruto turning slowly around to see if a certain someone had heard his fellow blonde's words. For a second he thought he had managed to dodge a bullet…that was at least until a small red projectile crashed into his back driving him forwards into the ground with a cry of excitement.

"Aniki you didn't tell me you had a new seedling, where is it, I want to meet it, is it?" fired off Mito from her perch on top of Naruto. Tsunade let out a seeming triumphant smirk relaxing slightly. If she couldn't get the seedling then their creator wasn't a bad second prize she chuckled to herself. Hanabi had also headed over shaking his head slightly at Mito's actions, and the downed boy.

"Come on Naruto you know better than to say something like that with Mito around." Hanabi said as he drew up with the blond who still had his face buried face down in the grass.

"Go away Hanabi, you're running my disguise as a recently knocked out older sibling." came Naruto's voice slightly muffled thanks to his position. Hanabi in turn looked over at Mito who was smiling up at her friend from her position astride the blonde.

Hanabi managed to reach over and pull Mito onto her feet, while prodding Naruto slightly with one foot.

"Well I think you might have killed him this time Mito, now we'll never know what happened to Seed-kun." Hanabi said his tone, slightly exasperated. Mito gave the Hyuuga a slightly embarrassed look before pausing and looking over at the boy tilting her head slightly.

"Wait, seed-kun? He's right over.." replied Mito, pausing and looking around as she realized she hadn't seen Seed-kun for the past few weeks. Naruto had been training most days, and had only been able to have a few of these playdates recently, and she couldn't remember the last time she had seen Hanabi's and her's favorite seedling. Most couldn't have told you the difference between one seedling and another but the two had managed to distinguish the seedling that they had spent the most time with, and with a start Mito realized that none of the seedling surrounding them was it. Both children turned their eyes over to see Naruto had pushed himself up slightly and was idly scratching his head and trying not to look suspicious.

Without communication the two children sprang into action Mito wrapping Naruto up in two golden chains from head to toe while Hanabi moved himself behind Naruto placing an open palm to the boys back, letting him feel the small pressure of it. Tsunade and Shizune looked over at the production with small smirks, the two may be only six years old, but they sure knew how to play a good game.

"Aniki what happened to Seed-kun?" asked Mito in a voice that was so similar to Kushina's when she was upset Tsunade had to force herself to stop from laughing openly at the scene. The Hyuuga boy leaned forward slightly apply a bit more pressure to Naruto's back.

"Better tell her Naruto, or I'll have to go get Neesan, and Roku to help us." spoke the Hyuuga, in an attempt at a threatening tone. The effect was more comical than threatening, particularly given that at that moment Naruto was rolling his eyes in an exaggerated manner. After a second Naruto took in a deep breath and let it out with a heavy sigh before shifting slightly as the golden chains broke apart as a black orb with touches of red slowly moved out of Naruto's coat to float beside him drawing all of those presents attention as it did. Naruto made his way to his feet smiling down at the two kids as he did so as their eyes tracked the orb as it floated a foot away.

"Ok, ok imoto, Hanabi you win, Seed-kun was in a little accident recently and I wanted to hold off on re introducing him, so if you guys want to meet him, you'll have to be ready he's changed a bit from last time." Naruto said looking between the two as their eyes grew wide as they looked over at the hovering ball. Mito was the first to move grabbing onto Naruto's leg and looking up at the blonde with a worried expression.

"Seed-kun is alright isn't he Aniki, he's ok right?" asked Mito looking concerned. Naruto gave her comforting smile as he ruffled her hair slightly before replying.

"Hai Mito he's just fine, but I don't think you'll be calling him Seed-kun anymore." Smiled Naruto as the two children, and even the two women present fixed him with odd looks.

"Well say hello to Kyueed." Naruto said with a large smile on his face as the seed cracked open and Kyueed took form in front of them. It started with the basic seedling body, that carried small faint bits of red throughout it, For a second that was all until there was a small pulse of red chakra, that Tsunade and Shizune recognized at Kyuubi's, and the Seedlings eyes both flashed one turning bright red, as its form shifted two spots on its head forming and elongating into two ears a mix between a fox's and a rabbits, while nine bumps on near its bottom burst out into nine long swishing foxtails, the same black color as the rest of the seedling. The clothing faded slowly while what looked like smooth black fur with the occasional red one covered the creature from head to clawed toe. After a moment Kyueed sat before the group its two different eyes glowing slightly as it let out a sound halfway between a purr and a hum as its tails and ears flicked in apparent happiness at seeing the two children in front of it.

For a second nothing happened, then as if someone had flipped a switch both Mito and Hanabi catapulted themselves forward bowling Kyueed back onto its tails with excited cry's as the two buried their faces into the changed seedlings short smooth fur. Naruto looked down at the three as Kyueed rolled over with the two, wrapping a tail around the two and turning the hugs initial impact into a rolling wrestling contest. Soon the two kids were up with Kyueed in tow happily looking over the seedling as it playfully batted at them with its tails letting out purrs and hum interminably.

Soon Naruto as well as Tsunade and Shizune were again seated on the back porch as Mito and Hanabi had apparently run themselves ragged and had simply laid down in the yard using Kyueed as a makeshift pillow. Mito in fact had managed to pull on of Kyueed's tails over her as an improvised blanket while the girl smiled happily in her sleep. Shizune looked over at the three children for a few moments longer before turning to face Naruto a smile spreading across her lips as she did.

"You know if the whole shinobi thing doesn't work out you could always open up a petting zoo." She teased getting an annoyed look from Naruto in return before he let out a sigh and set down his head on the table with a soft thump.

"Between them, Akamaru, and Hinata-chan's new summons we might as well be known as team Kawaii." The blonde boy said in a mocking tone not raising his head from the table. Tsunade and Shizune gave the boy a small pitying look before chuckling slightly to themselves at the vision of all of them gathered together together.

"You know that may just fit." Chuckled Shizune as Naruto let out a defiant little moan of protest.

* * *

While Naruto was taking the teasing of a lifetime, far away in the toad realm Naruko and Minami were following Jiraiya as he led them over to a spot for them to recover from their last training session. The girls were dog tired from their morning work out, the sage had been pushing them to their limits every day, without exception, but the girls hadn't complained. In fact they had welcomed the work with open arms. Though neither of them said why out loud it was clear that neither wanted to experience another loss like the one they had suffered in the forest.

Soon Jiraiya left the two to rest, while he headed over to get started preparing their next exercise. The two sat there breathing slowly in an open clearing that had a small waterfall that splashed with a steady rumble off of smooth stones a few feet from where they laid. Naruko with a groan of effort moved herself into a roll that ended with her head dipping into the edge of the waterfalls course, the water running slowly over her head flattening her blonde hair to her head and shoulder as it did. She let out a happy sigh before rolling a foot away her hair plastered to her as she smiled up at the sky.

"I'm alive." She called in a happy tone turning her head slightly to spy Minami a few feet away. Minami gave her sister a small exaggerated smirk, before looking up at the sky as well. After a moment Minami spoke up.

"Naruko we need to talk." said the redhead not shifting at all as she spoke. Naruko gave Minami a curios look for a second before Minami spoke up again.

"I was with Mito the other day, and she said something to me that I think you need to hear." the redhead continued her tone not changing. She proceeded to recount the experience she had shared between their imoto and herself, stopping at the point the two had left the monument. For a while Naruko just looked over at her Neesan without comment. Finally the blonde turned away from Minami looking back at the waterfall.

"So Mito thinks I'm sick, is that it?" stated Naruko in a hash tone thinking back to her encounter with Naruto a few days previously. After she had left, her mind had still been racing, and with her emotions the way they were, she had been all to ready to accept the reassuring words of Minato telling her how proud he was of all her hard work, and how she would be able to be like him someday protecting everyone she loved. The Hokage couldn't have known what his words would cause the girl to fall back trying to hold onto those beliefs all the stronger. There was still a doubting voice in her thoughts, but Naruko had forced it down, fighting herself to remain in control.

"She doesn't understand, she's just a kid." Naruko said after a moment the anger obvious in her voice as she spoke. Minami frowned at her Neesan's words for a second looking over at the blondes back, concern etched onto her face.

"Naruko," she began in a sad tone, "that's not what it is at all, she's worried about us is all, she just wants all of us to be happy, please Naruko, think about it remember how we were back then, Kaasan, Tousan, me, you and Niisan. Remember?" asked Minami her voice thick with emotion. There was a moment's pause before the blonde spoke.

"Oh course I remember, but we were kids then Minami we aren't anymore. We can't just do what we want and play all day anymore; we have a responsibility to the village and everyone we care about… I want more than anything to just go back to being happy like we were back then, but I can't do that and protect everyone. I won't risk losing you or anyone else again…l-like in the forest." finished Naruko her voice losing a bit of its bite near the end. Minami looked over at her sister for a second before she pushed herself up and made her way over to where Naruko lay trying not to look over at her sister.

Minami bent down grabbing Naruko's shoulder and pulling the blonde into a sitting position taking a knee while gently placing a hand on Naruko's cheek and turning the girls blue eyes to look into her own red ones.

"Naruko, I'm not going anywhere, and neither is anyone else, but you can't always be there to protect us," started Minami, Naruko opening her mouth to argue, but halting as Minami continued on not giving the blonde a chance. "And you shouldn't have to either, you're right we aren't kids anymore Neesan, but that means you have to let us grow up as well trust us to look after ourselves Naruko, you don't have to be alone if you don't want to be." Miami said softly giving the blonde a soft smile. Naruko looked unsure for a moment but gave Minami a small nod just as Jiraiya reentered the clearing looking around at the two.

"Glad to see you two are getting along well, you know there a lot riding on you two."" smiled Jiraiya as he looked between the two. Naruko seemed to lighten at his words, but Minami's smile slowly fell into a small frown.

_Hey Kyu is it just me or does it sound like Jiraiya-san is trying to sell us something? _Asked Minami in her mind not liking the way the toad sage was speaking, almost like he was trying to lead them on. Kyu listening shriveled up his nose in apparent agreement before replying.

"**I agree Minami-chan something seems off with him and I don't like it." **snorted Kyu while turning around a few times and settling himself onto the new bed of grass that Juubi had managed to keep in his cage. Minami gave a mental nod of agreement, as she focused back on Jiraiya and Naruko as they made their way back to the training area.

* * *

Finally the big day arrived and everyone was gathering in front of the Stadium all eyed each other with a mixture of anticipation and excitement as they all stood outside of the stadiums arena, waiting for the signal to march out into the arena floor.

The teens stood idly around some trading glances with their opponents, while others like team eleven had grouped together to exchange a few words before the match began.

"So you two ready for this, my Kaasan and Neesan got here early just to get some good seats. How about you two?" asked Kiba smiling at the two while Akamaru let out a happy little bark of agreement.

"My Kaasan came early with Hanabi, Tousan wanted him to be sitting with the clan, but Kaasan managed to get him to sit over with Mito and Kushina, they could all be over together for all we know." Hinata said with a shrug looking over at Naruto who gave her a shrug in return.

"You ok Naruto?" asked Kiba noticing the blondes apparent discomfort. Naruto looked over at Kiba for a moment before shrugging.

"Ya sorry just had a little issue earlier." Naruto replied as he started in explaining the events that had occurred just a few hours previously.

-Flashback Mark…..four hundred it seems like-

The Namikaze family had just arrived at the stadium and Minato and Kushina were busy welcoming a few of the visiting dignitaries. Mito let out a small squeak of excitement as she spotted a figure coming towards the group grabbing hold of Mito's pant leg and tugging in excitement while pointing towards the oncoming figure.

"Neesan look, look its Princess Gale, Neesan you have to introduce me, please, please, please!" Mito excitedly chatted as she pointed towards the new queen of the land of snow.

Koyuki Fujikaze was dressed in flowing green and aqua kimono her hair drawn back into an eloquent tail that showed off her long beautiful face, framed by her dark blue bangs. She would have been very beautiful to look at but her face was fixed into a look of apparent annoyance, at everything around her, and she walked with an air of someone was not at all happy to be there.

Minami recognized the women and motioned for Naruko to join her before the three girls headed over to where Koyuki was approaching. Koyuki seemed to recognize two of the figures of Minami and Naruko and let out a small sigh as she looked over at them.

"hey Koyuki, remember us it's Naruko and Minami we were the ones who helped you become queen remember." called Naruko with a small note of pride in her voice. Koyuki looked between the two for a moment before letting out a sigh of annoyance.

"Hai I remember you two, the heroes of Spring and Snow, where's the boy who needed a personality transplant?" asked Koyuki in a tone of someone forcing themselves to remain patient. Naruko didn't seem to notice as she gently stepped back allowing Mito to step in front of her the small girl's eyes twinkling with excitement as looked up at her favorite actress. Koyuki seemed to notice the girl's attention and looked down quirking one eyebrow up as if taking stock the girl.

"H-hello princess Gale, it's really great to meet you." spoke Mito her tone showing nothing but happiness at meeting here favorite actress of all time. "c-can you sign, my friend Hanabi-kuns and my pictures of you later…if it's not too much trouble… please?" finish Mito her eyes looking up hopefully towards the women. Koyuki looked down at the girl for a moment before letting out a sigh and raising a hand to rub against her forehead lightly as if a headache was coming on.

"Ugh of course you do, sorry gaki but I don't do autographs." replied Yuki waving her hand in a dismissive fashion as she did. Mito looked absolutely crushed at the women reply sagging slightly as the women spoke. Naruko looked down at her imoto before glaring up at the princess disgust on her face as she did.

"Hey what's your problem, my neesan and I saved your life and helped you become queen, you could at least give my imoto an autograph!" fired off Naruko drawing a skeptical look from Koyuki before the new queen of spring and snow replied in a harsh tone.

"Don't act all high and might to me gaki, you were hired to protect me, It was a job and you were paid, so that what you did. I'm an actress and a queen I'm paid to do the same and not to look after little kids." Finish Koyuki turning to leave, but finding her path blocked. Standing before Koyuki was Naruto who was looking up into the Koyuki's face a look of equal parts anger, and mocking grace. For a moment he just kept looking at her before he let out a soft chuckle.

"So that's it, your just a puppet, a hollow toy they move around on stage, to say the lines they need her to, I knew the effects had gotten good for movies, but I never would have guessed they were this good." The blonde boy said is voice hard and carrying a bite of anger in it. Koyuki looked like she had just been slapped for a moment as she looked down at Naruto two stunned to reply.

"I guess that makes sense though, what's the point of having a real queen when you could have a puppet one, just a hollow thing that acts like it cares and feels, making pretend it has a heart, so tell me hollow queen of spring, is this all there is to you?" asked Naruto his gaze never faltering from the women's face. Koyuki gritted her teeth and pulled back a hand swinging it forward to slap across the boy's face.

Before it could connect Naruto lazily reach up and caught the blow, giving the women a cold smirk as he did so that froze Koyuki's blood for a moment.

"Sorry puppet, try fixing yourself and maybe then you have a chance of hitting me, till then just keep playing the pretend and sitting in your self-pity cause guess what, I don't care if you are a queen, and actress, or kami's own daughter, cause no one talks to my imoto like that you got me." asked Naruto giving the women's hand a small squeeze to infusive his point. Koyuki nodded quickly, before Naruto released her hand, and walked past her even as her two guards rushed up to her, to see what had caused her distress.

Even as they arrived Naruto's words echoed in her head causing her to wonder for the first time in what felt like a lifetime what she had lost all those years ago along with her tears, and if she wanted it to remain lost to her.

Naruko and Minami in the meantime stared after Naruto, as he made his way out of the area heading for the ground floor most likely looking for the other members of his team.

-Flashback end-

Meanwhile in the stadium people were just finding their seats looking down in interest while excited chatter started to fill the stadium. Up in the Kage booth Minato was greeting three individuals who had just arrived, Kushina by his side eyeing a particular figure intently.

"Let me start by saying thank you for coming all the way to Konoha, I hope that this tournament will help improve relations between our villages in the future." Minato said smiling over at the two kage's who had made the trip to witness the tournament.

First was the Kazekage, dressed in his formal robs, with his Kage hat perched upon his head covering his eyes from view. The Kazekage inclined his head to Minato and Kushina before speaking.

"Thank you Hokage-san I hope that this tournament will help strengthen the bonds between our two villages." spoke the robed figure before moving over to talk to his four guards a short distance away. At the same time one of the other figures, a woman, let out a small chuckle looking over at the retreating form of the Kazekage.

"No time for pleasantries that one," said the women as she turned her eyes to face Minato and Kushina allowing a smile to play across her bright red lips. The newest Mizukage Mei was a tall women clad in a ocean blue dress, that did nothing to conceal her generous curves. Her light orange hair fell down her back, with a bun defining the top of her hair, and one bunch hanging down to cover her right eye. She had the blue Mizukage hat hanging lazily from her belt and was standing with her arms folded under her generous bosom as she looked at the Hokage, and then over to Kushina noticing her gaze for the first time. Kushina was not looking at the Mizukage but rather at the man standing beside her.

He was a tall man, with short black hair and a face covered in wrappings. He wore a black shinobi vest, and the standard mist camo-pants. What defined the man's dress more than anything was the giant clever that hung from his back, and he was staring back at Kushina a small grin showing under his bandaged face.

"Something between you two I should know about?" asked Mei in a dangerous voice as she turned to look at Zabuza who stood on to her right looking over at Kushina with mild interest. Kushina in the meantime was glaring that the man with enough intensity it was a miracle that his head didn't burst into flames just form the intensity.

"Hai Kage-sama, we had an encounter back in wave a few months back, and she seems to be carrying a grudge for what happened." Smirked Zabuza giving a dismissive shoulder shrug as she spoke. "Personally I'm not concerned about it, it was strictly business from my end, but I can see how she might be angry at me "roughing up her students." Finish Zabuza while giving the redhead a knowing wink. Kushina in turn bit back her anger and nodded slowly. True it had been nothing personal when she and Zabuza had fought, but after what had happened there she wasn't about to start chatting with the man like old buddies. Still it had been her idea to have the Mizukage come to Konoha, in hope of learning more about Karin and any Uzumaki's living in Mist, so for the time she would swallow her anger and focus.

"It is nothing Mizukage-sama, I assure you nothing will happen between us while you are our guest here." spoke Kushina while inclining her head slightly to Mei. The Mizukage took a moment to smile back at Kushina bowing her head in return.

"No need to worry Kushina-san, before my forces collected Zabuza he was a missing nin, and I had to spend quite some time in re-educating him." finished Mei, with a dangerous little smile that made Zabuza shiver despite himself.

Soon everyone was settled down as Minato rose to his feet and stepped to the edge of the booth looking out over the crowd below his eyes darting back and forth over it for a moment before his voice rang out over the stadium.

"CITIZENS OF KONOHA, GUESTS AND VISITING SHINOBI WELCOME TO THE FINALS OF THIS YEARS CHUNIN EXAMS!" called out Minato in a ringing voice that caused the voices to halt around the stadium and everyone's eyes to turn to face the Hokage. The chunnin exams finals was about to commence.

**And done… wow over 30,000 that's a new record for me lol. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and that you are excited for what comes next in the story, if you have any questions please let me know and I will be happy to answer them for you. Thanks once again to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited my story in the time it has been out, and I hope it continues to entertain all of you. Also small point but one of my readers sent me a message that gave me the idea for the rabbit summons, I would like to thank that person, so you know who you are send me a PM and I'll make sure to credit you in the next chapter. Till then songbird out.**


	18. Authors NoteDon't Panic

**Authors Note**

**OK FIRST OF I'M NOT, REPEAT NOT POSTPONING THE STORY OR LEAVING IT OR ABANDONING IT SO RELAX LOL.**

Ok now with that out of the way I have a brief announcement, Some of you may have noticed that my cover art was recently updated, and I have mentioned that the artist I hired has been doing a great job. Well its finally finished, and I am so excited about the finished product I just wanted to post this here and ask any of you who enjoy my story to help me in thanking her for all of her hard work. I'm even willing to go so far as to bribe you lol, for anyone who comments on her deviant art picture, and then pm me I will give you three more summons that are off the list for Naruto's contest that is about to end in my story. Now this contest has been going on for what seems like forever, but it is coming to an end soon.

So please help me in thanking the artist Zil-Zeki for all of her hard work, and help yourself to get a better chance at winning the contest and claiming a prize for yourselves .

Thanks once again for all of your support, It really is great to know that you all enjoy the story so much.

Ok Songbird out.

the link is on my page or you can copy it here


	19. Chapter 17

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Contest is coming to an end very soon, so feel free to keep guessing on the summoning jutsu that Naruto will use in the exams. Remember Toad, Snake, and Slug are already off the table, and it has been hinted at from the very first chapter, and little things are placed throughout the story foreshadowing it. Good luck.

Summoning technique coming up fast it won't be but a few more chapters before it's here so guess away there have been two so far to get it.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them

I have had a few people wondering if Naruto did any training over the month long break or if he just sat around without doing any hard training. The answer to this is yes he did a great deal of work, and trained hard, I just chose to keep it out of the line light don't worry it will be addressed. And if you are really clever you may have noticed the hints at what he was planning to do that I have had going around from the first exam till now. I love being sneaky it's so much fun lol.

Ok now for a quick bit of replies on something I noticed from the reviews. A lot of people seem to be looking at Naruto and believing that he is behaving arrogant or that he needs to act in a more humble manner…..I just don't see it, heck before people complained he was to forgiving, and kind. I really don't know what set people off with this line of thought, but when has Naruto acted arrogant or as if he was better than others….cause I don't recall a scene where that happens. Is he a bit blunt with people ya but that's Naruto he never tiptoed around people in canon and that hasn't changed, the whole thing with the Queen of snow/spring was him calling her out, while being angry for making Mito sad. I know this doesn't apply to all of you but, for those who are complaining about Naruto being too humble/arrogant/forgiving/or anything else, please realize that I'm not going to change my way of writing for him, it isn't going to happen. Now if you would like to see Naruto in any of these aspects I would say look around the site, or write a version where he appeals to your views, but the moment I stop writing this story the way I want it the moment I stop writing and delete the story, but I don't see that happening for a while.

**Chapter 17**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-who says violence never solves anything-**

Soon everyone was settled down as Minato rose to his feet and stepped to the edge of the booth looking out over the crowd below his eyes darting back and forth over it for a moment before his voice rang out over the stadium.

"CITIZENS OF KONOHA, GUESTS AND VISITING SHINOBI WELCOME TO THE FINALS OF THIS YEARS CHUNNIN EXAMS!" called out Minato in a ringing voice that caused the voices to halt around the stadium and everyone's eyes to turn to face the Hokage. The chunnin exam finals was about to commence.

Down in the tunnel all of the contestants turned their heads towards the entrance where a Jonin appeared giving them a swift gesture of his hand to indicate them to follow him. The genin formed into a line of no particular order, and marched out of the tunnel and into the bright light of the Konoha day. The sun was hanging in the sky without any clouds to halt its rays from reflecting off the rough ground and small spots of grass, that and the few covered spots where trees had been placed into the arena floor. The twelve genin made their way into the center of the field creating a large line in the arena floor, and all turning to face up towards where the Hokage was addressing the crowd below.

When the group came to a halt there was an explosion of noise from the crowd as they called down in excitement at seeing the contestants. From several spots in the stands names of those below were shouted and arms were waved trying to announce their location to the people below. From one position in particular the noise and intensity was particularly fierce.

"ANIKI, MINAMI NEESAN, NARUKO NEESAN! UP HERE HEY! YYYYYYAAAAAAAAA! " called an excited Mito as she waved her arms while looking down towards the group of participants below. Beside her Hanabi was looking between his excited friend, and the stoic figure of his tousan sitting beside him with his arms folded and his face set in a forced vestige of calm. Although Hanabi did notice his eyes twitch slightly as Mito continued to cheer. Hitomi on his left had a large smile on her lips as she looked down at her eldest and waved down to her silently. After a moment she noticed Hanabi's dilemma, and the boys desire to be cheering like his friend for his Neesan. With a sly smile Hitomi leaned over behind Hiashi's stoic form and gently poked Hanabi getting the boys attention. As he turned to see her, she pointed to Mito then to herself and him before giving him a happy nod. Hanabi for a moment seemed to be confused before his face split into a smile and he nodded excitedly before turning back towards the arena floor.

Hiashi at the moment was in a slightly annoyed mood. He had wished to observe the match from his usual position along with the other clan heads, being able to lecture Hanabi, and using the matches to better the boys understanding of combat. However, Hitomi had made it clear that this was not on the table. Hiashi was many things, but a brave enough man to incite the Hyuuga matriarch's wrath he was not. So he found himself seated along with his wife, and sochi…..and the human air horn that happened to be his sochi's best friend trying to remain stoic…it wasn't meant to last.

"HEY HINATA-NEESAN/MUSUME UP HERE YOU CAN DO IT!" came a cry from both Hanabi and Hitomi from either side of Hiashi joining their voices with Mito, and causing the stoic Hyuuga to jump slightly in his seat looking around annoyed at the two who just smiled back at him before turning back to cheer. Kushina arrived a moment later taking a seat beside Mito and cheered down to her children just as they were marched back into the contestant booth leaving the first two contestants on the field.

* * *

Down below a Jonin with short cropped brown hair, tied back with a bandana, and chewing on a senbon needle looked around his poise relaxed, and slightly amused as he looked between the first two competitors. On the right stood Temari her battle fan already slammed into the ground beside her, while a breeze caused her blond hair in its four pony tails to sway gently even as her teal eyes glared over towards her opponent.

Kiba stood across from Temari, his gray hoodie pulled back from his head allowing his wild black hair to blow slightly in the wind as well, while his face fell into a feral grin, exposing his fangs to match the bright red ones on either cheek. Beside the boy on the ground was Akamaru his body tensed slightly while prepared for the coming fight his fur standing slightly up as the pups chakra ran through its body. As the two teens stood watching each other the winds between the two seemed to bristle with energy, as if pulled between the two teens.

"Ok you two, the rules are the same they were in the prelims, you will fight with anything at your disposal, till one of you is incapable of continuing. Death is not preferred, and once I call the match it will end, do I make myself clear?" finished the Jonin looking between the two genin. Both teens nodded curtly in response, without taking their eyes off of each other for a moment. The Jonin seeing this gave a small shrug before moving back a few feet from the two and raising an arm slowly as his eyes flicked back and forth between the two.

"Alright FIRST ROUND OF THE CHUNNIN EXAMS' FINALS BETWEEN TEMARI OF SUNA, AND KIBA OF KONOHA BEGIN!" shouted the Jonin as he leapt back from the point between the two. For a moment the two didn't move an inch, their eyes darting over each other quickly as if taking in everything about their appoints. Then they were off.

Temari was the first to move, taking her fan still closed in her hands and half swinging it, half dragging in before her in a semi-circle so that its tip remained in the ground and created a wave of wind and dirt between the two. The wave of dust shot up some ten feet in the air momentarily forming a cloud of wind and dust that separated the two from each other.

Before the dust had time to settle Temari had allowed the force of the swing and the weight of the fan to pull her around snapping the fan open as she did. Without letting her momentum fade, she completed her spin ending with a horizontal slash from behind the wall of dust flinging forth a blade of wind that clearly cut the dividing dust in half and flying forward towards where her opponent had been standing.

However, Kiba was not there to receive it, just has the wall of dust and wind had shot up, Kiba and Akamaru had leapt right using the cover of the dust to close in on his target. Just as the blade of wind cut through the dust divide Kiba had already fallen into his clan's taijutsu style and had sprung forwards on all fours close to the ground as he did so. Temari's attack sailed uselessly over Kiba's head as he dove forward under the girls swing. Temari had only a moment to recognize the danger before Kiba was on her springing up under her outstretched guard, and bringing a clawed hand up towards her chin aiming to make a quick end to the match.

Slamming one foot down to the ground the boy pivoted under the girls chin shooting an elbow up like a blade towards the girls face. Temari's eyes went wide as the elbow shot toward her, at the last second she was able to throw her head back allowing the elbow to fly up and wide from its target. Before Kiba could even register that he had missed, Temari had arched her back allowing herself to fall backwards into a back bend and flinging her feet up in a sweep that caught the boy right on his exposed chin forcing him to fly back from the blow arching with it so that he landed on all fours not far from where he had begun the match. Temari finished her back arch dropping down to one knee as she landed, while drawing her fan before her like a shield. The two genin just stared at each other for seconds before both genin's faces gave similar looks of satisfaction, and then a moment of confusion at the others expression.

Kiba was the first to notice the small smell of iron as he brought his arm up to wipe quickly at his chin, his sleeve coming away with a blood from where Temari's foot had slammed into it. Kiba looked down at the blood for a second before sinking back into his stance staring over at the blonde headed girl. Temari was still trying to figure out Kiba's expression when a small stinging sensation came from her cheek. Absentmindedly she brushed the back of her hand against it, bringing it away stained crimson with the blood from where Kiba's elbow had caught the edge of her face as she had turned it to avoid the strike. The two genin seemed to consider each other slowly as Temari steadily made her way to her feet, and swung her great fan behind her back and over one shoulder gripping it tightly as she did. Seeing this Kiba gave a small smirk, before hunching back on his legs to bring his hands up to form a simple handsign.

* * *

Up in the stands the Inuzuka clan was smiling down at the opening bout of the match, while Tsume let out a bark of laughter down at the two Genin.

"Ha not a bad opening for the pup, I guess he wasn't kidding when he said his opponent wouldn't be a push over, right Hana." chuckled Tsume giving her eldest a fanged smirk as she looked over at her. Hana for her part absently scratched one of the triplet's heads, while giving Tsume a small nod not taking her eyes off the match below.

"Hai Kaasan, but if that is all she has, then imoto has it in the bag." replied Hana while the dogs let off small yips of agreement. Before the group could say more, a blast of noise from below drew their attention.

* * *

Temari, seeing Kiba's hands moving to form signs had decided to not give the feral boy time to complete whatever he had planned. With a swing like a baseball bat, she brought her fan around slinging a great gust of chakra laced wind towards the boy. Kiba didn't hesitate, and leapt immediately to the right allowing the roaring gale to go by him kicking up dirt and rock as it went. As Kiba landed he only had a moment to steady himself before a second blast of wind was loosed towards him, drawing a small feral growl from the boy as he was forced to jump back once again from the blast. This time Kiba continued to retreat until he had put a small distance between himself and Temari, letting out a sharp whistle as he did so.

The next moment Akamaru had leapt to his side with a small bark of excitement. Temari's eyes narrowed slightly as she saw the two from her position letting out a small curse under her breath.

_Damn that guy is faster than I thought he would be, darn it, I was hoping to get him with that first move, or at least slow him down now it's an open fight, and he has the speed on me. _The blonde furiously thought to herself as she drew back her fan again readying her next strike. Kiba in the meantime gave Akamaru a small nod before the two shot forwards weaving back and forth as they came towards the girl both on all fours as they did so.

Without hesitating Temari let her face fall into a smirk and charged the two closing the distance faster. Kiba and Akamaru were momentarily caught off guard by the girls advance, but kept up the charge. Just as the three were about to meet, Temari snapped her fan shut, swinging it above her before plunging it down into the ground before her and flinging herself up like an odd pool vault. As the girl shot up into the air Kiba, and Akamaru were forced to skid to a halt in order to not let their target fly over them and expose their back to an attack, both dog and boy twisted their heads up to follow the girl's path as they did. As Temari reached the apex of her leap she flew through a quick few hand sighs before thrusting both of her hand across her chest in a vicious slashing motion that caused two sharp blades of wind to fly down in an x like shape towards the Inuzuka. Kiba was just a hair to slow to see Temari's plan before the two blades smashed down into his back drawing a small cry of pain that the twin blades hammered him into the arena floor, forcing the air out of his lungs.

With a small smirk, Temari turned her momentum downwards into a flying leg drop aimed at the boys head. Right as she was about to land the blow, she was caught in the side by a spinning tunnel of wind and claws that forced her a small distance from her fan, and the boy below her. Temari was thrown roughly to the arena floor rolling slightly as she hit, turning the momentum into enough of a push so that she was able to fall into a sitting position her teal eyes glaring over to focus on what had impacted her. Her eyes focused on where the small tornado blew out and deposited a small white pup that let out a small bark of challenge before racing over to where Kiba was pushing himself up from the ground giving the pup a small smile as he did so.

"Thanks pal didn't see that one coming." said the Inuzuka boy rising up with a groan to look over at where Temari was rising to her feet, her eyes glancing between the two, and the spot a few yards behind the pair where her fan still sat stabbed into the ground. Kiba took one look over at the fan before dropping down once again and flinging himself forwards with Akamaru right behind him. As the pair flew across the arena the blond girl across from them dropped the concerned look on her face, and began to fly through hand signs in quick succession.

* * *

From the contestant box, both Naruto and Hinata froze as they saw the combination of signs that the Suna girl was weaving, at almost the same moment the two leaned forward over the railing to shout warnings to their teammate.

"KIBA DON'T LET HER FINISH THOSE SIGN'S FINISH HER NOW!" shouted the two teens in unison, drawing a few odd looks from the rest of the contestants. Kiba, however, was either unable to hear his teammates, or was already doing everything he could to reach the blonde before she finished whatever she was planning.

* * *

The twin blurs of white and grey streaked across the field, wind slowly gathering around that pair as they closed on their target. When they were about fifteen feet from their target the pair leapt forwards twisting themselves as they did. With a loud cry the two were surrounded in twin cyclones of wind and claw that twisted and writhed like some kind of great serpents as they struck towards the blonde even as she landed on her final sign, and with a fierce smile wiped one hand over her cut cheek before slamming it down onto the ground before her, which erupted moments later in a large cloud of smoke that the two cyclones crashed into a second later. With a thundering crash the cloud exploded out with a sound of a great drill meeting a mountain. Bits of rock and dust shot in every direction from the point of impact as the scene became momentarily hidden from everyone's view.

Before anyone could do more than stare a sound of metal and stone rent the air, followed by a feral growl and the sound of commotion, before a figure in a grey jacket leapt back out of the dispersing cloud clutching in right arm. Kiba looked as though he had just tangled with a lawn mower, his jacket and body riddled with numerous small cuts, none clearly deep but the sheer volume made up for that as the Inuzuka let out a heavy hacking and spit a glob of blood from his mouth as he glared back at the dust cloud that was just beginning to settle. As the dust fell it revealed three figures standing in what looked like ground zero of an excavation sight.

The ground around the three had great cracks in it as though some monstrous creature has torn and stamped the ground. Standing in the center of this was Temari looking a little winded, but otherwise sporting a large smirk as she looked across at her opponent. The second figure was the prone form of Akamaru who lay on his side, sporting a few cuts of his, own, but seemingly fine otherwise. However, it was the figure that stood over the pup that drew Kiba's eyes the most, particularly because it had a cycle hanging down over Akamaru apparently keeping the pup from struggling.

The figure seemed to be hugging the sickle in question that was almost the entire length of its own body, which was long and lean covered in a close cut white fur. It wore what appeared to be a small jacket black like its blade, with small red outlines. Its most distinguishing feature was the bandana and eye patch it wore over its face, which at this moment had its one clear eye turned up towards the girl who had just summoned it.

"That was a little close there Temari, a second longer and he would have had you, next time don't wait to bring me into the fight." spoke the creature obviously a weasel of some kind, as it looked up at its summoner, its tone one of lecturing. Temari gave the weasel a small glace before shrugging one shoulder at its comment before looking back at her opponent.

"Ya ya Kamatari, whatever, but I was hoping to hold off on bringing you out till I had to, still I guess this guy is better than I gave him credit for." Finished the girl looking over at where Kiba was looking between the two his eyes taking in the situation before him. Kamatari, gave a small huff of annoyance before looking over towards Kiba, and then back down at Akamaru with a small nod.

"Hai these two are better than they may seem." He replied wincing slightly at the small cut he had received when he had moved to cut the twos oncoming tunnels of wind and fang. Temari gave a moment to notice Kamatari's injury before calling out to Kiba, her voice one of authority, instead of mocking.

"Hey dog boy, I think it's about time you give up, unless you want my partner here to give your pup a visit to the vet." Called the girl as Kiba stiffened his eyes darting between Akamaru and Temari, as his pupils receded into vertical slits, and a small growl built in his chest. For a second Temari thought she had managed to drive the boy feral, but suddenly she felt a cold shiver as her head spun down to look at where the pup was lying.

Just as her eyes turned both the pup and Kamatari were engulfed in a cloud of smoke and a moment later she was forced to jump up to catch Kamatari, who had flown back out to the cloud several long cuts dug into the handles of his sickle where he had drawn it up at the last moment to guard the surprise attack that came from below him. Temari turned in time to see Kiba standing where the pup had lain just moments before his face drawn into a smile as he rushed the pair. Just as he was about to close the distance, Kamatari gave a flick of his tail and a second sickle seemed to form itself out of the air, and hurtle down towards the boy causing him to alter his course away from the two.

As Temari landed Kamatari hopped softly to the ground letting his blade land point down beside him as he let out a grunt of pain, before turning his one eye to fix on Temari once again.

"Don't say you told be so, Kamatari, I'm not in the mood for it…. You ok?" she finished looking down at the weasel summon, that seemed to flex its back slightly before responding.

"Hai I'm fine for now, but I won't be if he hits me head on, he can cancel my wind armor, and without it it's just a matter of physical strength." finished the weasel hefting its sickle up from the ground beside Temari. Meanwhile the transformed Akamaru had rushed up to stand beside Kiba, letting out a small series of growls and barks at the boy as he reached him.

"Ya boy I missed, sorry about that, still looks like that new summons of hers isn't going to make this any easier, damn it I hate fighting summons." He said as Akamaru gave off a small bark, that caused Kiba to snort despite himself.

"Hai except Roku, last thing we need is that rabbit after us two." chuckled Kiba looking over at where his opponent stood. "Well lets go bud better not give them time to figure out their next move." Called boy speeding off towards Temari with the pup falling into step beside him, the twin grey clad figures racing over the arena floor.

With another flick of Kamatari's tail a sickle feel down, into Temari's outstretched hand, as she and her partner raced forwards to reach the charging Inuzuka's before they could set up another combo attack. The two pairs raced towards each other before with a crash the two parties meet. Temari seemed to be slightly faster than the pair, and had some experience with the sickle she was wielding as she swung it forward in a smooth practiced motion that was aimed at the first boys head. As the sickle cut forwards through the air the first boy threw himself into a crouch allowing the blade to whistle over his head and back. Just as the blade passed over the boys back, the second Kiba's arms slammed down onto his mirrors back as the twin brought his feet forwards into a forward kick aimed at Temari's chest. Temari twisted as the blow connected, allowing most of the force to glance off of her, but leaving her chest feeling like she had just been slugged by a sandbag.

Before the boy could draw his legs back in Kamatari's sickle shot up grabbing the appendage like a hook, and pulling down sharply. Thanks to the wind chakra Kiba was putting out the cutting power of the blade was minimized to what the small weasel could produce, but even still the Inuzuka had to bite back a cry of pain as the blade managed to drag into his let and pull him forwards off of Akamaru's back. With a grunt Kiba fell to the arena floor, and Kamatari raised his sickle up to sweep down towards the stunned boy's chest. As the blade fell, however, he was forced to once again bring his weapon up to block a pair of clawed hands that shot forwards to slam two palms into the hilt of the weapon. Ten claw fingers reached around the weapon as Akamaru, in Kiba's form, let out a growl and pushed the weasel back a few feet.

Just as Akamaru seemed about to overpower the smaller creature Temari appeared swinging her blade forwards with a cry and releasing a gust of wind, smaller than what she could have managed with her fan, but still about the size of a doorway. The wall of wind caught Akamaru full in the face, just as he had managed to force Kamatari to the ground, flinging the pup bodily back, almost falling over Kiba as he did. Kiba in the meantime had managed to push himself up from the ground enough to roll away from the blast of wind that caught Akamaru. As the pup sailed past him slammed both his hands down into his pack and brought out two sets of shrunken clutched between his fists, and flinging the weapons forwards towards the suna pair, causing them to fall back to deflect or dodge the projectiles.

Before all of the spinning stars had reached their target, Kiba had already forced himself forwards into another spinning cyclone of wind, and claws following up on the tail end of the weapons. Without a moment of hesitation both Temari and Kamatari darted left and right respectively so that the boy would pass right between the pair. Just as the cyclone roared by, the two swung their sickles together into either side of the tunnel causing it to break apart as their own wind blades bit into the spinning cylinder causing the wind to disperse and leaving Kiba unprotected as the two blades cut across his flanks drawing crimson lines along his arms, as he brought them up to shield his sides. With a sharp cry of pain Kiba fell forwards on to ground rolling several feet, and coming up his arms still held defensively before him. Without warning Temari and Kamatari were again force to spread out as a second tornado of wind crashed in-between the two scattering sharp bits of stone all around a few clipping the two, and one particular rock managing to cut one of Temari's pigtails, as he twisted to avoid the projectiles, causing a clump of hair to fall lightly over her neck and sticking their thanks to the sweat pouring from the blonde.

Akamaru used the two's momentary absence to rush over to Kiba's side letting out a worried little whine as he saw the condition his partner was in. Kiba bit down forcing the pain away from his thoughts as he look up into his own worried face forcing a smile as he did so.

"It's ok buddy, it's just a scratch, I guess I shouldn't have charged in like that huh." he said, as he gave the pup a small smile. Kiba was about to continue to reassure the pup, but paused as he noticed something that made him shiver slightly despite himself. From over where he and Akamaru had been he could clearly see Temari and her summon standing beside a familiar black object that was still stuck into the arena floor. With a small groan Kiba watched at Temari let the sickle she was holding float effortlessly out of her hand where it was joined by several more, apparently under the summons control, as she retched her battle fan out of the ground and swung it wide open with a small grin of satisfaction as the fan snapped open with an audible click.

"Well crap." Muttered Kiba as Temari and her summon in tow made their way steadily forwards until the two stood within earshot of the downed boy. As they closed Temari's voice rang out towards the pair once again.

"I have to say dog boy, you gave me a better fight than I thought you would, but it's over, I'd rather not waist the chakra to cut you and the pup to ribbons, so how about you do the smart thing and give up here and now." she called even as Kamatari gently leapt up to land stretched out on the open fan his sickle held close to him, while the others simple whirled apparently effortlessly around the girl. Kiba gave a look around at the blades and then back to Temari and Kamatari his face forced into a blank expression that didn't show the pain he was still in.

"Really, I thought we were just getting started." Fired back Kiba, putting as much bravado as he could into the words as he forced himself to his feet never taking his eyes off of Temari as he did so.

"And here I was starting to think that you weren't as stupid as you looked." Fired back Temari in a slightly mocking tone, as her eyes narrowed, and her mind raced. _What the heck, he is on his last leg, or is he, well either way this isn't the time to start underestimating him, but damn I need to have something left for the invasion or I'll be a sitting duck, if this goes on much longer, I'll be helpless. _Though the girl as she steadied her grip on her large fan.

"Nice try, but smack talk isn't going to work on me, heck my Kaasan and Neesan had to pound that one into me and they are twice as strong as you." fired back Kiba, as he flexed his arms slightly, trying to buy some time to get the feeling back in his limbs. Temari in the meantime found herself slightly annoyed at the boy's last comment. True it hadn't been degrading, but Temari was a naturally strong willed woman, and being compared unfavorably to any other female always seemed to rub her the wrong way. It also didn't help that this was the second time that he had told her that she didn't measure up to his Kaasan for Kami's sake, and being outdone by an old women was not something she was going to take lying down.

"There you go again with that Kaasan crap, what are you some kind of mama's boy, is there anything that I won't have to hear you say she is better than me in?" shot back Temari a tick mark appearing on her forehead as she spoke, and the wood of her fan creaking slightly as she gripped it tighter. Unknowingly Kiba was managing to throw Temari off of her game, but despite this he was completely oblivious to what was occurring and so just responded without thinking of how the next words would sound, even if they were the truth.

"Well you're a lot cuter than her and Neesan." replied Kiba not even realizing what he had said until the words left his mouth. Everything seemed to freeze as he finished speaking, as Temari and he seemed to take a moment to digest what he had just said.

* * *

From over in the competitors box, Hinata and Naruto were staring open mouthed at the two fighters their brains trying and failing to understand what had possessed their teammate to say such a thing in the middle of a fight. Most of the other competitors had the same expression on their faces, while a few others had small blushes, and were busy stifling giggles at the situation.

Meanwhile up in the stands several groups were also in the process of reacting to the events below.

Over where several of the sensei's were seated including their students there was as round of giggles coming from Yakumo and Ino as they looked down at the scene flashing each other small knowing looks as they watched the two teens below stare at one another. The majority of the Sensei's were simply looking down at the field, while shaking their heads. Guy had taken to shouting something about the flames of youth but no one was paying attention to him. Shikimaru in the meantime was shaking his head slowly letting a small smile cross his face as he looked down, muttering something that sounded like troublesome under his breath as he did.

Over with the Hyuugas, and Namikazes Mito was letting out happy giggles as she looked down at the fight, while still cheering on Kiba, without truly understanding what was occurring. Hitomi in the meantime was flashing Kushina a small grin as the redhead buried her head in her hands trying to stifle her giggles.

"So Kushina tell me did you teach him that one, or was that something he picked up from his teammates." Mocked Hitomi, drawing a fresh series of choked giggles from Kushina, as she gave Hitomi a small friendly glare before forcing her head back down to not laugh in her friends face. Hanabi in the meantime was also unaware of the context below, and so took the moment to reach over a poke Mito lightly in the arm, and gesture down below where the two were seated as if asking something. Mito seemed to pause in thought for a second before nodding her head excitedly as the two six year olds dove down under their seating, pushing a few square and round objects aside until they found what they were looking for and emerged holding either side of a large white sign that they had brought with them to the finals. As the sign swung up it showed a hand drawn scrawl that spelled out **GO KIBA GO AKAMARU FOR TEAM KAWAII! **With small children's drawings of the pair along the outside of the sign. The day previously with the help of Tsunade the two children had constructed this and several other signs to help cheer for the people they knew in the finals. Tsunade had taken a liking to the idea, and insisted on adding the team Kawaii to it, while roaring with laughter.

The sign itself wouldn't have been too bad, if the two hadn't taken this time to call out the words in a loud voice into the relative silence of the arena.

"GO KIBA! GO AKAMARU! FOR TEAM KAWAIII!" shouted the two in unison drawing an explosion of giggles from those around them, and even driving Kushina to fall out of her seat while trying and failing to hold in her now roaring laughter.

Moments before the two children's proclamation, Tsume and Hana were looking down at the pair with matching grins plastered across their faces as they focused on their fellow Inuzuka. Tsume let out a small bark of laughter before looking over at Hana with a grin.

"Oh this fight just got a lot more interesting wouldn't you say?" she chuckles as Hana gave a nod smiling as well, as she looked down towards her sibling.

"If nothing else Kaasan, I think we have enough to blackmail him with for the rest of his life." chuckled Hana. Before the two could say more Mito, and Hanabi's cry's reached their ears and the two found themselves laughing so hard they almost weren't able to catch the most important reaction of all.

* * *

Down below Temari was frozen stiff; Kiba's words were bouncing around in her head for a moment as her mind fought to try and respond to the verbal declaration, and not just shut down. Temari had been prepared for a lot of things in this match and the coming events, but to be called out like this in front of a stadium of people was not on that list. She wasn't able to keep a small twinge of red from crossing her cheeks as she let the words play out in her mind again before she shook herself slightly and focused back on Kiba, who seemed to have pulled himself back together before her.

_Damn it Temari it was a stalling tactic, he was just trying to give himself time to recover, and you gave it to him, what the heck is wrong with you going all gaga over a complement like that you're a Kunoichi for kami's sake. _Temari though giving herself both a mental and physical shake to clear her mind directing her attention back to Kiba.

"Damn you, what the heck are you playing at I'm a proud Kunoichi of Suna, some pretty words aren't going to throw me off my game." Temari said falling back into a ready position, even as her thoughts gave her a mocking jab, _ya but they did throw you. _

Kiba seemed generally confused at the blondes comment as he steadied himself, playing the words back in his mind, and not truly comprehending what exactly he had said that Temari was referring to.

"Huh? What the heck are you talking about?" asked Kiba in a tone of complete confusion that seemed to make Temari only angrier at him. Her eye's narrowed dangerously as she looked over at him.

"Trying to distract me by calling me pretty, I'm a kunoichi and won't go to pieces like some common village girl, so drop the act." She fired back. Kiba paused for a second mulling her words over in his mind before he either did the most brilliant thing of his life…..or more likely the dumbest.

"Huh what the heck does being a kunoichi have to do with being pretty, heck you're one of the strongest fighters I've ever seen, the fact you're a pretty girl doesn't have anything to do with that…..heck it may even make you more impressive." he said the words hitting Temari like a physical blow. Her eyes went slightly wide, as her mind spun to absorb what she had just been told, but Kiba not seeming to realize the effect he was having pressed on.

"Beside that's not important now, so let's get on with this fight, cause I'm not backing down from a fight this good." He finished as he leapt back from the still motionless girl, with Akamaru in tow pulling out a sealing scroll from his pack as he did. As he landed he immediately spread the scroll out on the ground before him and slammed a hand down onto the scroll causing a cloud of smoke to erupt from it.

The sudden burst of smoke seemed to call Temari back to the real world, and as her eyes found Kiba's location she let out a small angry growl, as she wiped her fan forwards sending a blade of wind, followed by a sickle from her summons, that doubled the blades deadly cutting power. _DAMN IT HE GOT ME AGAIN! She screamed inside her head as the blade and wind shot towards the source of her anger. _

Moments later the sickle and wind crashed together into where Kiba and Akamaru, still in his human form, had disappeared behind a cloud of smoke. There was screeching sound of metal scraping on metal for a few moments, before two piece of the sickle exited the cloud flying off to bury themselves into the arena floor a few feet away from one another, as the smoke cleared and showed the twin forms of Kiba both down on one knee with one arm each outstretched to that the two here side by side all five of their claws facing where the attack had come from. Only the claws weren't the simple ones of nail and flesh they had been before.

Temari's eyes flew to the twin boy's outstretched arms that were now covered in a kind of black and grey gauntlets that sported five sharpened grey claws that were pointed forwards towards her with small bright blue blades of chakra stretching out of each digit. From behind the twin steel claws the grinning faces of the two boys flashed.

* * *

Up in the Kage booth Mei quirked an eyebrow as she looked down at the fight, letting out a small hum as if trying to remember something. Her hum drew both Zabuza's and Minato's attention towards her, causing her to notice her own actions and turn to face the two.

"Sorry Hokage-sama, I was just trying to think where I had seen those gauntlets before, they seem familiar to me, but I can't quite place from where." Mei finished inclining her head slightly in a polite gesture of respect. Minato simply bowed his head in turn, but before he could look back to the match Zabuza let out a small chuckle drawing the two kage's attention.

"Do you have something to add Zabuza?" asked Mei her tone dropping down a few octaves as her face changed into a dangerous little smile, showing her annoyance with the man's actions. She had made it clear that while in Konoha they were to act respectful as possible in an attempt to secure an alliance that they currently were in need in after their last war. Zabuza seemed to simply shrug of the Mizu-kage's glare before speaking.

"It's those gauntlets they belonged to the demon brothers, those two who use to work for me, but looks like they had some modifications since then." Replied Zabuza lazily, as Mei looked from him to the arena and then back again.

"Wait those two that robbed the armory during your attempt on the third Mizu-kage?" asked Mei searching her memory for something on the two. Zabuza nodded at her words before responding.

"Hai that was them, not the best fighters, but they did make it off with enough stuff to make those gauntlets of theirs, darn things cost a fortune." Chuckled Zabuza turning back to watch the match. Both Mei and Minato looked slightly confused at the man's words before Minato spoke up.

"Zabuza-san, why would those gauntlets cost a fortune, they don't look like anything special from here." asked Minato, Mei inclining her head in agreement with the blond question as Zabuza allowed his face to form a small smirk.

"Cause the morons insisted on making the damn things completely out of chakra metal." Zabuza said, causing all three of the Kage's to look back down to the arena floor. Chakra metal wasn't the rarest material, but refining it was expensive, if what Zabuza had said was true, then those gauntlets probably cost as much as a couple of A class missions alone.

* * *

As the Kage's eyes turned back below Kiba and his twin were pushing themselves to their feet while smiling over at Temari as their new gauntlets pulsed faintly as the wind around them drew in, and began to slowly spin around them giving a look as though the boy's arms were incased in small slow moving tornados. Temari spying the boys new weapons had cocked back her fan with Kamari still perch upon it ready to meet whatever the Inuzuka brought forth next.

Kiba seemed ready to oblige her as he and Akamaru both bent slightly before springing forward into twin tornado's spiraling towards her. For a moment she didn't notice the difference, but a sinister hissing sound alerted her to the extra spiral of blue tinged wind that seemed to expand out from the funnel a small distance as the two tornados closed in on her. Temari cocked back her fan before pouring forth her chakra into the fan, and the fibers of chakra metal stitched into the threads, that helped to amplify her wind element. From the fan came a tearing wall of winds that shaped itself into blades as it flew forward to meet the oncoming funnels. As the two waves crashed into each other there was a shrieking sound that caused many people to clap their hands over their ears in an attempt to shield their ears form the sound. The sound continued to build as the two forces crashed into each other, until something seemed to give, and there was a sudden explosion of wind, impacting Temari enough to where she was forced back a few feet he feet digging small furrows in the ground as she was pushed back.

Kiba and Akamaru in the meantime were sent back through the air both landing on all fours looking slightly windblown and sporting a few cuts, but otherwise unfazed. Before they could fully position themselves to launch again they were assaulted by a hail of Sickles causing them to strike out extending their blades of wind from their claws and biting forwards into the weapons causing them to fall to pieces as the blades of wind cut through them effortlessly. However, this was all the opening that Temari apparently needed to launch a second blast forwards towards the pair scaring the earth as it roared forwards. Without pausing Kiba pulled himself in front of Akamaru, thrusting his gauntleted hand forwards and setting his feet squarely and he closed his hand into a fist, forcing his chakra to take the wind around her gauntlet creating a building tornado around the boy's arm as he cocked back his fist, as the wave of wind closed in on him.

"EAT THIS!" yelled Kiba thrusting his fist forwards along with all of the wind and chakra he had managed to lace together. The effect was something like a solid drill of wind that meet the oncoming wall managing to tear a small hole in the wave, as it passed by scaring the ground as it passed. Kiba let out triumphant little cry as the wall of wind passed, by him, but had to bite back a curse as the pain of firing off an attack like that took its toll on his arm, and he was forced to drop to one knee due to the pain of it.

Temari' wasn't doing too well herself, true she hadn't taken as much damage as Kiba had during the fight, but she had been blasting wave after wave of attacks on top of using a summon, and even her reserves had their limit.

_Damn it at this rate I'll drop before the invasion, but if he is still standing I'll have my hands tied with fighting him anyway….better to take him out here and now then he'll be out of the fight and safe….wait what? _The blonde girl thought catching herself at the end at the oddity of her own thoughts. However, before she could think more on it a movement from over by Kiba caught her attention.

Kiba had reached over to his gauntleted arms and grabbed hold of what looked like a small ring right below the gauntlets wrist, pulling on it. As the boy pulled a length of chain that appeared to have been made of overlapping kunai came out of the bottom of gauntlet. Temari only had a moment to notice this until Kiba swung his arm forwards and the black chain lashed forwards a light blue twinge to the metal alerting Temari that this chain to was channeling the boys wind chakra. The blonde made a small hop like she was jumping rope, allowing the chain to fly under her, but as she descended she noticed that she had never been the target of the attack from the beginning. As the chain swung wide, it raced by where Akamaru was his own gauntlet extended with what looked like a small hook at the base of wrist of his gauntlet. As the chain swung by Akamaru slammed his own arm down and with a crack the chain fashioned itself onto the other before drawing itself back under the wrist and locking the two together by a length of black serrated chain.

The next moment to Temari's alarm Akamaru had sprang forwards along with Kiba the chain drawn taught between them, glowing menacingly as they came. Temari only had time to snap her fan shut and channel as much wind chakra into the tool in a hope to reinforce it against the oncoming clothsline. There was a crash of impact as the chain caught the fan between the two and Temari was forcing herself to fight to keep her feet steady as the two chain dug slightly into the fan, as the two boys passed by her gaining a position behind her.

"Damn it Kamatari GO!" shouted Temari having to focus entirely on keeping the flow of chakra up in her fan, or risk letting it slice the fan apart. Without waiting a moment Kamatari leapt up, from the ground where he had landed when Temari snapped the fan shut, to hurl himself forwards racing along the chains length down towards where the Kiba that was Akamaru was running. Akamaru noticed the summons advance just in time to swipe his arm viciously sending a wave down the chain that caught Kamatari under the body biting metal into his underside and forcing the weasel into the air. As Kamatari gained height he swung himself in an ark letting his sickle fly forwards towards the pup. The flying blade struck the gauntlet just where the chain was attached to the metal underside, and with a squealing snap the chain came loose, and Akamaru fell back on the ground just as Kamatari came down on top of the pup in a dive his chakra swirling around him as he impacted the pup causing a whine of pain to issue out from the pups mouth as he was forced to revert back to his normal form.

From on top of the pup Kamatari let out a tired sigh as he tried to lift himself from the pups form but found his body wasn't responding to him.

"Darn, sorry Temari but I'm out…..nice fight pup." chuckled the weasel as it puffed away in a small cloud of smoke as Akamaru let out a small bark of farewell before succumbing to unconsciousness himself. Meanwhile back with the two teens, as soon as the chain had come loose Temari was able to bring her fan up to bear once more, sending a gust down towards Kiba, who was stumbling slightly from the sudden freedom from his tether.

The blast caught the boy flinging him a small distance to face plant into the arena floor. Temari was forced to slam her fan down into the ground in front of her as her knees buckled from the exhaustion that was slowly flooding over her. It was with a great effort that she managed to remain on her feet at all, but she managed it somehow and watched to see if the boy across from her would rise again.

_If he gets up again, i think I'm through….so much for me being part of the plan, I'll be lucky if I can walk after this one…just hope that Kankuro can handle it without me. _Thought the blonde before she stiffened as the grey clad figure before her shifted slightly. To her utter horror Kiba forced himself up to all fours, turning to face her, his face covered in dirt and some blood, but set in a fierce look of determination. The Inuzuka pushed himself to his feet shakily looking over at his opponent through half lidded eyes.

_Oww…what, where, darn the pretty girls still up…..w-wait wha…..Akamaru…..why do I feel so tired…..wait no I'm in the match….ya the match…got to …ugh. _Kiba pushed himself forwards towards Temari even as his mind danced dazedly around trying and failing to focus on what he was doing. Temari let out a curse as she saw Kiba approaching forcing her legs to stay straight and hefting her fan up to swing forwards again.

As Kiba reached her she swung the fan like a great club forwards, out of chakra to push through it, and just hoping the improvised club would be enough to halt the advancing boy before she succumbed to her exhaustion. The fan came around in wide swing and missed Kiba by inches. This was due to the fact that the boy had finally been unable to power through his wounds any longer, and had dropped unconscious. His momentum carried him slightly forwards however, and as a result he bore Temari to the ground with him, finding himself with his face resting on the girl's stomach.

When the two landed Temari braced herself thinking that the coming blow was about to fall, but nothing came. After a few seconds Temari shifted enough to look down and she saw the resting face of Kiba on her stomach his face turned up in a small smile of apparent comfort as he let out a small humming sound like the kind a dog makes when he is content. For a second Temari just stared at the sight before a shadow fell across her causing her to look up into the eyes of the Jonin referee who was giving her an small smile as he looked her over.

"Well Temari it appears that you have won the match, but if you want to stay down there with your boyfriend I'll understand." Spoke the Jonin in a kind, but still mocking tone that caused Temari to blush, and scowl in turn as she pushed Kiba off of her and shakily made her way to her feet, as the ref turned to call out her victory, and a squad of medical ninja rushed out into the arena to collect Kiba, and Akamaru. Temari accepted their help as well, and soon the arena floor was clear of combatants.

* * *

Up in the stands the spectators were busy discussing the last match and commenting on how they thought the next contest would progress.

"AWWWWW NOOOOO KIBA AND AKAMARU LOST!" called Mito in a wailing cry, of mingled annoyance and sadness at the result. Soon the little redhead found a hand gently rubbing her head, as she looked up to see her Kaasan smiling down at her.

"Hey now, Mito-chan none of that, they fought a great match, so don't be sad ok." Kushina said in a comforting tone that caused Mito to pause for a second before giving the larger redhead a small nod.

"Hai Kaasan, but I really wanted him to win." replied Mito looking down at the sign she and Hanabi had made a small sad look in her eyes as she focused on it. Kushina noticed this but was momentarily lost as to what to say to cheer her daughter up. However, she needn't have worried, because Hanabi it seemed had the answer to the situation in hand. Or more specifically the boy had a bright red marker in his hand that he bent down to the sign with and scribbled a quick addition to the sign before leaning back and looking over at Mito who was busy reading the addition.

The sign now read **GO KIBA! GO AKAMARU! GO TEAM KAWAII! GREAT MATCH GET BETTER SOON!** Hanabi having added the final sentence below where the first had been written. As Mito finished reading it her face became a bright smile as she turned to give Hanabi a tight hug that the boy seemed to only put up a token defense to. Both Kushina and Hitomi allowed a small giggle to escape their lips at the sight of their youngest, before turning to discuss the match in detail.

Over with the Jonin sensei's the majority were discussing the impressive match.

"Well now that pup of Tsume's sure has some nice wind channeling, heck if I have time I may stop by and see if I can help him out with it, would be nice to see a few more wind users in Konoha." Asuma said idly toying with one of his trench knives as he looked over at Kurenai who gave him a small smirk.

"That's nice of you Asuma but don't you think you should focus on your team before you go offering your help around to others." commented the black haired women, causing Asuma to drop one of his knives as he let out an embarrassed little chuckle.

"Hai I guess your right about that." replied the man bending down to grab his dropped knife. As he reached the blade he notice his figure brushing against something else on the floor of the seat he was in. Curiosity won out and as Asuma rose back up he had both his blade, and what looked like a small black marble in his hand. Putting away his knife he turned his attention to the small ball in his hand, rolling it back and forth trying to figure out exactly what he was looking at. His actions caught Kakashi's and Kurenai's attention.

"Hey Asuma what are you playing with over there?" asked Kakashi peering over at the ball in Asuma's hand. Kurenai for her part glanced at the small ball, and tried to think of why the small ball looked so familiar to her.

"Huh, oh I don't know Kakashi, it was just under my chair weird little thing isn't it, probably just a toy or something that a kid lost." Chuckled Asuma after looking the small ball over, and deciding it wasn't a threat. Kakashi shrugged slightly at this and turned back to his orange book without further comment.

The students sitting down near their sensei's were also busy discussing the recent match.

"Wow glad I didn't have to fight her in the finals, too troublesome." Muttered Shikimaru as he leaned back in his seat looking up at the clouds overhead. Choji was thinking along the same lines of his friend as the medics carried stretchers bearing Kiba and Akamaru out of the arena.

"That's just like you Shikimaru, I swear you are so lazy it's a wonder you didn't surrender before you even fought in the match." fired off Ino causing Shikimaru to wave a hand in a placating matter.

"Probably would have worked out better for me, I didn't have the information to come up with a real plan and that arena was brightly lit, I was at a clear disadvantage and should have known when to fall back no point in fighting a battle you can't win." Shikimaru replied lazily causing Ino to glare over at him. Their antics drew a small chuckle from Yakumo as she turned back towards the arena.

With the Inuzuka clan Tsume and Hana were oddly enough smiling apparently satisfied at Kiba's performance in the match.

"So Kaasan, what do you think, he did pretty well for himself down there." Hana half asked, half stated looking over at Tsume who nodded in reply.

"Hai he fought well, and it seems he managed to wise up and come up with a few good combinations with Akamaru, give him a few years and he will be a Jonin in no time. You better get working on it yourself or he'll pass you up." Tsume replied flashing small fanged grin over at Hana.

"I guess, heck kind of makes me wish I was a wind user, but I guess fire fits well enough with me." said Hana in reply before turning to smirk over at her Kaasan.

"But you know Kaasan it wasn't the fighting I was talking about." Hana chuckled as Tsume let her smile spread from ear to ear letting out a small bark of laugh at the girls words.

"Hahahahaha Hai Hana, he did and a strong one at that, I guess we'll have to meet the little Suna pup at some point." Chuckled Tsume, as Hana joined in the laughing in turn adding her voice to the mix.

Up in the Kage booth Minato had turned to congratulate the Kazekage on his daughter's victory.

"Well Kazekage I must say your daughter is a fine kunoichi, but I'm a bit skeptical about her ability to continue in the tournament after that last fight, the Inuzuka boy was able to force her to spend most of her chakra in the fight." commented Minato looking over at his guest, whose face was still in shadow thanks to his kage hat, and mask.

The still figure of the Kazekage sat silently for a moment before nodding his head agreement.

"Hai it would appear so, still a victory is a victory no matter the cost, wouldn't you agree Mizukage?" came a dry voice from under the yellow hat of the Kazekage. Mei took a moment to consider the words, allowing her mind to wander briefly back to the civil war she had fought in just a few months ago. After a moment she nodded her head towards the man seated beside her.

"I must say I agree with the Kazekage, in our line of work worrying about a victory in the future is foolish if you aren't alive to reach it." spoke the redhead turning back to face the arena again. Minato thought of the words of the other two kage's turning his eyes back down to the arena. _…not alive to reach it… _he thought for a moment before he gave himself a mental shake and focused back on the matches.

In the contestant box Naruto and Hinata were both sharing slightly sad looks with one another.

"Man I thought he had it, darn I wanted to see team eleven take the whole exam." Naruto said giving a defeated little shrug at the match's conclusion.

"Still Kiba and Akamaru did amazing didn't he." The blonde said turning to face Hinata who was giving an assuring nod.

"Hai, he and Akamaru did their best and so will we." responded Hinata, with a small smile getting on in turn from Naruto. However, before Naruto could respond, a cough of apparent disproval sounded from behind the two causing them to turn slowly to face the origin of the sound. The two teens turned to see Neji leaning against an opposite wall staring at them with a seemingly pitying look. Seeing this Naruto decided to not leave the interruption alone.

"Sorry did I say something you wanted to add to?" asked the blonde a small edge to his tone as he stared over at the pale eyed boy. Neji allowed his face to turn up into a cocky smirk before pushing himself from the wall.

"Hai you did, that part about your team taking these exams, heck the only one of you that stood a chance of even making it to the next round, now all you have is two clan drop outs." Finished Neji, causing both Naruto's and Hinata's eyes to narrow dangerously. Neji seemed to either not notice that, or simply not concern himself with it as he continued to speak.

"So if you two are finished making jokes I think it is time for my cousin and I to have our match." Finished Neji as he marched past the pair and over towards the steps that he would soon decent to enter into the arena. Most of the booths occupant's eyes followed Neji, before glancing back to the pair still standing there, glaring after him. The next person to speak was Sasuke letting out a small snort before speaking.

"The Hyuuga may be full of himself, but I have to agree with him on this one, you two are dreaming if you think your winning this tournament. Right Naruko." spoke the dark haired boy glancing over at his teammate who stood beside him. Naruko looked between her teammate and the two members of team eleven as if not sure at what to say. One part of her was telling her to agree with Sasuke's words, and to tell Naruto to recognize when he was making himself a target…but another side, the one that had been speaking up more and more over the past few weeks was telling her to smack her teammate around and then Neji for good measure. But the conflict resulted in her simply turning from the conflict and walking over to where Minami was looking at her concerned, and turn to look out at the arena floor letting her mind wander as she did.

"**I swear you are becoming more and more whipped as time goes on I told you, you need to keep your eyes open now, whatever those black things were I have a bad feeling about them." **Spoke up Kyuubi as Naruko was still debating with herself. His words seemed to snap her out of stupor slightly, as she turned inwardly to respond.

_Sorry furball, I've just been out of it for a while… between Naruto, and Minami I'm starting to wonder what's happening around me…I mean everything seems to be changing, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do. _Naruko responded casting a sad little look over to where Minami had turned to look over at where Naruto and Hinata were standing. Kyuubi let out an angry little grunt as this response before continuing.

"**Who cares about your family affairs, I told you something big is going on, and if I'm right then you need to focus, cause I'm not going to die just because you are having family issues." **fired of Kurama getting Naruko to twitch slightly a small bit of anger leaking into her thoughts as she responded.

_Oh here we go again furball, this is where you get all cryptic and start saying you'll tell me what you're talking about later, well enough of this crap you want me to listen to you then you need to cough up some more than saying you'll tell me later. _Fired back Minami the annoyance and anger obvious in her tone. There was a moment's pause as Kyuubi let out an annoyed sigh before replying.

"**Fine brat, I guess it's better you know now in case I'm right about this. Look those black things whatever they are seem like something that may have come from an old enemy of my Tousan the Sage of the six paths, I assume you remember who that is right?" **half lectured, half questioned Kyuubi.

_Hai I remember Kaasan telling me about him, he defeated a great monster then split it apart creating all of the tailed beast's right. _Replied Naruko, Kyuubi giving a small nod before continuing.

"**Hai that one, well my Tousan described that creatures abilities to us once, before he died, and those black things seem to have something in common with it, and besides that something odd is up with Kyu's cage remember." **Continued Kyuubi, getting a small nod from Naruko as she thought back to the odd appearance of Kyu's cage the last time the sisters had linked their minds during their meditation training the month previously. It had looked like someone had planted a field around the cage lifting it out of the water, and there where spiraling vines growing all over the cage decorated with small purple flowers.

"**Well then keep you mind focused, if that enemy is somehow involved with what is going on then you and I are in more danger that you could possibly imagine so focus on that for now, and if we live long enough you can go back to worrying about you family issues." ** Finished the Kyuubi closing its eyes and moving to sever the link between the two. However, before he could Naruko shot off a final question.

_Hey furball what was this old enemy the sage fought anyway? _Asked Naruko getting a small grunt from Kyuubi.

"**It was the Juubi….my Kaasan." **Bit out the Kyuubi before severing the link. Naruko was shocked at the fox's words as she thought about what she had just heard. However, soon her attention was drawn forwards as the Jonin referee called out in a loud voice announcing the next match.

"Hyuuga Neji of Konoha, and Hyuuga Hinata of Konoha please enter the arena at this time." called out the Jonin as a smattering of cheering answered his words. Neji already by the steps immediately strode forwards into the arena, while Hinata gave Naruto a quick hug before turning to head out to her match. As the two teens made their way into position their family was currently undergoing a small event of their own.

Above in the stands Hiashi had taken the appearance of this match to attempt to draw his Sochi's attention back to himself, and towards his own ideals, instead of the childish antics he had been taking part in during the previous match.

"Hanabi I need to you pay attention to this next match very carefully someday you'll have to face off against Neji, and he is possibly one of the greatest talents that the Hyuuga clan has ever known." He said looking over past his wife to where Hanabi was sitting, looking from the arena and back to Hiashi for a moment as if confused.

"Hai tousan, but what about Neesan shouldn't I watch her to, I mean she's strong too." replied the boy with a note of curiosity present in his tone. Hitomi looked over at Hiashi as well, hoping that the man would not say something to upset the boy. Hiashi however held no true dislike for her daughter, and was able to word his response accordingly.

"Hai Hanabi, your Neesan is strong as well to have made it to the finals, but her's is a different strength than that of the Hyuuga style." Hiashi began getting a confused look from Hanabi.

"You see your Neesan uses other skills in tandem with our gentle fist style to help her battle, and that means she cannot become a true master of the gentle fist, because to be a master is to have the style alone as your weapon, that way no matter your situation, or armament, you are always prepared to defend yourself, and sadly Hinata isn't that kind of Hyuuga." Hiashi finished getting a small nod of understanding from Hanabi as he looked down at his two relatives as they turned to face each other in the arena bellow.

"B-but what if I'm like Neesan, and not meant to be a master either?" asked the boy not looking up as he spoke. Hiashi allowed his stoic face to soften slightly as he looked over at his Sochi.

"Don't worry Sochi, you have the true makings of a great master of the Gentle fist just like you Kaasan and I." reassured the man, as he looked over at Hitomi expecting a smile from her. Hitomi however was looking at him with a slight touch of sadness in her eyes. After Hanabi's birth Hiashi had moved away from Hinata, dedicating his time to Hanabi, who he expected to replace him someday as head of the clan. Hiashi didn't hate his daughter, but had labeled her as a relative failure in the clans style, and to that effect had spoken well of her on only rare occasions. Over the past few months he had lessened his negative remarks, particularly around Hanabi thanks to Hitomi's intervention, but it was clear that while Hiashi did not hate his daughter, he felt her as an example of what Hanabi should avoid, and that stigmatism made the interactions between the families tense.

_Just watch Hiashi-kun and we'll see just how great your musume is. _Thought Hitomi while moving a hand to rest on her Sochi's head.

"Don't worry Sochi, your Neesan is going to show everyone her kind of gentle fist, and then you can be just like her if you want to be." smiled Hitomi as Hanabi looked up at her and gave a small smile and nod. Hiashi shot his wife a small annoyed look but decided to leave it at that, he may not relish the idea of watching Hinata be bested in combat, but it was an inevitability once she stood to face a prodigy of the true gentle fist.

* * *

Down below Hinata and Neji had moved into position across from one another, both falling slowly into their gentle fist styles with their palms outstretched pointed towards one another's chests.

"Ok you two same rules apply, so keep from forcing me to intervene understand?" asked the Jonin looking between the two. Neji let his face turn into a small smirk before responding.

"Hai, but I wouldn't worry yourself this match will be over in not time." spoke the boy in a cocky tone causing the Jonin to role his eyes and look over at the pale eyed girl who seemed to have been unaffected by the others taunt.

"Hai Jonin-san I am prepared." She replied activating her byakugan with a slight pulse of chakra. Neji soon did the same, as the Jonin gave a small shrug and leapt a small distance back from the two calling as he did.

"OK SECOND MATCH OF THE CHUNIN EXAMS FINALS HYUUGA NEJI VS HYUUGA HINATA GO!" he shouted, and both teens shot towards one another.

The two figures streaked over the dirt floor kicking up small clouds of dust as their feet slammed down propelling themselves forwards, their eyes fixed straight ahead so that wide white eyes stared back at each other as they closed.

As the two met, they both through a palm strike forwards towards the other chest while keeping a seemingly calm demeanor chiseled onto their faces. The two palms struck forwards, and where both simultaneously countered as the two threw their arms up in a sharp angle knocking each other's blows lightly off course and expelling a flash of blue chakra from both of their palms.

As the two strikes went wide Neji cocked back the hand he had used to block the initial blow before thrusting it forwards towards Hinata's exposed stomach. Seeing this Hinata swept her blocking arm down vertically to intercept the blow. As Neji's hand shot forwards Hinata's came crashing down on it forcing Neji's blow down and away from Hinata's body and down where it would disperse one the ground. However, as Hinata connected with the arm, Neji allowed the blow to push his hand down without resistance, at the same moment he bent down transferring the momentum into his movements and directing Hinata's blow down and to the right causing Hinata to unwillingly bend with the blow and expose her now unprotected side to Neji. Before Hinata could correct herself, Neji spun in place using the arm Hinata had hit to slam a palm strike into the girls side and forcing her to bit back a scream of pain as his chakra slammed into her Kidney.

Hinata managed to fight through the pain and used the momentum of her misdirection to fling herself forwards a short way and spinning in time to divert another palm strike from Neji, who had predicted her attempt at escape. As the second blow was parried Hinata threw herself forwards crashing her right shoulder into the advancing Neji. The boy was not prepared for such a frontal assault and was momentarily off set by the impact giving Hinata an opportunity to lash out with a palm strike of her own. Neji caught the blow on one shoulder and allowed it to spin him slightly as he ignored the grown of pain from his shoulder.

He dropped then taking the spin into a sweeping kick that Hinata was forced to jump to avoid. However, this left her up in the air and unable to maneuver when as Neji slammed his feet into the ground and shoot both palms forwards to slam into Hinata's exposed stomach sending his chakra into the girls chest, and drawing forth a shout of pain form her lips as the force of the blow shot her back through the air for a few feet, before she hit the ground rolling slightly and managing to turn the hit into a roll bringing her up onto one knee panting slightly as she did.

Neji in turn slowly moved himself back into the standard gentle fist style a small smirk of apparent satisfaction on his lips. Hinata narrowed her eyes slightly as she pushed herself to her feet, and whipped a trail of damp hair out of her eyes as she looked over to her cousin's position. With a small flick of her arm she drew back her sleeve exposing a series of senbon launchers bringing up her other hand to trigger a salvo. With a flick of movement some ten senbon, their forms dripping with some kind of sinister substance, shot forwards towards the other Hyuuga who gave a smirk before effortlessly sweeping his hands back and forth catching the missiles between the fingers of his palms. As he caught the final needle, however, he was forced to leap back as a palm strike of Hinata's lashed out towards him again clipping is arm as he pulled it up in an attempt to deflect the blow.

Hinata had known the senbon would never have hit their mark, but what she also knew was how a Hyuuga would respond to such and assault, and that it would leave a tiny opening for a strike. Her strike had been on target, but Neji had noticed her plan at the last second and managed to bring an arm up taking the blow on his exposed forearm rather than in his chest. There was a sharp stab of pain from the arm, but Neji didn't pay it any attention as he flung his left hand towards the girl before him as he to a small hop back sending her own senbon back at her. Hinata was forced to duck and weave between the senbon before she was off again springing forwards to where Neji was about to land.

Unfortunulty for her Neji had managed to land and set himself back into his stance just as she reached him and the two where again set in a pitched battle of palms strikes blasts of blue chakra shooting out as blow after blow was diverted or avoided. It was clear that Hinata was being pushed back, however, as Neji was able to bring his expertise and size into play in a match of straight gentle fist. Hinata seemed to recognize this and was waiting for an opening to separate from the close quarters battle.

As the next palm strike shot towards the girl's chest she pushed herself to close the distance between her and the strike throwing the timing of the strike off as he forced her own palm into the blow getting a shock as the chakra flared between the two strikes. Before Neji could recognize what she was planning Hinata had stepped within his guard closing her hand over his as she did, and pulling as she swept one leg forwards towards the boys now upset stance. Without any other choice Neji allowed himself to be pulled forwards turning the fall into a dive that carried him over the kick and a few feet past Hinata as he rolled spinning expecting an oncoming strike, however Hinata was not there. She had taken the momentary opportunity to skip back a few yards her hand flying through a series of seals as she did. As she stopped planting herself, her hands fell on the final seal and she arched herself back slightly before spitting out a stream of compressed water with a cry of Water bomb Jutsu! The torrent of water shot forwards towards Neji forcing him to leap right and left as Hinata sent two more blasts towards him, covering the field with a few puddles of water. As Hinata let her arms fall and took a second to catch her breath, Neji steadied himself and turned to face Hinata that same proud smirk present on his face.

"So is that all you have Hinata-san, I thought you and your boyfriend were going to take the exam by storm, or are you just as much talk as he is?" called Neji in a jeering tone, attempting to anger the girl and hopefully throw her off. True he was pushing the girl back, but she had been putting up a better fight than he had expected, and he was in no mood to let this become a contest between the two of them. Hinata took a few steadying breaths before allowing a small sad smile to cross her own lips.

"Neji I could say the same about you, weren't you the one who was declaring an easy victory at the beginning of this fight?" Hinata replied without blinking. The boys constant verbal attacks on both her and Naruto had added up until Hinata was struggling to keep from shouting back at the boy. Deep down, however what she felt most of all was pity for the boy. The Hyuuga family had always been a completive family, forcing their children to fight to prove their own worth in the clan, and that world of competiveness had forged the boy before her into someone who saw life and family and nothing more than a battle, and opponents, and she wanted nothing more than to make him recognize that the world could be so much more than that.

Unfortunately her words seemed to infuriate the Hyuuga boy, and without another word he flung himself forwards towards her with a maddening look blazing in his byakugan eyes. Seeing this Hinata began to fly through hand signs as quickly as possible. When Neji was about half way towards the girl there was a distortion in the water scattered around as it congealed itself into several forms of Hinata before charging forwards. Neji found himself suddenly being attacked from all sides by a literal storm of Hinata's each swinging an arm forwards to land a different blow on the boy.

As the first water clone reached Neji he fell back into his stance and with almost no effort slapped the clones arm aside, before driving his palm into the clones face causing it to explode in a shower of water as his chakra tore it apart from the inside. The next clone met with a similar fate as Neji simply grabbed its outstretched arms and sent a pulse through its arm destroying it. Next a clone from both left and right flew into the boy, but with a spin Neji forced the two to swing wide, and as their back became exposed he delivered two quick blows causing the pair to fall to puddles on the ground. As the two clones fell Neji turned in time to see Hinata land on a final seal and send out another pulse of chakra. Before Neji could react the final three clones collapsed into puddles of water that exploded into sudden life a moment later. Neji wasn't fast enough as several whips of water shot out of the water now surrounding him and wrapped themselves around his arms and legs effectively pinning nailing him to the arena floor.

Seeing this Hinata let out a small breath and affixed a weak smile to her face as she looked over at the trapped boy. It had been close but she had managed to catch him by surprise and stop him from moving, without the ability to dispel the water with his palms the fight was looking like it could end very soon. Hinata fell back into her stance once again and charged forwards looing to end the fight before Neji could force himself free of the bindings around him. However, just as she closed the distance Neji's apparent angry look turned suddenly into a look of triumph, as a massive amount of chakra exploded from all of his chakra points shattering the water whips holding him pinned. Hinata already too close to halt her momentum, and the result was that she crashed headlong into the forming dome of chakra that Neji created as he spun himself crying out as he did so.

"Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!" shouted the boy as the dome snapped into shape and slammed into Hinata throwing her a good distance away. She hit the floor of the arena with a nasty thump and rolled several feet before stopping and letting out a grown of pain. The sudden appearance of one of the Hyuugas most powerful techniques drew a myriad of different reactions form the onlookers.

* * *

Over in the contestant box Naruto was undergoing a mental battle at the moment as his hands gripped the railing, and the sound of slightly grinding metal was heard. Juubi in the meantime had almost resorted to dragging Naruto half into his mindscape and pouncing on the boy to hold him down.

_Damn it I'll tear him apart, who cares about him or his clan heck I'll take on the whole village now LET ME GO JUUBI! _Shouted Naruto in his own head. Juubi however ignored the boys ranting and simply tightened her hold around the boy's neck.

"**Oh no you don't Naruto, you know better than this and you promised that you would let Hinata fight her own battles, or are you going to break your promise to her?" **replied Juubi in a knowing tone. Naruto seemed to halt his struggling for a moment before relaxing his fight with Juubi and his grip on the railing. After a few deep breaths the boy responded.

_H-hai Juubi your right…sorry it's just hard sometimes you know? _Naruto said in a half questioning tone. Juubi relaxed her hold before letting out a sad little sigh.

"**Hai Naruto it is and I suppose that if it wasn't we wouldn't know how much we loved someone. But sometimes we need to let them fight their own battles… besides Hinata isn't going to lose that easily so just stand here and cheer for her like she will be doing for you later." **Finished Juubi. Naruto gave a small nod before relaxing himself can then cupping his hands to his mouth.

"COME ON HINATA-CHAN SHOW THAT POMPUS ASS WHAT YOUR MADE OF!" shouted Naruto at the top of his lungs drawing a few looks from the rest of the booth. Minami in particular had to cup her hands over her mouth to stop a small giggle at Naruto's antics.

Meanwhile up in the stands Hitomi was radiating a small amount of killing intent causing the other four sitting around her to edge slightly away from the women. Without warning Hitomi swiveled her head around to face Hiashi and there was fire blazing in her eyes as she spoke.

"Hiashi if your brother doesn't fix his sochi's attitude then make it perfectly clear to him that I will, do I make myself clear!? she said with a dangerous smile turning her tone icy. Hiashi had to suppress a small shudder as he fought to keep his face from showing the fear he felt.

"Hitomi this is a match and at this moment Hinata is an opponent, simple as that, I may not like his attitude, but he isn't doing anything against the rules." replied Hiashi looking down at Hitomi who gave him an angry look.

"Hiashi I'm not talking about his action in the match, I'm talking about his actions towards Hinata outside of the ring, and how this whole damn family seems to think we have to fight each other, so let me put it simply, my children will never be part of this family fight again, do I make myself clear?" finished Hitomi looking away from Hiashi and over to where Hanabi and Mito where watching the match with looks of concern upon their faces. Seeing this Hitomi and Kushina both reached over to pat their children softly on the shoulder causing the two to look up at them to be greeted by two hopefully consoling smiles.

"It's ok Mito, Hinata will be just fine, so why don't you and Hanabi get your special sign ready okay." Whispered Kushina smiling down at her musume. Mito looked up at Kushina for a moment before giving her a smile and reaching over to poke at Hanabi, who was just finishing being comforted by Hitomi. Soon the two were busy bent over shifting through signs they had stashed under their seats.

Hiashi in the meantime was watching the mothers, and their children, and felt a small pang of sadness as he remembered how he and his own brother would run to their mother, looking to find comfort from their own father's actions. As these thoughts and other worked their way through his mind, he absently turned his head to look over to where the rest of the Hyuuga clan and his brother sat watching the match below, and couldn't help but wonder if maybe he was truly making the right choice in regards to his family.

While this had been occurring the Sensei's had been distracted from the match by something that was quickly becoming a source of concern. When Naruto had been fighting with his emotions earlier Asuma had been distracted as the odd little marble between his figures seemed to pull itself down towards the arena for a second.

"What the?" spoke up the bearded man looking down at the small marble that gave another tug before suddenly going still again. His exclamation drew the attention of Kakashi, and Kurenai who turned to look over at the man.

"What is it Asuma the match is still going on." Kakashi said lazily letting his one visible eye track over to his fellow sensei.

"Wh… oh nothing Kakashi sorry just this marble thing seemed to tug all of the sudden but I guess I could have been my imagination, I mean it's not doing anything now." replied Asuma. Kakashi looked over at Asuma for a second before speaking.

"Asuma when you say it was your imagination, do you mean you didn't feel anything from it?" asked Kakashi a small note of authority in his voice as he spoke. True Kakashi was a naturally lazy shinobi, but no one would dare to call him foolish, he had learned a long time ago that the devil can be in the details, and simply dismissing something could have horrible consequences. Asuma seemed to consider the masked sensei for a moment before speaking.

"No Kakashi I didn't imagine it, and there was something else, when it moved there was a faint pulse from it, I don't know what, but there was something there." replied Asuma looking over at Kakashi who closed his book and pulled back his headband to take a closer look at the marble. After a second he slipped the headband back into place.

"Well I can't see anything special about it, it's just a black ball as far as I can tell, nothing inside and no chakra I can see, just a solid black ball….where did you say you found that again?" finished Kakashi. Asuma gave a small shrug before replying.

"Down below my chair." replied Asuma looking over at Kurenai who nodded before leaning down to examine under her own seat, and sitting up a moment later holding a small ball of her own, and a small worried look on her face.

"There was one under mind to, and I saw a few more scattered down the row on either side of us…..and I swear I've seen something like this before." She responded looking over at her fellow sensei's with a slightly worried expression. Kakashi pushed himself up from his seat with a small grown of effort.

"Well probably nothing but I'll go and get some Anbu to take a look around, and tell the hokage, hey Kurenai mind giving me that one?" finished Kakashi holding out a hand. Kurenai passed him the small marble and soon Kakashi was making his way up the stairs while the other two looked on after him. Before they could speak to each other, however, their attention was drawn back to the fight below.

* * *

In the arena floor Hinata was slowly pushing herself shakily to her feet. Her legs and arms were pulsing slightly with a throbbing pain of the last blow that had thrown her across the arena floor. More than that however was the simple shock she was fighting back at seeing Neji pull out the heavenly revolution.

_h-how he couldn't have learned that from a main branch member….N-neji you truly are a genius of the gentle fist...b-but I won't let it end like this! _Hinata thought summoning the strength to steady her legs and raise her face to look over at Neji who was sinking into a stance she vaguely recognized. Neji and sunk into a stance with one arm cocked back as though he was going to throw a shot-put forwards, except without the shot-put.

"Do you see now why you don't belong in our family, why you were passed over for your younger brother, OR CLAN VALUES STRENGTH, SKILL AND THAT IS WHAT YOU LACK! Shouted Neji a pulse of chakra running through his body as his eyes focused straight into Hinata's. Without a pause Neji thrust his palm forwards shouting as he did so.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!" the pale eyed boy called as an almost visible wave of chakra shot out distorting the air as it flew forwards towards her kicking stones and dust out of its path as it shot down range. The spectators held their breath as the wave approached Hinata who to everyone else seemed to have bowed her head in acceptance of the coming blow. As the wave rushed forwards Hiashi himself pushed himself slightly to his feet in a knee jerk reaction to protect somehow. For several spectators, however, their expressions had moved from concern into small knowing smirks. Among them where a pair of children, a hand full of genin, and five adults two of which had just returned from the medical wing of the stadium catch the last few minutes of the match.

Just as the wave of chakra was about to impact the girl there was a pulse of chakra from around her and the girls head snapped up her eyes having shifted. The whites of the eyes had darkened to pitch black while the center part, usually carrying a twinge of lavender now seemed to glow slightly like a new summer's moon. The only one who could see this was Neji, but even he only caught the barest glimpse before Hinata swung one hand up in a graceful ark more like the movement in a dance than anything else. Neji's eyes widened his eyes blazed seeing as the chakra blast he had shot forwards split down its center as if cut by some invisible blade. The two halves crashing into the dirt floor on either side of Hinata, and throwing up a cloud of dust and debris that momentarily obscured Hinata's form from sight.

Neji's mind was racing as his wide eyes cut effortlessly through the cloud to see the figure of Hinata shift slightly before him. As he watched he saw the girls chakra build moving differently through her, more fluid in a way as if no longer simply running like a small river, and more crashing around like a waterfall pushing itself along as if by its own intuition.

The Chakra, however, was not what had his attention, or more specifically the chakra racing through her network. His attention was drawn to two points on either side of Hinata's head a small distance up on her head level with where her ears sat. The chakra seemed to slowly be pushing out of those spots somehow congealing as it did, building on itself until what looked like two horns, that vaguely looked to him like long rabbit ears were perched on top of the girls head.

_W-what the h-hell is going on….how did she deflect my attack like that…and what the hell is happening with her chakra…..what the heck is going on? _Thought Neji furiously forcing himself to fall into his gentle fist stance and preparing for whatever the girl had planned.

There was a small discharge of chakra from Hinata and the cloud seemed to evaporate from around her revealing the horned girl to the stadium. Hinata seemed unconcerned with the looks she was now receiving sinking down into the gentile fist style she had been battling in before.

"Neji!" called Hinata causing the boy to snap out of his inner monolog long enough to take full notice of Hinata's posture, and recognize what it meant; "I'm going to show you just what my style of the gentle fist is capable of!" called Hinata fixing her now night sky eyes upon Neji's blazing byakugan.

Before Neji even realized it Hinata was charging across the arena floor closing in fast on the Hyuuga boy. As she closed Hinata thrust out a standard palm strike, no different than the ones he had thrown since she had just began her training. Neji knew this strike, it was nothing he hadn't seen a million times before, but something struck him as odd about it. Hinata had made her strike a good five feet before reaching the boy, such an obvious strike could not hope to hit its target… or at least that was what he thought before a concussive force slammed into his chest pushing into him like the gentle fist strike it was and forced the boy back a few steps as he attempted to recover. Before the boy could recover Hinata was on top of him swinging her arm around in a wave like motion. The air between where her palm and the Hyuuga boy seemed to waver for a moment before another blow caught the boy under the chin throwing him a few feet away from the girl and onto his back causing him to let out a short cry of pain as he landed.

Hinata in the meantime had slowly lowered her hands back into position without relaxing her stance or taking her eyes from where Neji lay before her.

* * *

The onlookers were looking on many confused as to what they were watching, but none more so than Hiashi, who was staring wide eyed down at the changed form of his eldest. Before Hiashi could do more than stare in disbelief at the scene before him a movement and sound from his right drew his attention.

"YAY GO HINATA-CHAN! COME ON HINATA-NEESAN!" called Mito and Hanabi while hoisting a sign above their heads waving is back and forth as they continued to cheer. Hiashi took in this sight for a moment before his eyes were drawn to the sign itself.

Written there in large black letters was **GO BUNNY-NEESAN YOU CAN DO IT! GO TEAM KAWAII!** Along with the words there was also a few pictures obviously of Hinata sporting bunny ears, and having what appeared to be rabbits hoping around the outside of the sign. Hiashi looked from the sign, and then down to the arena floor, before looking back towards Hitomi looking like a man desperate for any kind of understanding to the madness that was becoming his world.

Hitomi for her part gave Hiashi a small comforting smile before reaching over with one soft hand, and interlacing her fingers with his never taking her eyes away from his own, or letting the soft smile part from her lips.

"Hiashi now isn't the time to start explaining what this is, for now how about we help our Sochi cheer on our sunny place." Hitomi said not letting her smile fade. Hiashi seemed to want to argue for a split second, but stopped as he saw the happy face of Hanabi, and then back to his wife's smile before the fight simple went out of him. Hiashi drew in a small breath before tightening his hand around Hitomi's and turning back to watch the match in silence.

Elsewhere in the stands the Jonin sensei's were looking on in simple silence their minds racing as they tried to understand what they were seeing. Their students in the meantime seemed able to express their feeling pretty accurately.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH HINATA!?" called Ino looking left to the rest of her team, and right to where Yakumo sat beside Tenten both girls looking over at her with equal looks of complete confusion upon their faces. Shikimaru was the first to speak, his fingers intertwined and his eyes fixed upon the arena.

"Troublesome, Ino please stop shouting, it isn't going to get you any answers." he said keeping his voice calm as he analyzed the situation before him. Number one Hinata was displaying a new set of skills that he had never heard of. Number two from the cheering he could hear, as well as the sign he had glimpsed it seems that her younger brother and his friend Mito knew. Given this it was safe to assume that Kushina, and by extension most of her team including Naruto knew of her abilities. Number three that information seemed to be known to only a few given his and the other sensei's reactions, as the other members of the Hyuuga clan he could vaguely see from where he was sitting. All of this added up to the fact that team eleven were keeping secrets… before he could think further his thoughts were interrupted again by Ino.

"Come on Shikimaru you can't tell me this isn't weird I mean look at her, she looks like she has bunny ears for crying out loud, Hey Yakumo you said you met up with team eleven a bit the other day did you know she could do that?" finished the blonde causing Yakumo to look up from the arena and over at her.

"Wha…oh no nothing like that I've never seen anything like that." replied Yakumo honestly, but with a speed that made her sound as though she was concealing something. Ino and most of the others were too concerned with the recent development to notice this, but Shikimaru wasn't among them.

_Hum so team eleven isn't the only ones keeping secrets….or is it the same secrets, something is going on here and I don't like it. _Thought the young Nara as he put his head down to brace against his interlocked hands looking down at his feet. As he did so his eyes caught a small black marble that had found its way under his seat. Shikimaru bent down slowly catching the small ball up into his hand and looking at it with one eyebrow quirked up.

_What the? _He thought, but before he could start to consider the orb in his hand more a noise from below drew his attention.

Neji had managed to stagger himself back to his feet, and was glaring towards his cousin with apparent hate etched into the features of his face.

_What the hell is going on, she was feet away but it felt like she was landing solid blows on me, and what are with those eyes, ah NO! This is no time to get distracted she is still the same weak girl she always was and nothing is going to change that! _Neji reassured himself as he settled into his stance and charged forwards towards where Hinata stood ready.

Hinata braced herself for Neji's assault striking forwards once again and allowing the chakra from her strike to travel a few feet from her before solidifying into a wave of chakra that could deliver her gentle strikes without having to lay hands on the target. Neji, however, caught sight of the girls strike coming this time and managed to angle his body down and away from the strike using her arm to guess the trajectory of the next blow. As he weaved forwards Hinata stepped towards him sending another strike forwards, Neji's body acted on instinct and he lifted an arm up, flooding it with chakra as he did so, to block and redirect the blow he guessed was coming. However, as he arm came into contact with Hinatas strike the blow instead of being turned aside instead slammed into his arm driving it back with a stinging pain as the muscles and bones inside spasmed as Hinata's chakra crashed over it.

Neji managed to push through the pain and thrust his unaffected right arm forwards to slam a blow into Hinata's shoulder. For a second Neji felt a moment of hope, as he saw Hinata's eyes cringe slightly at the blow, but his happiness was short lived, as she brought her first arm back before slamming it forwards to crash into his open stomach causing him to double over in pain as her chakra shot through him hitting everything in its path before expelling and dispelling from his back. Neji let out a pained choking noise as his legs lost their strength and he sank slowly to his knees his arms drawn in to cradle his now screaming stomach.

Seeing this Hinata took a few steps back and lowered her arms, her two white orbs suspended in their pool of black never wavering from the figure before her. After a moment her voice came out, but not in the harsh tone it had worn earlier, or the angry mocking tone that Neji had used. Her tone was soft, and more than a little sadness was present in it as well.

"Neji please just stop this…we are family please we don't have to fight like this, please Neji can't we just be a family?" she said speaking slowly. From Neji there came several haggard breaths before a bark of angry laughter sprang from his lips, as he turned his blazing eyes up to stare directly into Hinata.

"Ha a failure like you talking like you knew anything! The law of our clan is the strongest are rewarded while the weak follow them, and I will not follow the pathetic words of someone like you. You may have some new power, but you are still nothing!" shouted the boy, before he kicked at the ground forcing him back from Hinata, as he threw a series of shuriken and Kunai that he had pulled out while she had been speaking. Hinata was forced to avoid the weapons as she moved as if dancing gracefully moving in and out of them. Neji, however, had noticed something about Hinata's new style, it may give her an increased range for her strikes, but her arms were the origin point as far as he could tell. If that were the case then if he closed in on her, he could negate her advantage.

So Neji charged forwards again not waiting for his weapons to reach their target and rushing into another pitched battle with Hinata. Hinata's eyes tracked Neji's approach and she fired off a few quick strikes towards him while still avoiding the weapons, but her strikes went wide, and soon Neji was beside her. As Neji's first strike came towards her Hinata was forced to arch herself back allowing the blow to sweep over her head before she thrust one of her hands back towards the ground firing off another blast of chakra as she did. The effect was that as soon as Neji's arms had swept out over her, the blast of chakra functioned like a rocket shooting her back up and inside of Neji's guard where her second hand was already flying forwards towards the boy's chest. Neji had just a second to notice the blow coming and twisted sharply allowing the blow to only catch the smallest part of his chest as it shot by. He then struck at her extended arm slamming four blows one after another into it and drawing out a sharp cry of pain form the girl, who swung her left arm across her body and sending a wave of chakra into Neji's side. This time Neji did not fight the blast but instead leapt with the impact able to mitigate the damage, but flying away from her all the same.

As he landed his face once again had a prideful smirk upon it as he saw Hinata cradling her right arm slightly pulling up the sleeve to see several black dots forming on her pale skin. She looked from her dotted arm to Neji with small look of shock on her face. Neji let out another pride filled laugh as he made his way to his feet.

"You may have some new eyes and a headdress but my eyes see everything, and all I see is a failure who doesn't know it yet." He called. However, before he could say more Hinata had gritted her teeth and swung her left arm into her right. Neji watched shocked as he watched a blast of chakra plow through her own arm. The arm jerking as her own chakra forced its way through it, distorting the air around it as it passed through. As her chakra flooded through the appendage, Neji was able to watch as his own plugs of chakra were forced out and her own chakra flooded back down her arm. Hinata looked over at Neji her new eyes meeting his even as a bead of sweat ran down her face.

"No Neji all you can see is what you want to, your blind to everything else." she said her voice tinged with sadness, as she did. Her tone only seemed to enrage her fellow Hyuuga, however, and Neji growled out a curse as he sank into a stance he hadn't used previously. Hinata was still recovering from the last attack as Neji let out a cry and launched himself forwards.

"Take this Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms" Neji called as his hands blurred with motion slamming one after another into Hinata.

"Two Palms, Four Palms, Six Palms!" called Neji after each successive blow landed on the girl drawing forth a small cry of pain as it did. As the blows continued to mount up Hinata was forced back. Neji was about to land the final blow, when Hinata managed to force a blast of chakra before it was completely sealed off. The blast caught Neji right in the leg and managed to force him back just enough to allow Hinata to spin out of the boys next strike managing to dodge the final blow of the sixty four palms.

Hinata spun back away from Neji her body wracked with spasms of pain from the successful attacks, but still able to function. She looked up in time to see Neji closing in on her again a look of pure hatred upon his face as he reached her, and began to spin.

"This is the end of you failure Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!!" Neji cried out releasing a wave of chakra from his body as he spun the wall of spinning chakra racing towards Hinata's form. As Neji's eyes shifted to look at his target he noticed an almost pitying look playing across Hinata's face, but he had no mind for anything but crushing the girl against his swirling wall of chakra. Just as the swirling dome was about to connect the dome halted suddenly of its own accord exploding out from its shape and shooting forwards. Neji stopped spinning just in time to see his chakra still visible crashing forwards like a wave to where Hinata's hands were. The girl seemed to be paying the coming chakra no mind and was busy weaving a series of signs as the chakra form Neji's approached her. Just as the wave reached her, Hinata seemed to finish her sign's and reached out with one hand as if caressing a friend, Neji watched as his chakra floated into her open palm as if it was a pet running up to its owner. Hinata caught the chakra before bringing it down to slap into the ground crying out as she did so.

"Summoning!" cried Hinata causing a cloud of smoke to explode before her. The next thing anyone knew there was a large rabbit standing between the two teens its large hammer set before it, as the breeze pushed its grey furry around and catching its blue jacket, making it billow out behind it. Neji looked on in a mixture of anger and confusion seeing the pride of the Hyuuga clan, their most powerful ability twisted and turned into…..a rabbit.

"Hinata-sama." spoke the rabbit turning to see Hinata bruised and battered but giving him a welcoming smile all the same.

"Roku-san." She responded giving the rabbit a small bow of her head in welcome. Roku's ears twitched slightly as he caught the sound of cheering from a section of the stands that he recognized as the happy calls of Mito and Hanabi. There were a few more surprised shouts from above, but Roku chose to focus instead upon his summoner, before looking over to where Neji was glaring at him. As Roku's eyes fell upon the Hyuuga, Neji did the most foolish thing he could have at the moment. He chose to insult Roku.

"A rabbit, pathetic of course a failure like you would have a joke of a summon as well, I'll finish your pet before finishing you!" called Neji his eyes narrowing upon the pair, not noticing the way Roku's ears seemed to twitch in irritation. There was brief pause as Roku turned so that Hinata was at his back, and he was looking down at Neji before speaking.

"Hinata-sama, is it safe for me to assume that this is my enemy?" asked Roku his voice controlled, but laced with disgust. Hinata looked from Roku to Neji for a moment before replying.

"H-hai Roku-san, but he is also family…if you can please help me to knock some since into him." asked Hinata in a soft voice. Roku seemed to consider her words slightly before hefting his hammer onto his shoulder smirk playing across his face as he did so.

"Hai Hinata-sama, I think I will enjoy educating this youth." replied Roku. As the two had been speaking Neji had settled himself back into his stance and was poised to spring forwards once again. The boy's mind was racing trying to force itself to understand what it was seeing, but anger and bruised pride kept him from behaving rationally.

As Roku finished speaking Neji shot forwards towards the creature intending on dispelling it quickly before finishing off the girl behind it. Roku, however had other ideas. As Neji came closer the great rabbit took his hammer in a batters grip, and swung forwards so fast that Neji had almost no warning to the coming blow. He had just enough time to throw himself wide of the swing, so that the hammer passed him by pulling the air around his cloths as it did. However, his flight put him squarely in front of Hinata who had both of her arms cocked back with chakra slowly pouring out of them forming two blue orbs around the palms. Neji's eyes widened as Hinata thrust her hands forwards together letting out a cry as she did.

"Twin Lion Fists" she cried as the two balls of chakra roared forwards slamming into the boy and lifting him slightly off of his feet. The blow racked his body with fresh pain, but he was able to hold onto consciousness for a moment longer. However, this was not much of a comfort as Roku's second strike came swinging down. Neji did not have time to act before the great wooden weapon slammed into him taking the wind out of him catching him in the chest adding its own bite to his latest hit.

Roku's swing however, unlike Hinata's was not was not finished so quickly. As the rabbit carried through the boy was lifted bodily from his feet and flung back flying across the ground. Neji flew across the field like a rocket his mind racing with pain and anger, but also with a small clarity….he had lost… this final though managed to come to life right before the boy slammed into the wall on the other side of the arena with a loud crash. The whole stadium when absolutely silent as Neji impacted the wall. It isn't every day you see a giant rabbit slam a hammer into a boy and a girl sprout horns after all. Roku in the meantime simply slammed his hammer back down in front of him with a satisfied smirk on his face cocking his head sideways so that he could look back at Hinata who was slightly out of breath from her last attack.

"I would say that if that didn't knock some sense into him nothing will." chuckled the rabbit looking down at Hinata, who let out a sigh letting her horns and eyes deactivate.

"Thank you Roku-san." Hinata said giving the rabbit a tired but genuine smile. Roku simply nodded in reply before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. For a moment Hinata just stood in the center of the arena the crowd still looking between her and where Neji had impacted the wall. Then there was a soft thump as Neji's form fell from where it had been imbedded into the wall and not moving. The referee approached the downed boy bending over him briefly before standing. He lifted one hand into the air before directing it towards Hinata.

"NEJI HYUUGA IS UNABLE TO CONTINUE HINATA HYUUGA IS THE WINNER!" he called his voice echoing around the stadium. Then there was an explosion of noise as the spectators shouted down at the match, some excitedly retelling parts while others simply shouted in enjoyment from the excitement of it all. Hinata, however, didn't take notice off all of this her eyes turned up into the stands to find where her family was seated.

There she saw Mito and Hanabi excitedly waving their sign back and forth and obviously shouting something while Kushina was excitedly pumping a fist up in the air with one hand raised to her mouth evidently shouting something that was being drowned by the rest of the noise. However, Hinata's eyes were drawn to the other two figures the seated forms of her Kaasan and Tousan who gazed down at her. Hitomi was openly crying, but the smile on her face told Hinata that they were tears of joy, and not sorrow, at that moment the women was to overwhelmed with pride and happiness to do more than smile silently down at her musume. The last figure, however, was the greatest shock.

Hinata looked to see that Hiashi was looking at her…really looking at her for the first time since she could not remember. His face showed many emotions, confusion, happiness, pride, wonder, but more than anything she saw in the man's eyes pleading. Pleading that he wasn't too late to try and be a part of his musume's life. A long moment passed as Hinata looked into Hiashi's eyes before a small smile spread across her face, and she gave the man a small nod, before turning to move back to the contestant box. Hiashi tracked her process, before turning slowly to see Hitomi looking at him a small smile still playing across her lips.

"I'm such a fool my love." He whispered tightening his grip on her hand as he spoke. Hitomi tightened her own hold before replying.

"Hai the biggest…but you know now." she replied with a smile as the children near them continued to cheer.

As Hinata was passing the medic team on her way back to the contestant booth a pair of voices called out to her from a blonde and black haired pair. Hinata turned to see Tsunade and Shizune instructing the medical team who was lifting a limp Neji onto a stretcher.

"Hey bunny you sure did a number on him, I approve!" called Tsunade as she gave Hinata a wave before allowing Shizune to step forward to give Hinata a swift hug.

"Great job, that's my apprentice! I knew you could do it!" Shizune said giving Hinata a quick hug and smiling down at her. Hinata gave the pair a happy if weary smile, before they headed back to the contestant box, while the two women moved Neji off. The pale eyed girl made her way up the steps of to the contestant and almost jumped back as a blond figure crashed into her wrapping a pair of arms around her waist and swinging her around with an excited cry.

"THAT'S MY BUNNY-CHAN I KNEW YOU COULD TAKE THAT IDIOT DOWN A PEG! YOU WERE AMAZING!" called Naruto as she swung Hinata around chuckling as he did. Hinata let out a happy giggle as she twirled. After a little while longer Naruto set her back down the two smiling happily at one another.

"Thanks Naruto-kun." replied Hinata, before a small cough drew her attention over to where the rest of the contestants were looking at them. Hinata blushed bright red and moved herself behind Naruto with a small eep. The rest of the contests let out small chuckles at the girl's actions momentarily putting aside their questions about her match. However, that didn't last long as Shino approached the two.

"Well done with your match Hinata, I must say you showed quite a few different abilities out there." He said his tone suggesting happiness, even though his face was still concealed by his coat. Hinata gave a small nod of thanks while a few others stepped forwards to offer their congratulations.

Only one person was absent from this. Naruko stood looking over at Hinata her eyes narrowed, but more in question than anything else. When Hinata had begun using her powers in the fight Kyuubi had gone ballistic telling her that somehow his father's enemy was connected to Hinata. As she looked at Hinata, she felt a small shiver run down her spine as her eyes turned to see Naruto looking directly into her eyes, blue into the purple and black ones and a horrible thought went through her mind even as the Referee's voice rang out.

"OK NEXT UP NARUKO NAMIKAZE AND NARUTO UZUMAKI PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ARENA NOW!" called the voice.

**Ok before you get on me about not having the chapter continue let me make it clear why I did it. Ok the next chapter is going to be the fight between Naruto and Naruko….and by that I mean the whole chapter…ya it's going to be big, and putting it here would delay the chapter, and personally I think it would give you burn out from the match style, so that s what I'm going to do…..you may bitch away now. Thanks again for all of you who have supported this story, and I hope you enjoy the extra-long fights and hope they were entertaining. Songbird out.**


	20. Chapter 18

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Small point before getting to the rest, yes, yes this whole chapter is the fight between Naruto and Naruko…..ya it is really long, but given the buildup I've had coming for this I thought it was justified, after all this is one of the big mile markers of a Neglect, and I wanted to do right by my story and characters, so I hope you enjoy the chapter, and thank you again for all of the support that all of you have show .

Summoning technique is coming up the next chapter there have been two so far to get it.

1\. Future summoning contract for Mito plus scene.

2\. Future love interest sneak peak for Minami plus scene.

3\. Exclusive Omaku for the three year time skip that will not appear in the story outside of the winners.

So pick which of these prizes you wish to see, and see if your guesses pan out for them

I have had a few people wondering if Naruto did any training over the month long break or if he just sat around without doing any hard training. The answer to this is yes he did a great deal of work, and trained hard, I just chose to keep it out of the line light, don't worry it will be addressed. And if you are really clever you may have noticed the hints at what he was planning to do that I have had going around from the first exam till now. I love being sneaky it's so much fun lol.

Ok had a lot of response to the last chapter, and I'm really glad you all enjoyed it, those fights took some time but I hope they were fresh and didn't come off as repetitive. Now comes the big one, the one everyone has been waiting for since chapter two, and I'd just like to take this time to say thank you to each and every one of you. Really without each of you this story would have died before it ever managed to move from crawling to walking, and for that I am extremely grateful. I have gotten a lot of suggestions on how this fight will or should play out, and for the most part they are original and interesting, but as with most of my story I really don't have a plan here, I just start typing and well the story writes itself. Really that's all I've ever done, the characters act how they do and say what they want half the time, and it comes right out of nowhere. Heck for the last chapter I had to look up Temari's summon cause I forgot she even had one lol, so let's just hope whatever has me write the way I do will make this chapter worth the wait, and hopefully satisfy all of you.

Also small point the contest will official end on chapter 19 so good luck to all of those who are still throwing out guesses.

**Chapter 18**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-Family is Forever-**

Only one person was absent from this. Naruko stood looking over at Hinata her eyes narrowed, but more in question than anything else. When Hinata had begun using her powers in the fight Kyuubi had gone ballistic telling her that somehow his father's enemy was connected to Hinata. As she looked at Hinata, she felt a small shiver run down her spine as her eyes turned to see Naruto looking directly into her eyes, blue into the purple and black ones and a horrible thought went through her mind even as the Referee's voice rang out.

"OK NEXT UP NARUKO NAMIKAZE AND NARUTO UZUMAKI PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ARENA NOW!" called the voice.

Both teens seemed to take no notice of the announcement at first, their eyes locked onto one another both experiencing a feeling that they could not quite place. After a moment Naruko broke their gaze and turned blinking to face the arena as if coming out of a dream. She seemed to recognize what was happening and willed herself forwards down the steps and out of the contestant box. Naruto's eyes tracked the blond haired girl as she slowly descended away from him, and turned his thoughts momentarily inwards.

_W-what was that feeling just now? _Thought the boy questioning himself as if he expected some insight of information to suddenly bloom out of the silence. Fortunately for the blond youth he happened to have just such a source currently living within his head.

"**That feeling Naruto is fear, but not one for yourself, but of yourself." **spoke the comforting tone of Juubi as she listened to the boy's inner thoughts. Naruto blinked slightly at the voice noticing for the first time that he had unknowingly slipped into his own mindscape. This realization caused him to let out a small panicked sound before prompting him into speech.

_Crap! Oh CRAP the match I can't be in here, where's the exit, do I have an exit, darn it how do you work this thing! _called Naruto reaching up to grab his own mental projection of his head in distress. However, before he could get well into his personal mental flagellation Juubi landed a small blow upon his head with a light smack of impact. The sudden feeling snapped Naruto out of his mini distress before looking over at his companion, his eyes still showing traces of worry.

_Sorry Juubi but I have to hurry if I'm zoned out here that means I'm probably face down in the contestant box right now! I need to get back. _The excited boy fired off, drawing a slightly confused look from Juubi as he spoke. For a second she just looked down at the boy her arms drawn up to cross under her bosom and one eye quirked up in apparent confusion. Then she seemed to brighten swiping her fist into her open palm with a look of understanding, before having to stifle a small giggle looking down at Naruto.

"**Naruto," **she began her voice twinge with the traces from her recent laughter. Naruto looked up at her as she continued **"you still think that time passes the same in here as it does in the real world." **replied Juubi as Naruto seemed puzzled by her words.

_Huh of course it does, I mean doesn't it? _Asked the boy while Juubi just shook her head in apparent amusement at the blonde's distress.

"**Hai Naruto it does, so don't worry outside almost no time has passed at all, maybe a few seconds, but nothing more so we have time for a small talk before this next match." **Continued the woman, getting an accepting nod from Naruto who allowed himself to sink to a sitting position as Juubi did the same alighting upon a branch behind her.

_So that feeling was me being scared of myself? I don't get it why would I be scare of myself? _Asked Naruto as Juubi seemed to consider her next words for a moment.

"**Well Naruto you see this is the first time you have fought someone that you know and care about, you've never risen a hand against someone you truly loved before….i-it isn't something anyone can do easily it tears at you from the inside, and that is what you were feeling. You are afraid of hurting your neesan Naruko in the coming match." **Finished Juubi her eyes not leaving Naruto's as the teen blinked a few time in surprise before shaking his head slightly.

_So what your saying is I don't want to hurt her….b-but Juubi I don't know if I love her anymore….I don't know if I have for years._ Naruto said his eyes dropping to look down at his hands in apparent frustration.

"**Naruto I can't tell you what to feel about your sister but what I can tell you is what to be ready for in the coming match, because something tells me that her hesitation will not last. You and I both know that if you enter this fight halfhearted you will lose, and with that loss will come the end of whatever chance you had at saving Naruko from the damn prophecy Kushina learned about. So for now put aside you doubt and fight Naruto and change this world for the better. "** Juubi said looking down at Naruto with a small sad smile on her face. Naruto looked up from his hands and into Juubi's for a moment before letting out a sigh.

_h-Hai Juubi, your right…I guess it's time Naruko and everyone else learned a little more about me. _Replied the boy pushing himself up from the ground with a small effort and looking over at Juubi who was smiling.

"**Of course I'm right, when am I ever not." **Juubi said with a smile playing across her face as Naruto began to fade a small smile playing across his face as he did.

_Sure Juubi whatever you say. _called Naruto as he faded leaving Juubi alone once again. For a moment her smile stayed, but it faltered after a moment as her thoughts turned to her own worries. Her thoughts turned to what she had feared for some time, but hadn't spoken of to anyone. Her youngest Sochi had been split in two, and she knew that before his split that he had adored the sage. It was why she had been so afraid when she first met Kyu, and honestly why she had delayed her meeting for so long. She had suspected that at least one half of her Sochi would follow the sage's words. Now however, it was worse because she now knew which of her Sochi's she was going to see soon. No it wouldn't be the kind face of a happy child that she would meet, but the anger and hatred of one she loved more than her own life…and that thought terrified her.

"**Kami help me to be strong….help me to stay strong against my Sochi's rage." **Juubi whispered, even as she turned her gaze to look back out through her host.

* * *

Naruto re-entered his body to see that almost no time had passed for him; in fact he still stood beside Hinata, while Naruko was only about halfway down the steps leading to the arena. Giving himself a little shake he took a step forwards towards the stairs before he felt a small tug on his sleeve causing him to halt, and turn to face the feeling.

The blond turned to see Hinata had taken his sleeve lightly in her figures her eyes looking into his with a small worried look in her eyes. Hinata had been there to see Naruko and Naruto slowly drift apart, the sadness that occurred between them, and now the fear that had played across Naruto's face a moment before.

So as Naruto turned to face her, Hinata took a quick breath before pushing herself forwards into Naruto her body pressing lightly into his as her eyes slowly closed, and her delicately pink lips pressed gently into his own.

Naruto simply froze as Hinata pressed into him, even as his senses took full notice of her. His boy feeling the warmth, and softness of her form as it seemed to mold with his own. His nose picking up on the small touch of lavender still distinguishable even after her recent battle. Before he could take notice of more her lips had found his own, and his body acted on instance pulling her close him even as his eyes narrowed themselves as he allowed his lips to taste the girls own.

The two stayed like that for a few heartbeats before Hinata slowly pulled away from the boy with what seemed like an effort. For a second they just looked at one another, Hinata's pale eyes looking back into Naruto's own points of purple and black. Hinata's face slowly turned red as she looked at Naruto before her head dropped and she spoke apparently directing her words at Naruto's feet.

"T-that was for luck N-naruto so…..now it's your turn to show everyone." she said not looking at Naruto. For a second Naruto didn't answer. Finally he seemed to rouse himself slightly before he leaned forwards slightly cupping Hinata's cheek gently in his hand and raising her now bright red face to look into his own smiling one.

"Thanks Hinata-chan, don't worry I'll be ok…so cheer for me ok." said the boy before planting a soft second kiss upon the girls lips before turning to start descending down the stairs towards his coming battle. Hinata simply looked after the blond boy her face still red from the moment before, not even noticing the other girl's presence until a small elbow poke drew her attention to the other.

"I swear you and Niisan need to get a room." Chuckled Minami causing Hinata to eep softly and turn to see the entire competitors box looking her way. The poor girl flushed an even brighter red before moving to stand by the railing looking pointedly away from everyone around her, even as Minami and Sakura let out some knowing giggles.

* * *

As the two teens made their way into the area in the stands above Kushina was watching her two children walk out to battle one another, and her heart clenched at the sight.

_Oh Sochi…Musume…I'm so sorry, if only I'd stopped this sooner…please my maelstrom…please save our family…please. _Thought Kushina forcing herself to keep the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes in. From beside the women Mito seemed to notice her Kaasan's discomfort and reached a small hand over to grab hold of Kushinas gently. As the two redheads hands closed on one another Kushina looked down into her musume's eyes Mito giving the women a small hopeful smile.

"Ka-kaasan are you ok?" asked Mito her small voice laced with concern. Kushina let the words wash over her, as she looked into the hopefully face of her youngest. After a moment Kushina gave the girl a small smile before nodding to her.

"Hai Mito I'm fine, now let's cheer for your Neesan, and Niisan!" Kushina replied attempting to force a smile onto her face as she spoke. Mito, however, was not convinced by Kushina's words, and hopped down off her seat diving beneath her chair again apparently looking for something. Kushina stared after her musume in a mix of confusion and worry. Mito had just pulled herself out of Kushina's hand and apparently taken shelter under a chair for some reason. However, before Kushina could mentally berate herself further the smiling face of Mito popped back up with something held behind her as she smiled up at Kushina.

"Here Kaasan, Naruto-Niisan gave this to me this morning and said to keep it close if I was sad, so don't worry Kyueed will make you better." Announced the little redhead as she pulled from behind her back a large black and red orb about the size of a small watermelon. The girls announcement drew confused looked from Hiashi and Hitomi who along with Kushina thought the same thing at one "Kyueed?" Kushina looked at the orb for a moment before she recognized it as one of Naruto's seeds…but something was off, instead of being the solid black orb she had known there were several bright red stripes along the ball that seemed to wave gracefully in and out of each other all along its surface, something she had never seen of any of Naruto's seeds before.

However, before she could allow her mind to wander further Mito had pushed the orb into her open hands with a satisfied smile one her lips as she hopped up to sit beside Hanabi apparently pleased with her work. While Hitomi vaguely recognized the ball as one of Naruto's seeds, she had noticed the difference as well, but decided that it wasn't something she was going to find out anytime soon, so just settled her eyes forwards once again. Hiashi in turn had decided after a quick check with his Byakugan that the ball was indeed just a ball nothing but a black and red solid ball, so turned his attention away as well.

Kushina in the meantime was looking down at the orb in her hands her mind trying to piece together why Naruto had given it to Mito, and possibly more importantly why it was different. Absentmindedly she ran a hand along the surface of the orb tracing one of the lines as she did. To her utter surprise the orb vibrated softly at her touch, and let out sound.

"pppppppppuuuuuuurrrrrrrr!" the noise came from the orb softly, causing Kushina to almost drop the ball and look wide eyed from the orb in her hand to Mito who was smiling up at her.

"See Kyueed will help, he likes you." Spoke the redhead as if that somehow explained everything. Kushina looked from Mito to the orb again before looking out over the arena where Naruto and Naruko were just reaching the center. Without even realizing it she gently lowered her hand to once more… well pet the orb in her hand, the soft purr almost to quite to hear issuing from it again, and a strange peace flooding over her as she looked out at her children. For some reason she could not explain she was confident that Naruto had things well in hand….and maybe just maybe he had this planned out as well.

* * *

From up in the Kage booth another figure was busy letting his thoughts race through him as he looked down at the teens below him.

_This fight isn't going to be fair at all….I mean Naruko is already high chunnin in skill alone, and her power is easily above some Jonin….N-Naruto doesn't have a chance….and that's my fault isn't it. _Thought Minato looking down at his children as they turned to face one another.

_Damn it why is this happening, I did this so that they would all be safe, dear kami why are you forcing them to fight….not like this….don't make me watch my son be humiliate because of me….please just have him walk away…please. _Continued the blond man letting his face drop slightly from the match below. As Minato looked down a figure who had been hidden until recently decided to speak up, after all the tournament had been going perfectly smoothly, maybe his old teammate wasn't going to pull a stunt after all. With those thoughts Jiraiya the toad sage slowly rose out of the shadow cast by Minato's chair giving a little cough as he did so to alert the others to his presence. The other Kage's simply gave him a small look before focusing forwards, they had known that Minato would not have stood so close to them with no guards, and given his connection with the toad sage, they had rightly predicted that the spy master was in the room with them somewhere.

Jiraiya rested a hand on Minato's shoulder, before speaking up.

"So Kid ready to see your girl win this tournament?" asked Jiraiya trying to make his tone one of comfort and happiness. However, his words just made Minato flinch slightly, but this was not the place to show any weakness, so despite himself he straightened before replying his tone forcibly pleasant.

"Jiraiya lets not assume to much, remember that Naruko has many strong opponents before her." replied the blond giving a small incline of his head towards the other Kage's, who gave him small nods in return accepting the gesture. Jiraiya shrugged his shoulders in reply, personally knowing that Minato had to keep up a public face between the other two Kage's, but personally thinking the only contest that Naruko would have would be Minami, and either way it had to come down to one of those two…the children of prophecy.

"Hai, hai still never hurts to bet on your own children right!?" replied the sage giving Minato a smile. Minato seemed to consider the sages words for a moment, as he turned to look down at the arena again, his mind repeating the sage's words over and over as he did. Finally after a moment he spoke up his voice coming out with a weight as though the words were somehow physically heavy.

"…My own children…..right….never hurt." The blond whispered as his eyes fixed below at his greatest success and most shameful mistake.

* * *

Below in the arena Naruko and Naruto had taken their position facing one another, bright sapphires staring across into amethysts that flashed with an intensity that could almost be felt. The Jonin between the pair looked back and forth for a moment before speaking up.

"Ok you two you know the rules, so Naruto are you ready?" asked the figure while shifting the senbon in his mouth slightly to point towards the boy as if he was a teacher in a class calling on a student. Naruto broke his stare for a moment to look up at the man before replying.

"Hai Jonin-san, I am prepared." replied the boy returning his gaze to the other blond who looked back at him a mixture of concern and anger on her face.

_Damn it Naruto why couldn't you just give up, I don't want to hurt you, don't you get it you don't have a chance against me….I..I don't want to hurt you niisan. _Thought Naruko as the Jonin turned his attention to her. However, before he could speak Naruko cut across him.

"One moment please Jonin-san, I have something to say to Naruto." fired off Naruko her voice crisp, but respectful despite that. The Jonin looked at her for a moment before shrugging slightly.

"Fine by me, but make it quick." He replied stepping back slightly to give the two some kind of privacy. Naruko turned back to face Naruto her face set in determination as she did. Naruto for his part was now looking at his Neesan with some confusion playing across his face at her actions, but before he could do more than stare the blond girl spoke.

"Naruto I want you forfeit the match, you know you can't beat me, and I don't want to hurt you so please, just stand down…if this is about proving something to tousan or something just stop now before you force me to embarrass you." Spoke Naruko her voice heavy with emotion both aggressive and concerned as though she was fighting with herself just to speak what she was. Naruto looked at her for a moment before the shock slowly faded away from his face. That confused look and expression fell away as though a light rain had washed it away. As his confusion left, his eyes dropped slightly into ones of a small gentle happiness even as his mouth quirked slightly despite itself. The change shocked Naruko enough that she stopped speaking and simply looked across as her fellow blond allowing him to reply softly his voice wistful almost as though he was recalling a distant happy memory.

"Still trying to protect me huh Naruko…just like you always did…I guess we really don't change as much as we think we do sometimes…Me still trying to keep up with you and Minami…you always trying to shelter us even if it cost you everything." Replied Naruto his voice still carrying that wistful tone, his words hitting Naruko like a physical blow, not from their force, but from the simple sincerity in that tone. Before she could pull herself back together enough to respond Naruto had continued.

"but Naruko, you shouldn't have to bear that burden. And I'm not ok with hiding behind you anymore…so I'm going to take some of your burden away from you Neesan….even if you don't want me to." Finished Naruto sinking slowly into a fighting stance his arms hanging limply at his side, and his face sinking into one of joyful concentration, as though he had suddenly been invited to join a game he had only been able to watch for a lifetime.

Naruko in the meantime was staring at Naruto her mind torn between confusion at his words, concern for the boy, and a growing aggravation at his seeming calm at the coming fight…a fight she didn't want…a fight she shouldn't have to have…._Damn it Niisan what the heck is wrong with you, I don't want to fight you, but darn it if that's the only way to get you to wake up to reality and see this isn't some game I will! _She thought back sinking slowly into her own stance, one hand held before her palm up, while her second crossed her in front of her chest, and slightly behind her other arm, her face setting into an annoyed determined look. The Jonin seemed to sense the two's intentions and slowly made his way forwards.

"Well I guess it's not necessary to ask if you are ready." Joked the Jonin looking between the two before raising his hand high and calling out to the crowded stadium.

"NARUKO UZUMAKI NAMIKAZE VS NARUTO UZUMAKI MATCH OF THE CHUNNIN EXAM FINALS GO!" he called swiping his hand down in an ark, and taking a leap back from where the two teens stood.

Naruko was the first to move shooting forwards like a bullet crouching low to the ground as she did. She closed so quickly on Naruto that he only had a moment to cross his arms protectively in front of him in an X to catch the fist that Naruko had driven upwards towards his chin in an attempt to knock him out early and finish the fight. Naruto's x guard caught the blow, but a dull thud of pain shot through his arms as the hit actually lifted him slightly off his feet and into the air as it connected. Naruko didn't waste a moment and even as her first blow landed she pivoted her body bringing a spinning roundhouse kick to crash into Naruto's guard flinging him back from the impact. The boy already in the air flew several feet back hitting the ground with a roll, before managing to find his feet and facing back towards Naruko his face still holding that excited expression, as though he wasn't actually fighting her at all.

Naruto pushed himself slowly to feet staggering just a bit with the impact from the last blow.

_Darn it I forgot Naruko hits like Kaasan when she wants to…ow my arms feel like they want to fall off and she only hit me once. _Naruto thought falling back into his stance.

"**Well Naruto no one said this was goanna be easy, just remember what Kushina told you." **Spoke Juubi in an encouraging tone. Naruto let out a little chuckle in his mind before replying.

_Oh ya if it hurts don't get hit, why didn't I think of that? _Naruto laughed to himself even as Naruko bent forwards before rushing towards him once again.

Naruto was ready for her speed this time, and was able to turn aside of her next strike grabbing her wrist as he did so and pulling hard while swinging his other fist up at the girl's chest. Naruko didn't even slow down taking the blow right on her exposed chest, and plowing forwards through it throwing her head forwards to deliver a crushing blow to Naruto's own, causing the boy to falter in his footing. Before he could steady himself Naruko pulled her hand free of Naruto's grasp and dropped down sending out a leg sweep that caught Narutos legs forcing them out from under him and causing him to fall to the ground hard on his back. Before Naruto could move Naruko was upon him with one hand pinning him down, while another was suddenly filled with a kunai pointed down at his chest, the girl's bright blue eyes blazing into his own. Naruto was pinned below Naruko and it looked like the fight may be ending here and now.

"Give it up Naruto, you're no match for me!" shouted Naruko looking down into Naruto's face that despite his position still held a small smile upon it. Naruto's face changed from a small grin into a lager one for a second before he let out a happy little laugh shocking Naruko for a second.

"Come on Naruko you know I'm not that easy to pin down." chuckled Naruto causing Naruko to suddenly look around spotting Narutos hands with both his sleeves opened up and an odd blackness within them like dark shadows found only at midnight. Before she could do more than notice their presence a black bar shot out of the sleeve aimed directly at her face causing her to push herself up and away from the prone boy, skipping back a few steps as she did. Over with Naruto he had pushed himself up into a sitting position his hands on either side still with that happy smile upon his face.

"Pretty fast Naruko, I thought I might have actually gotten you with that one, guess all your training wasn't for nothing." He finished pushing himself up to his feet and throwing his arms out to either side causing two black bars to extend from each sleeve to be caught in his open hands. Meanwhile Naruko was shaking a little with anger at how close Naruto had gotten to getting a hit on her.

_Darn it, I was careless I can't let him get me distracted I need to concentrate… now where the hell did those bars come from, he was using them in the prelims too….wait Kaasan, seals, that's it he must have been learning seals from Kaasan, ok now he won't catch me off guard again. _Thought Naruko dropping back into her stance pulling out a second Kunai to match the one already held in her right hand.

"**Stay focused Naruko something is off about those weapons…I just don't know what yet." **spoke up Kyuubi his focus centered on the two black bars now clutched in Naruto's hands. Naruko was about to question Kyuubi's sudden interest in the weapons but was forced to focus forwards as Naruto advanced.

Naruto was streaking towards Naruko dragging the bars as he advanced kicking up small twin trails of dust as he came. As he reached Naruko he swung his arms up the bars crossing each other before him forming a cross shape, before his left arm shot out swinging the bar in it, in a wide ark causing Naruko to bring up her kunai to block the blow sending up a row of sparks as the two weapons scraped across one another. As the first blow was met the second arm shot down aimed at the girls exposed shoulder, but again was intercepted by Naruko's other kunai more sparks flying up between the two. Once again Naruto and Naruko stared into each other's eyes as sparks danced around the two. For a second the two seemed evenly matched but Naruko slowly pushed Naruto's attack back from her a small smile creeping across her face as she felt Naruto being pushed back.

Just as she was about to speak the pressure on her blades disappeared and she lurched unexpectedly forwards. Her eyes turned just in time to see that the bars had slipped back into Naruto's sleeves with a small twitch of his hands, and Naruto in turn had ducked down under both of her outstretched arms his hands disappearing into his sleeves again. Recognizing the danger Naruko pulled herself sharply back from Naruto trying to catch herself from falling forwards, but this appeared to be what Naruto had been waiting for, as he threw both his hands towards her, and from his sleeves came four familiar looking lengths of metal.

Before Naruko could react, the newly appeared black chains, in the same style as her Kaasan's, had shot out of his sleeves wrapping around her arms and binding them close to her chest. Before she could do more than register the odd pressure that the chains made as they tightened around her there was a yanking sensation as she was pulled forwards along the path of the chains.

Naruto pulled for all he was worth, flinging his bound Neesan up and over him in a wide ark and throwing her across the arena towards where a small grove of trees grew, the chains from his coat clinking as they extended farther and farther downrange. With a crash Naruko slammed into a tree trunk sending a small series of spider cracks up its length.

_Ha take that Neesan, note to self-thank Kaasan for working with me on her chain techniques. _Thought Naruto allowing himself a moment of excitement at what he thought could well be a coming victory. However, before he could let the thought go beyond the opening there was another crash from over where his chains were.

Naruto's eyes tracked over to see a blast of chakra along with several pieces of rock, tree, and the remains of his chains falling around the blond boy, his eyes growing slightly wide as he looked over to see Naruko, her hair disheveled clothing dusty, and eyes shining bright red revealing that she was drawing lightly upon Kyuubi's chakra.

"Well crap." said Naruto retracting what was left of his chains back into his sleeves and allowing a pair of bars to once more drop out of his sleeves and into his hands, as he gripped them tightly as if looking for comfort in their presence.

"**Well now you've done it, she used Kyuubi's chakra to cancel out your own." **call Juubi a little worry present in her tone.

"Hey since when, I thought your chakra could stop any chakra!" called Naruto a little panicked. Juubi only offered a small shrug in reply before speaking up.

"**Well he is my sochi, figures it wouldn't work as well on him." **she replied with a small nervous chuckle. Naruto faltered slightly at Juubi's words before dropping back into a defensive stance.

"You know Juubi, sometime I really hate you!" Naruto said just as Naruko pushed herself forwards into a sprint straight at him.

* * *

Over in the contestant box several of the other genin were looking out at the match with eager excitement.

"Wow looks like Naruko is taking this seriously, I hope Naruto is prepared for what that means." Spoke Sakura looking out at the fight playing out before her. Several of those who knew the girl well enough nodded their heads in agreement to the comment. Minami was about to speak up in support of her other sibling, but before she could a small chuckle came from her left. Turning she saw that Haku was standing a few feet away his arms crossed before him as he looked out focusing on where Naruto stood, his bars clutched in his hands. The feminine boy seemed to notice the girl's eyes on him and spoke up never taking his eyes off of the fight before him.

"I may not know about the kunoichi's abilities, but to underestimate Naruto would be a very large mistake." He said, his voice coming out with an experienced tone, that made it clear this was not baseless flattery. Minami looked over at Haku questioningly while a few of the other occupants gave the boy small exasperated looks.

"Look you may not know it but Naruko there is one of the three strongest fighters here, heck even I would have to push myself to be able to stand against her." spoke Sasuke in a slightly mocking tone, seemingly pleased with being able to point out a flaw to the youth who had embarrassed him in the previous exam. Haku didn't seem to take even a passing notice of the black haired boy's words and continued to look forwards as if he wasn't interrupted.

After a moment Minami spoke up, curious to find out what Haku seemed to know about Naruto. She herself was still only starting to learn everything about Naruto, and something told her that Haku had information that she still lacked.

"Haku-san what exactly makes you think that Naruto-niisan is someone not to be underestimated?" asked Minami. True she knew that Naruto held many abilities, but so far as she knew, she was one of only a small handful that did, and all of those individuals certainly belonged to Konoha….didn't they.

Haku seemed to consider the girl's question for a moment before speaking again never taking his eyes off of the fight before him, or changing his tone from one of calm knowing.

"I don't "think" he is not to be underestimated, I know because he did the impossible right before my eyes and to my master." replied Haku, causing many of the members of the box to focus their attention away from the fight and back to the boy. Minami was feeling nervous now, but her curiosity pushed that aside as she spoke up once again.

"What did he do?" asked the red eyed girl for the first time causing Haku to look over at her, a small look of confusion on his face as he did so. After a moment of looking at her face, he seemed to decide that whatever he was looking for was there, and responded.

"He survived." replied Haku his tone flat. Minami didn't like the sound of Haku's words, but before she could speak again a snort came from behind the two and Sasuke spoke up again.

"Ha that's it, he survived, so what did he do just run away, or stall till his Sensei and team saved him, doesn't sound like too great an accomplishment to me." spoke Sasuke. Several of the other listeners could not help but agree with the black eyed boy, even if they didn't agree with the tone, or attitude he had presented. After all what was so great about surviving a fight, it may be tough but it is hardly something to be overly impressed with. Haku took a moment to look back at the arena before speaking a final time.

"You misunderstand me, Naruto did not run, nor did he wait to be protected by others, he took my master Zabuza's blade for his sensei, to the hilt… I saw the blood drain from his body and fall limp before my master's blade, and then he was there, fighting, driving sensei back and delivering a blow that likely almost cost him his life… and when I was leaving that fight I saw him standing beside himself, one dead…one glowing.. it was no clone…nor a jutsu, he somehow survived and I knew it when I saw him back in the first exam… so you tell me is it wise to underestimate someone who can trick the Shinigami himself?" finished Haku in a tone that made it clear he was not looking for any answer to his question.

Most of the box fell silent at his words their thoughts turning from what they had heard, and out to the field as if trying to figure out what Haku had said. Most assumed that the boy had simply been mistaken, and that he had misjudged the boy for a clone or something; or even more likely was simply trying to throw them off their games with farfetched stories. However, a few looked confused and a little worried, none more than Minami, who was staring over at Haku, with dawning horror, her mind remembering the words that Naruto had said to her when he had first come back from wave.

"_I lost something recently…the Naruto who desperately wanted us to be a family again is still here he's just going to need help from now on"… that was what he had said then, oh kami Naruto did you? _ Thought Minami horrified at the possibility that was presenting itself to her. She was about to start panicking when a soft hand laid itself onto her shoulder, causing her to look over to see Hinata giving her a gentle smile.

"It's ok Minami; Naruto-kun is just fine, so let's cheer them on." Hinata said in a soft tone, that allowed Minami to relax slightly her wide red eyes closing for a moment before she drew in a slow breath and nodded to Hinata, allowing her to turn her back towards the match.

"**Ya Minami-chan, Naruto is ok, he has mama so he will be just fine." **Piped up Kyu from his small grass covered cage. Minami had to smile at the fox's enthusiasm, and with a small smile turned back to watch the fight.

* * *

In the arena Naruko was flying forwards, her usual blue eyes changed into glowing rubies of fire which shone with power as she rocketed across the field towards Naruto. Before as she had found herself wrapped in those black chains, she had felt her chakra fade as if it was being smothered, and from inside her Kyuubi had let out an angry roar of pure hatred allowing a flood of his own chakra to push away the weird feeling, and allowing her to break her bonds. Without wanting to lose the moment Naruko had forced her own chakra through herself making sure not to allow the Kyuubi's to overtake her, and flung herself forwards towards where Naruto had drawn back his chains.

She was racing forwards when Naruto slipped another pair of those bars from his sleeves, and prepared to meet her next strike. Naruko, however, paid the objects no mind reaching into her pouches on either hip where an array of seals lay. In a blur her hands were full of shuriken and she was hurling them forwards towards Naruto, augmented by her own increased strength.

Naruto saw her action only a second before the spinning stars where flinging themselves towards him to close to dodge. Luckily for Naruto he had other options. Without any hesitation Naruto allowed one bar to slip back into his sleeve. Just as the shuriken were about the reach him Naruto flung up his now open hand palm out, and from his sleeve billowed out a black form that snapped itself open to form a round shield before him. There was a shower of sparks and the sounds of metal hitting something hard and solid as the shuriken ricocheted off of his shield.

Naruko saw all of this, her teeth bared in a feral scowl of anger even as she closed and Naruto's shield collapsed in on itself and shot back into his sleeve.

_Darn it Kaasan did you have to make him so many seals for weapons, gah they are doing half the fighting for him…. at this rate I'm going to have to stay in stage one just to break through his seals….darn it Naruto your only making this more dangerous for yourself, why are you fighting so hard? _Naruko shouted to herself even as she closed with Naruto. Just as she reached him, another smaller voice spoke up, almost too quite to be heard. _…why am I? _ It asked to the silence as Naruko closed in throwing out a quick jab, her fingers connected to form a spear as she thrust forwards.

Naruto had just lowered his shield, and was almost too late to throw up one of his bars in time to divert his Neesan's spear like strike, but even still the impact made his arm feel like jelly, but there was no time to think on it. As soon as the blow was deflected, Naruko quickly drew the appendage back into herself before firing off a second this one coming along with her other arm. To Naruto it was like being attacked by a small army of strikes, the speed of each blow leaving almost no time to react. He managed to push one away, but two more found their way to his chest, causing jolts of pain to shoot up through him, two more parried, and another slipped through. Naruto was starting to panic slightly when he remembered back to what his Kaasan had told him about the hummingbird style the hokage and his neesan's used.

-flashback….in a fight lol they are everywhere-

"Ok Naruto, in your match against Naruko she will have the advantage in mid to long range, but in close you will have the advantage." Lectured Kushina to Naruto who stood a few feet away with his arms folded across his chest.

"She and Minami use the hummingbird style for offence, and it is pretty devastating, composed of quick strikes, that quickly build up and overpower and opponent, but they do have a flaw, they sacrifice power for speed, and there is where your opening will be, using the stance they leave their entire body open for a counterattack focusing entirely on the attack, while Minato has overcome this with his flying thunder god, the girls haven't so if they start pressuring you don't try and match their speed cause you can't, but deliver a hard enough blow and their offence will fall apart." Finished Kushina looking over at Naruto who was nodding his head in apparent understanding.

"So any questions Sochi?" asked Kushina Naruto tilting his head slightly at her question before replying.

"Hai what was that first part again, I kind of wasn't listening." replied Naruto a little sheepishly. This had resulted in him fleeing across the field with an angry redhead in pursuit while he let out a series of girly screams of terror.

-flashback end-

_Right Kaasan knew this would happen; let's just hope I can pull this off._ Thought the boy as he allowed his arms to pull close no longer trying to deflect the incoming attack, and instead drawing them into himself like a boxer shielding his body. Before Naruko could recognize what Naruto was planning the purple eyed boy had pushed forwards into the girl's attack taking a number of blows but pushing forwards until he was right up against her. With a swift motion Naruto drove one knee upwards into Naruko's exposed stomach causing her to let out a cry of pain, and doubling over slightly despite herself. This allowed Naruto to bring his two rods out swinging them up and around so that they slammed into Naruko's side, forcing her to stagger sideways a few steps. Seeing his chance Naruto shot forwards to land another blow, but was forced to jump back as Naruko's arm blurred and there was another wall of oncoming metal that forced Naruto to leap back and dodge wildly to avoid the attack. This in turn gave Naruko enough room to widen the gap between the two.

Naruko wasn't going to make the same mistake twice, and when she had put some distance between herself and Naruto she flew though a set of hand signs before drawing in a deep breath. Naruto saw her moving only in time to raise his shield just in time for two concussive blasts of wind to impact it dispersing as they did. Naruto, however, unlike the seedling was made of more than just chakra, and so the impact was enough to cause his arms to ache from the impact. Before Naruto could move to drop his shield there was another impact of wind upon it forcing him to take cover again. This was why he wasn't able to see the next attack coming.

Naruko had been charging forwards as she fired her blast of air, her chakra able to reinforce her body enough so that the consecutive blasts did not slow her down. Just as she fired off a second volley she, lowered herself slightly bending her legs down before kicking off hard from the ground, and flying up into the air above where Naruto was huddled. In midair the blond girl twisted brining one leg up so that she was now heading down in a perfect axe kick. Naruko was about a foot away from impact when Naruto noticed her shadow on the ground and tried to bring his shield up to block the oncoming strike, but he was only partially successful. Naruko's leg came down hard, on the shield at an angle that forced it down and out of Naruto's hand leaving him crouched before Naruko.

As she landed Naruko saw the opening before her, and quickly struck forwards both hands bent forwards while her arms shot out together in a strike taught to her by the toads. Unlike the hummingbird style the toad's style was built around powerful blows, and the double strike she had just slammed forwards was certainly that.

Before Naruto could do anything he found himself flying back from one of Naruko's strike, hitting the ground and sliding back a few feet as he did. Naruto struggled for a moment trying to regain his bearings before pushing himself up enough to see Naruko standing a few yards away from him looking at him with a mixture of pity an annoyance.

"Naruto enough, Kaasan may have taught you sealing, but even her weapons won't let you win this match. Being a ninja means that sometimes you have to know when you are beat, so just stop this now, and give up, you fought well, now don't make me go any harder or you will get seriously hurt." called Naruko, her voice a chaotic mix of anger and sadness at Naruto, but more than that at herself. During the fight Naruko was constantly fighting herself trying to force herself not to notice as she hurt the boy before her.

_Th-this isn't right, this isn't why I wanted to get stronger, I wanted to protect him…I wanted to protect everyone, darn it Niisan stop, please just stop. DARN IT NARUTO YOU BAKA JUST STOP TRYING TO FIGHT ME! do-don't make me do this anymore. _The girl thought, her mind changing between anger and sadness at such a rate that real rage was slowly taking control of her.

Naruto looked up at Naruko for a moment, and he saw her pain, dancing across her eyes. How could he not, he had seen it often enough, whenever Naruko had been conflicted she had looked like that, even now that hadn't changed about her, and what he saw forced him to push himself to his feet once again. _I'm sorry Neesan, but I have to keep fighting, cause if I don't I'm scared that I won't ever be able to save you, so it's now or never, and I don't believe in never, not for my world. _thought the blond, as he stood his eyes looking back into his fellow blonds, and another smile slowly spreading across his face.

"Wow Neesan I have to say you pack one heck of a punch but I thought I already told you, I'm not going to stop till I save you." replied Naruto. His words seemed to almost snap something in Naruko as she raised her hands into an all too familiar cross shaped seal can yelled out at Naruto.

"I TOLD YOU I DON'T NEED YOU TO SAVE ME! KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTUS!" she almost screamed and suddenly most of the arena was covered in smoke. As it cleared Naruto found himself standing in the center of a small army of very angry looking Naruko's.

"**Naruto I hope you have a plan for this."** said Juubi a little worry making its way into here voice as she spoke. Naruto in the meantime just gave a mental nod as he lowered himself into a stance with his arms crossed before him.

_Hai Juubi, and even if I didn't I can't walk away anymore…never again. _He replied gritting his teeth as he looked forwards at the nearest blond girl.

* * *

As the arena floor exploded into smoke the Jonin sensei's and their students were almost enthralled with what they were watching. The fight below had started slower than the others that day, but the true excitement came from the unknown factor that was Naruto. Although a few of them had seen Naruto fight from time to time, it had never been like this and the thrill of seeing something new before them drew their attention like moths to a flame.

"Hey Kurenai you know I can't remember hearing anything about the Hokage's other kid till now, I mean I knew he existed, but besides that I don't know much, heck only Ino seemed to know him and even then it was only cause they were in the medical class together." Mentioned Azuma looking over at his fellow sensei as he did. Kurenai looked up from the arena and over to the bearded man shrugging her shoulders slightly in answer.

"Well I was about the same till last month, I happened to stumble upon him during training with my team, so I got to learn a little more about him, but besides that only what little I have heard from my team, though Sakura seemed to be friends with him to some capacity." Replied Kurenai, careful to avoid mentioning what else she had learned when she had recently met Naruto. Asuma let out a sigh before looking back to the match.

"Hai but that's weird isn't it, I mean from what I learned he was a basic level genin, and now well," here he gestured down below, "he's fighting one of the strongest Genin in the village, and heck he seems to get seals well enough to use them in combat, so why does it seem like no one knows anything about him." finished the man raising a hand up as if expecting the answer to literally drop into his hand.

"YOSH! HIS FLAMES OF YOUTH ARE BURNING BRIGHT TO HAVE REACHED SUCH A LEVEL IN SUCH A SHORT TIME!" called Guy excitedly his eyes having changed into small burning orbs of fire. His volume and overall attitude actually caused Asuma and Kurenai to push themselves slightly away from the man before he did something crazier.

Below the sensei's the Genin were in much the same state their eyes glued to the fight.

"Wow Naruto is actually pushing Naruko, that's crazy he wasn't much different from us in the academy." Ino said looking over at her team who nodded in agreement. Choji pulled out another bag of chips before looking over at Ino.

"Hey Ino you said he was always in class with you, Sakura, and Hinata, did you ever see him fight like that?" he asked before stuffing his face with another handful of chips. Ino seemed to consider the comment for a moment before shaking her head.

"Nope in fact he wasn't any better than me at it, I mean he worked hard and all, but he really didn't have a knack for it, still this is something I've never seen before." Finished Ino looking back down. Shikimaru in the meantime was looking down at Naruto his mind telling him that something wasn't adding up, improvement was one thing, Lee was proof of that, but leaps in ability took time, and Naruto was apparently taking huge steps forward in no time, and it wasn't adding up.

_I swear something about team eleven just isn't adding up…gah troublesome it's not like they are an enemy, maybe I'm just overthinking it. _He thought leaning back still letting the small orb in his hand roll in and out between his figures, his mind wandering.

* * *

While this was occurring up in the Kage booth Kakashi had arrived some time ago and informed Minato about the small orbs planted all around the stadium. In response Jiraiya had taken to examining the orb, while a group of Anbu to go and investigate the area as well, without arousing suspicion. After a small time the group had returned reporting to Kakashi before vanishing back into the shadows, and leaving the grey haired man to relay the message.

"Hokage-sama, the search is over, and they are indeed scattered out all over the stadium, but so far nothing has been discovered about them, members of the Hyuuga have scanned them, and our sensors cannot detect any chakra coming from them, they appear to be nothing more than someone's idea of a prank." Finished Kakashi leaning back after delivering his message to Minato. The blond hokage relaxed at his old student's words, letting out a relieved sigh as his body relaxed as well. A few moments before Jiraiya had reported much the same saying that the marble sized ball didn't react to any seals or spying tools that he could find, so it seemed that they were indeed nothing. Absentmindedly Minato slipped one of the orbs into his pocket before looking back down at the match, his focus back on the battle raging both below and in his mind.

"Hm.. the boy seems to be doing rather well against your daughter Hokage-san, and if you don't mind me saying he does seem to look a great deal like you." Mei said glancing over at Minato. The Mizukage was no fool and she had seen that both of these children were obviously the Hokage's but the different last name, spoke of something hidden, and considering that they were not yet allies, it never hurt to be cautious. Minato looked over at Mei for a moment before answering.

"Hai he should Mei-sama he is my sochi, and yes he does seem to be doing well, but I am afraid that he does not stand much of a chance against Naruko in a fight like this." replied Minato forcing his voice to hide the feelings that were raging inside of him. Mei seemed to consider the Hokage's words for a moment, before simply shrugging it off and looking back to the match.

"Hai I suppose not, you have trained her well, and being a jinchuuriki doesn't hurt her chances either, I'm afraid that your Sochi simply drew a poor match-up." She replied. However, just as she finished there was a small snort from behind her, and the booth's occupants turned to see that Zabuza was looking around at them in apparent amusement. Mei's face slowly fell into a dangerous smile as she looked over at her bodyguard, her face adopting the dangerous sensual look it often did right before she took violent action.

"Zabuza, what may I ask do you find so funny about what the Hokage and I were speaking about?" asked Mei her tone frosty. Zabuza in turn looked over at her before shifting his view over to the Hokage for a moment before folding his arms in front of him and quirking one eyebrow up.

"Hai Mizu-sama, but first I have a question for the Hokage." Spoke the man looking over at where Minato sat as he spoke. Mei looked as though she was about to blow Zabuza out of the booth, but Minato raised a hand in apparent acceptance of Zabuza's words.

"Hai Zabuza I will answer your question provided it is reasonable." replied the blond, causing a small nod from Zabuza.

"Kay it's pretty simply you said that boy down there is your sochi right," he started, getting an affirmative nod from Minato before continuing, "ok well my question is have you ever had another sochi, or someone who looked just like him?" asked the bandaged man, causing Minato and the other occupants of the booth to look extremely confused at Zabuza for a moment. The man seemed to accept their looks without any reaction only turning back to look at Mei.

"To answer your question Mei-sama, I was laughing because it seems that everyone here is severely underestimating just what that boy is capable of." chuckled Zabuza his eyes glinting slightly in apparent remembrance of something that excited him. Minato considered Zabuza's words for a moment before putting together what he knew, and coming up with an answer.

"So this is about when you meet the team protecting the bridge builder, I understand that you were unable to take out the target, and that my Sochi's team drove you off." Spoke Minato drawing a small nod from Zabuza as he spoke. "So what did Naruto manage to impress you somehow during that fight?" asked Minato in apparent confusion. His information had been limited on the battle, and honestly he was having trouble remembering if there had been any information pertaining to Naruto's encounter with Zabuza at all. However, before he could follow this train of thought it was derailed by a loud laugh from Zabuza that even managed to cause the stoic Kazekage to look around at the man in apparent interest.

Zabuza managed to quite his laughter after a few moments and reply.

"h-hoho oh that's a good one, manage to impress me, he damn well better have, hell it's not every day a shinobi gets run through and eaten by my blade and then breaks my jaw." replied Zabuza his words carrying traces of amusement with them as he spoke. The booth looked completely stunned; everyone in turn looked towards Zabuza focusing particularly on the massive blade on his back…the executioners' blade, known for drinking the blood of its enemies, and they had just been told that the boy below had somehow survived its bite.

Most of the booth looked completely shocked at Zabuza's words but Minato was looking at the man as if he could no longer see him, his eyes drifting through the man to the blade on his back, and slowly drifting down to the arena below where Naruto had just been surrounded by a small army of Naruko's and his mind bleated out a small confused moan carrying with it a simple thought.

…_N-naruto?..._Meanwhile, as Minato had been having his discussion with the group in the kage booth, Kushina was looking around at an equally entertaining conversation, if not as revealing a one.

* * *

"No Mito we can't hold two signs up by ourselves, I told you we should have just made a big one for your Neesan, and Niisan's match." Hanabi said in an "I told you so tone." This of course resulted in Mito bopping him over the head with one of a pair of signs she had in her lap before looking over at where Hitomi and Hiashi were sitting her eyes flashing with sudden excitement.

"Well then you and I hold one, and your Kaasan can hold the other." replied Mito smugly causing Hitomi to look over at her name at the two children beside her.

"Mito, Kaasan can't hold up the sign the whole match." replied Hanabi in a small reprimanding tone. Mito looked over at Hitomi for a moment before feeling a little embarrassed at her idea, Hanabi's Kaasan was really nice, but she was also pretty weak, and she knew that, asking her to do something like that wasn't considerate.

"But Hanabi, Kaasan already has Kyueed, and we have to cheer them both on." replied Mito turning her wide eyes over to look at Hanabi a small bit of moisture building in her eyes as she did. Hanabi suddenly felt a need to help Mito however he could, and before he could even realize it he was busy searching for a solution to their situation. The boy looked down at the signs before looking around, for a moment his eyes focusing on something for a second before he set his face into a hard look, and turned to Mito.

"Hai Mito we will, here give me a sign." He said hopping off of his seat and holding out his hands for Mito to give him a sign. Mito looked confused but handed over a sign to Hanabi who gave her a small smile before setting his face back into a look of determination. He turned to his right and marched over a few feet until he stood facing directly in front of Hiashi, who looked down at his Sochi noticing his position before him. Hiashi had been sitting with is hands resting lightly on his knees in a regale posture, and before he could do more than look down at his sochi Hanabi was stepping forwards towards him, and had maneuvered the sign in his hands into Hiashi's own. Hiashi just sat there stunned as Hanabi moved his hands to either side of the sign and then as if positioning an action figure took a step up onto the seat beside his tousan and moved his arms up so that Hiashi was holding the sign above his head with both arms, his face completely lost as to what his sochi was doing to him. After a moment Hanabi nodded at his work, and hopped down to move back and sit beside Mito helping her to heft the second sign over their heads, even as the little redhead looked at her friend with a huge smile and star struck eyes upon her face.

Hitomi and Kushina were at that moment struggling to keep from exploding into laughter at Hiashi's state. The man looked left for a moment to see that his wife was smiling happily at him and then directing his own eyes to look across her and into the happy face of his sochi who was grinning back up at him, in apparent admiration. Hiashi took all of this in and couldn't help but let his face turn into a smile of his own as he settled himself to watch the rest of the match the sign held above his head as he did.

So as the group looked back down two signs were now raised above the group, the first held in the small fists of two children reading. **GO ANIKI! GO NEESAN! **along with small drawing of both of the combatants done in the excited hand that only a child can accomplish, as though they somehow managed to put their very happiness into the simply pictures they could produce. Hiashi in the meantime was standing stoically holding a sign proclaiming in bright letters **GO TEAM KAWAIII!**, and looking happier than he had in a lifetime.

* * *

Naruto was slowly looking around him a small bit of panic growing in his chest as he looked around to see what looked like over a hundred miffed Naruko's looking at him from all sides, some cracking their knuckles while a few had pulled out kunai, or were simply standing with their arms crossed facing him with quite anger. From that sea of blond and blue, Naruto focused on the original Naruko who stood just a few feet apart directly ahead of him her eyes back to their bright blue, but still holding the slitted pupil that showed she was in completely control of the Kyuubi chakra within her. Naruto let out a small chuckle seeing at his situation.

"Hahahaha, well it looks like I still know how to push your buttons huh Neesan?" called Naruto in an oddly cheerful tone that caught Naruko slightly off guard. For a second she seemed about to smile, but fought it down, forcing her tone into one of command and authority.

"Naruto this is your last chance give up, you and I both know you can't beat me just with Kaasan's seals, and I am not going to hold back anymore." called Naruko as she lowered her arms slightly to her side her bright blue eyes never leaving Naruto's own. Her words did not have the reaction that she had been expecting. For a second Naruto just looked at her confused before he let out another bark of laughter actually dropping his form momentarily to hold his stomach before speaking.

"K-Kaassan hehahhe S-seals hahahahaeh, oh kami that's good, I couldn't do a seal yet if my life depended on it, hahahaahehe, oh man the first time Kaasan tried to show me, it blew up in my face heheahahah!" laughed the boy his words coming out interspersed with laughter. His actions caused Naruko to falter slightly, not understanding why Naruto was so seeming amused by his words. After a moment Naruto managed to control himself enough to speak up again.

"Oh man that was a good one, is that what you thought I was doing till now, using Kaasan's seals or mine, sorry Neesan but no such luck this is all me." he chuckled again. Naruko had now gone from confused to embarrassed and angry at Naruto, he was laughing at her, here in front of everyone, and she was not in a state that this was a good idea. Without waiting Naruko flew through a quick series of seals and forcing out a small burst of wind not very powerful but enough for what she had intended. Just as she had suspected Naruto managed to bring his arms up to block the strike, but that had been her plan.

The small blades of wind impacted his sleeves, just below the elbows sending bits of orange cloth, and what she suspected to be where he was keeping his seals hidden. However, as the cloth fell away, what appeared confused her into a blank silence. On both of Naruto's arms there were what looked like perfectly cylindrical water wings that stretched from his wrists up to his elbows, the same black color as the weapons he had been using throughout the fight. Naruto slowly lowered his arms looking down at them for a second before looking back to Naruko, a small proud smile playing across his face.

"See told you, but did you have to destroy my coat?" Naruto half joked looking over at Naruko who just looked more confused than ever. However, her confusion was soon replaced by annoyance.

"This isn't a game Naruto stop trying to make this a darn joke! I'm done playing nice, I don't care if you have some new arm guards, I'm not letting you humiliate me I gave you a chance now I'm taking you down!" called Naruko falling into a combat stance as her army of clones followed her example. Naruto seemed to sadden slightly at Naruko's words his grin shrinking slightly.

"Naruko I'm not here to humiliate you," he said even as the army of clones charge forwards at him from all sides, "and these aren't arm guards…. they are seeds." Finished Naruto just as the clones closed in on him some leaping into the air as they aimed to land an aerial assault upon the blond boy. Naruko just caught the last words as Naruto disappeared behind a wall of clones, and she felt a small pang at the look of sadness on Naruto's face before it was obscured by her own attack. However, before she could consider that feeling more she was suddenly assaulted by a wave of memories from the clones around Naruto right before there was a small blast and smoke erupted around Naruto!

Before she could even begin to focus there was another storm of popping as trails of clones began to disperse all around the arena, as though someone was drawing huge lines through their ranks. More memories kept flashing before her eyes, as what looked like black balls smashed through her ranks before shooting back towards where she knew Naruto stood. Then a voice called out through the smoke.

"I'm here to show you that I can stand beside you, and that we can be a family again!" called Naruto from the slowly dispersing smoke in the center of the arena. Naruko's eye swiveled to the source of the sound just as the smoke dispersed, what she saw made her freeze even as from inside her the Kyuubi roared in anger calling out as he did **"IT IS HIM HE IS THE ENEMY!"**

Naruto was standing tall in the center of where the clones had attacked him, but there was something's with him. Slowly circling around him was what looked like large black orbs all giving off a faint glow of purple energy. There were six in total four of which had formed a small circle behind the boy and seemed to be floating unsuspended by anything in the air. Meanwhile the second two where floating just a few inches away from either of the boys hands, and as Minami watched Naruto grasped small protrusions from the orbs, and pulled, two identical bars slowly rising from the orbs as his did before snapping off with a soft crack, as he settled himself back into his stance. Naruko's mind was racing trying to understand what she was seeing, when Naruto spoke again.

"So Neesan let me show you just how much I've changed." called Naruto a grin spreading back across his face as he spoke. "Because my world won't make you stand alone anymore!" the boy finished dropping down into his stance once again and fixing his shining eyes upon the girl once again. Before Naruko could register or stop to consider Naruto's words the boy shot off away from her and towards her army of clones, who seemed to be less confused about the situation and charged to meet the boy.

Naruko turned to see Naruto and the orbs smash into the oncoming wave of clones throwing up fresh pops and trails of smoke. The memories came flooding again, as she was able to watch from several angles as the Naruto cut into her army.

The first clone to reach the boy had spun forwards trying to land a driving kicking into Naruto's side, but was caught in midair, by one of the orbs that shot into its chest causing it to explode into smoke. A few clones seeing this hurtled a series of kunai forwards through their dispelled fellow and towards the projectile, but from the smoke there was a series of sparks and scraping sounds as the smoke cleared to show the shield that Naruto had used to protect himself earlier. Before the clones that had launched the assault could recover Naruto was among them and he plunged one bar into the clone on the right and left, before slamming his head into a third in-between causing them all to dispel again into bursts of smoke.

A few of the clones saw Naruto's unprotected back and shot forwards looking to get in a strike but were forced to leap left and right as from the four orbs circling Naruto's back shot out a few chains each out towards them rocketing forwards like pointed black missiles, most of the chains missed but a few smashed into their targets causing them to dispel. Seeing this a few clones drew Kunai and swung them down on the chains drawing sparks as they tried and failed to cut them. Before they could recognize the ineffectiveness of their attack the chains waved slightly before pulling themselves back into the orbs as Naruto rose, and turned to shoot off towards the clones. He was about half way to them when he was forced to stop as several balls of compressed air and kunai flew from both sides at him from the still vast number of clones remaining. As the projectiles hurtled towards Naruto he drew in his seeds all of them shifting into round shields and racing around him taking the impact of air blasts, or deflecting Kunai with small sparks of impact before they dispelled. The clones before Naruto looked on in a state of panic as the deflected or missed attack crashed into his shields throwing up another cloud of smoke and dust around the boy until their assault died away a moment later. For a second the clones looked at each other mixed relief and worry on their faces, wondering if they had been overzealous in stopping the boy's assault.

However, they needn't have worried as a moment later black rods began hurtling out of the cloud smashing into their number. The remaining clones began to dive and dodge as the cloud fell away and showed that five of the shields had formed into a half dome protecting the boy from the two sided attack. As the wall had fallen Naruto had begun pulling rod after rod out of the remanding seeds and flinging them out as black missiles that tore into their ranks, sending even more up into clouds of smoke as they did. Something seemed to finally break within the remaining clones as with a roar of defiance they all joined together rushing towards the boy's position throwing kunai and shuriken, and whatever else Naruko had apparently had on her at him as they came. Naruto was forces to keep all of his seeds in shield form just to deflect the oncoming assault, he had managed to hold onto one final rod, but as the clones closed in he realized that it looked like he wasn't going to be able to stop them all.

The first clone to get past his seed's was met with a crashing blow to its head by his remaining rod, but this allowed two more to close and slam their fists into his back causing him to stagger forwards slightly from the impact. Luckily it seemed that the clones could not survive a hit on the boy and as the two impacts came the clones vanished in turn. This was a small comfort however, as more and more clones poured through his defenses each hammering him with kicks and punches, and the occasional cut of a kunai, those were rare.

_Damn it Juubi this isn't good! _Called Naruto as he swiped his arm into one of the clones even as another landed an axe kick onto his back almost driving him to the ground. Juubi watched worried as Naruto was slowly being overcome by the constant assault, and recognized what Naruto needed at that moment.

"**So that's it huh, after all of your big talk you're going to get your butt handed to you by your Neesan's shadow, and here I thought that you said you wanted to change this world for the better, with that attitude maybe I should try and talk to Hinata, she seems to be at least able to handle her own problems." **Called Juubi in a forcibly mocking tone trying to get Naruto to get angry….It worked better than she could have hoped. Naruto froze for a second not even noticing as the next few clones slammed into him before his face twisted into an angry expression and he stretched out a hand causing a shield to shift back into a seed and fly into his hand before he slammed it down into the ground with a yell of angry defiance that could be heard even through the din of battle around him.

"I WON'T FAIL NOW!" Naruto screamed as he smashed the seed into the ground sending cracks out through the ground around him. His words caused the clones to halt their assault for just a moment, before they were suddenly looking around as the ground beneath them started to shake slightly. Before any of them could do more than look at one another confused black chains erupted from the ground all around them shooting up, dozens, hundreds flying out in every direction catching clone after clone and dispelling them turning the arena around the boy into a sea of black spires and smoke. After a moment Naruto made his way steadily to his feet looking around as the chains slowly shrank back into the ground and the seed he had plunged down rose to place itself back among its fellows behind the boy. As Naruto rose he looked to see Naruko standing where he had last seen her, more than half way across the arena from him still just looking at him as if she could not believe that he was standing in front of her. As Naruto turned to face his Neesan a final clone shot out the smoke behind him a swirling ball of chakra clutched in each of its hands as it shot towards the boys back.

Naruko finally reacted, starting to call out a warning to Naruto even as she saw it was too late to stop her clone from finishing the attack. When she had made the clones she had been running on anger, and aggression, and they were particularly ready for combat, at seeing its fellows so easily decimated had apparently driven this last clone to throw away whatever care she had for the boy before her and instead just go all out on him.

Naruto turned slightly as he saw Naruko's expression shift seeing the clone closing in on him its eyes red with Kyuubi's chakra apparently guiding its movements. Without thinking Naruto shot five of his seeds forwards at the clone, but it avoided the hasty attack and charged towards him and his final seed. His finally seed shot in front of him, and seemed to break right before the clone met him, and there was a deafening explosion from where the two forces meet.

For a second the area around the boy was obscured as bits of the arena floor and dust settled down around two figures the first was Naruto looking received and slightly winded, the recent battle having left multiple cuts and scuffs all over his form. However, it was the other figure that drew everyone's attention. It stood just as tall as the boy, and was dressed identically except it was apparently clothed in black from head to toe, except for two wide glowing eyes that shone with a purple light, that danced around its form. The creature had one hand outstretched before it, in front of a small crater where the clone had apparently detonated. Everyone including Naruko stared in silence as Naruto turned and the other marched up to stand beside him looking around the arena in apparent interest, letting out small humming sounds as it did. Slowly Naruto's remaining seeds floated back to where Naruto stood before spreading out gradually from him and cracking, slowly dripping down till Naruto stood beside six of the creatures, all looking around in apparent interest, letting out small hums as they did, and one even looking over at the stands and waving its arms in excitement.

Naruko stared forwards at the scene before her, before Naruto's voice called out to her from across the field.

"Oh and I'm not going to hold back anymore either Neesan!" he called as the Seedlings and he sunk down into a familiar combat stance all turning to face Naruko.

* * *

In the stands there was blanket shock playing across the faces of most of the crowd, and none more so than with the Jonin sensei's and their pupils some more vocal than others.

"WHAT THE HELL THERE IS MORE THAN ONE OF THOSE THINGS AND NARUTO IS THE ONE WHO HAS THEM…WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" Ino practically screamed her hands digging into her hair as she looked out at the arena. Choji had simply dropped the chips he was holding and still had one hand frozen a few inches from his face the chips still grasped in it and apparently forgotten. Ino meanwhile went on ranting.

"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON, SINCE WHEN COULD NARUTO CONTROL CHAKRA LIKE THAT, I MEAN I WENT INTO THAT THINGS HEAD, IT WASN'T A CLONE, WHAT THEY HECK IS GOING ON!" continued the blond apparently lost to the world around her in her ranting.

Yakumo on her side was fighting back a smile at the girl's reaction, but a giggle escaped her lips, and suddenly Ino turned on the girl her eyes wide, with an almost maddening look in them.

"Yakumo you know something spill it!" fired off Ino almost pouncing on the poor girl, who had clapped her hands over her mouth to keep from laughing in the girls face. After a second Yakumo seemed to gain control before speaking in a voice still with traces of her own giggles present in it.

"S-sorry Ino, but I can't tell you anything about Seed-kun." The brown haired girl said as Ino's eyes widened and looked from the arena and back to Yakumo her expression changing as it did so.

"Seed-kun…. is that what they are called, tell me Yakumo!" cried Ino reaching out to grab hold of Yakumo's shoulder as Yakumo let out another small giggle at the expression Ino had across her face. Before Ino could continue, however a strong hand placed itself on her shoulder and pulled her back from Yakumo. Ino looked up to see Kurenai giving her a small annoyed look.

"Ms. Yakumo would you mind not trying to attack my student right in front of me." the women asked giving the blonds shoulder a small squeeze as she did prompting Ino to relax slightly and looking over at Yakumo a little embarrassed. Asuma looked over at Kurenai as she spoke before looking over towards his student in turn.

"Ino she is right, apologize to Yakumo," started Asuma then looking over at Kurenai his eyes narrowing slightly as she spoke his next words, "but Kurenai it's clear that Ms. Yakumo does know something about what is happening, and I think we would all like to know." finished Asuma turning his gaze over to Kurenai, his tone soft, but with a slight amount of insistence behind it all the same. Kurenai turned her ruby red eyes to Asuma's for a moment before letting out a small sigh.

_Well I guess they can't get angry at me after Naruto basically just showed the whole village….or at least I hope not. _Thought the women as she leaned back in her seat and looked over at the ground around her.

"I won't go into great detail for now, but yes Naruto wealds a new type of chakra, that allows him to manifest it physically, those" here she gestured out towards the seedlings, "are clones built of the stuff, apparently they get some kind of minor intelligence and mimic most of what they see, but besides that they are mostly harmless unless some attacks them." said the red eyed women looking around as the members of team ten digested the information and put it to what they had already encountered.

As the members replayed their encounter with the creature they remembered how it had started relatively docile, and had only gotten violent after they had initiated combat. For a second they simply digested that before a particularly lazy member summed up their reaction as a whole.

"Troublesome, so if we hadn't attacked the darn thing would have just watched us like it did with team 8 and then left." Shikimaru summed up as he looked out at the arena. His mind seemed to be poking at him for a moment until he felt a small pressure in his hand, and looked down to where he still held the small black ball he had picked up. For a second he just stared at it before his thoughts fell into place, and he suddenly looked up and around the stadium a slightly alarmed thought in his mind as he did so.

"Asuma-sensei how many of those marbles did you say were around the stadium?" asked Shikimaru looking around as Asuma looked down at the boy momentarily not seeing the point of his question. After a moment he looked down to see what Shikimaru was holding and suddenly it all snapped sharply into focus for him, before he replied his voice not betraying the small worry he was feeling.

"There were several thousand Shikimaru….you don't think?" he started the rest of the group looking between the two confused at what the two were talking about. Shikimaru simply interlocked his figures together and leaned forwards looking out at Naruto his eyes focused on the blond boy more intently than he had ever done before.

"Hai Sensei I think that Naruto has more at play here than just the match." replied Shikimaru, as the rest of the group looked at the pineapple haired youth, oblivious to what he had apparently put together.

* * *

While the sensei's were busy handling their students another group was also having their own reaction to the changes in the match bellow. Kushina and Hitomi had remained mostly unchanged simply looking down with small smiles as Naruto managed to finish off the last of the clones and the seedlings made their appearance. Hiashi for his part had looked over at the rest of the group taking in their apparent acceptance of the situation, and wondering just how much of the world was going to be going crazy on him, and why no one else seemed to mind.

He had immediately activated his byakugan as the orbs had made their appearance, and was shocked to see whatever they were, they didn't appear to show up as chakra to him simply as the different black forms they seemed capable of taking. His attention was also drawn right to notice that whatever Kushina had in her hands was assuredly based off of the same principle of the things below, and that only made things even more confusing for the poor man. However, before he could make a comment a sudden commotion between the adults caught his attention.

Mito and Hanabi had practically dropped the sign they had been holding, the red head letting out a squeak of excitement before diving down to where she had stored her signs followed after by Hanabi a moment later. The two children rustled around under the seats for a moment before both immerging holding what looked like two polls with a wrapping of cloth between them. The two children turned to one another hefting the polls up and smiling as they both walked away from one another the cloth slowly stretching out between the two as the distance between the increased. As the cloth unrolled Hiashi was able to see that it was not just a cloth but a banner.

As the two reached the end of the banner they both turned excitedly drawing in a deep breath and suddenly calling out in loud voices the words written across the banner.

"GGGGOOOOOOOO! SSSSEEEEEEEEEDDDD-KKKKUUUUNN!" The two children trumpeted as the banners words showed to anyone the same words upon it in bright black and purple lettering along with another picture this time depicting several black figures all standing with their hands intertwined along with two smaller figures, that were obviously suppose too be the two children themselves.

It was at this point that Hiashi just gave up and decided that if the world was going mad he might as well just sit back and enjoy it. Without a word he slowly lowered the sign in his hands, and reached over to catch one of Hitomi's causing the women to give him a soft smile in return.

Well if this was the world at least he would have his family by his side, and for now that was enough for him.

Kushina as well was smiling as she saw her musume's latest project letting out a small giggle even as Kyueed let out a small yip of apparent happiness causing her to giggle all the more. The red haired women looked down at the field and saw that Naruto wasn't about to let himself fail before he kept his promise to her, and that meant that no matter what Naruto was going to help Naruko no matter what he had to do to make that a reality. She felt a small welling of hope in her chest as she looked down at the boy she had almost lost so long ago, and then to her musume, standing across from him in the arena.

"Naruko….please let him help you…cause he won't let his world lack you as part of it, and he is getting in the habit of making the impossible happen." Whispered Kushina as she blinked a tear out of her eyes, and sat back to watch her Sochi fight to save his family.'

* * *

Even as Kushina was busy watching as Naruto fought to help his family once again, a particular member of his family was standing at the moment his face twisted into a look of pure disbelief, and horror.

Minato didn't care that he was in front of two other Kage's he didn't care if he was the hokage of the whole village, or that at that moment Jiraiya his old sensei seemed to be trying to tell him something, instead all he could do was stare blankly down at where Naruto stood surrounded by six black figures that were obviously the same things mentioned to him from the reports of the second exam. However, even that knowledge had taken a back seat at the moment as Naruto spoke to Naruko his words to distance to be made out from where Minato sat his form hunched forwards and leaning on the rectangular opening that served as the observation window of the booth, one arm bracing him against its frame as he eyes tracked around the field below as if not able to take in what he was seeing.

_N-naruto, b-but you, I mean how yo-you _Minato thought trying and failing over and over to force his shocked mind to respond to him in more that small flashes. His mind had been racing once Naruto had first let out the orbs and begun his assault. Minato had risen from his chair like some kind of zombie ignoring everyone around him as he slowly shuffled over to where he now stood simply looking but unable to comprehend what he was seeing. He simply stood there like a statue not even flinching as the orbs had cracked open and six of those figures had formed his mind still battling to understand what he was seeing. Vaguely he noticed a pressure on his shoulder and turned wide eyes to see the concerned face of Jiraiya looking back at him, his mouth moving, but no sound coming out. After a moment Minato seemed to shake himself enough for the words of Jiraiya to start making it through as though a radio was slowly coming into its signal.

"Kid, hey kid snap out of it, this isn't the time to fall apart it will be fine." whispered Jiraiya his face showing clear signs of concern upon it as he spoke. Minato almost laughed as his addled brain digested the words his sensei was saying.

_N-not the time to fall apart, this is the perfect time to fall apart, Naruto is down there holding his own against Naruko in the arena using abilities I didn't even know existed, and I have a man standing a few feet away claiming to have disemboweled the same boy, and I haven't got on freaking clue as to what is happening around me and I'm getting to the point that I don't care anymore! _Thought Minato his addled mind becoming angry at the sage for his calm attitude, which was clear with Minato's next words.

"Fine!" Minato said his voice low but dangerous, his eyes narrowing slightly at Jiraiya as he spoke, "what in the name of all of kami's court would you know about things falling apart, my sochi is down there doing I don't know what right before my eyes, and I know less about him than a man who apparently rammed a sword through his chest. So you tell me sensei what part of this clusterfuck of a life I've made with my Sochi is FINE!" shot back Minato his voice staying low, but the raw anger in it coming through clearly. Jiraiya's face hardened at these words but he kept his voice calm as he replied.

"Minato it will be alright we have looked after Naruko and I trained her all last month she will make it out of this, and afterword's you and I can check out what's happening with Naruto, but for now you need to stay calm." replied Jiraiya his words not having the affect he had hope. Minato seemed to stiffen at the toad sages words and Jiraiya could almost swear he heard the sound of Minato's teeth grinding as the blond man let his sapphire blue eyes look back into Jiraiya's the heat from them almost causing Jiraiya to physically recoil from him. However, before he could Minato had reached out an arm to grab the front of Jiraiya's clothing and pull the older man closer so that he could make damn sure that the old man heard his next words clearly.

"Sensei I don't give a damn who wins this fucking match, hell I don't care if either of them win or lose, what I care about is that listening to you has destroyed my life with my sochi, and that his enemies seem to be closer to him than ME. SO SENSEI DON'T YOU DARE STAND THERE AND TELL ME TO RELAX AFTER WHAT YOU HAVE DONE." Minato spat at Jiraiya the toad sage not flinching away from the blond, but instead raising a hand up slowly to grab hold of Minato's wrist not taking his eyes from the man as he did.

"What we have done Hokage-sama, and whatever you may think, coming apart here in front of the leaders of two villages is not a smart move. You are the Hokage and if you don't get ahold of yourself the village could be in danger, hate me if you want, but for now act like the leader you are." replied Jiraiya slowly pulling Minato's hand from its grip on his shirt. The fight seemed to have gone out of the blond as Jiraiya had spoken. One word repeating over and over in his mind as he slowly made his way back to sit beside his fellow Kage's who acted as though they had not seen anything out of the ordinary even as Minato's mind still repeated the word.

_We Hokage-sama….we…by Kami what have I done…oh Naruto….w-what have I done…. _Minato's mind repeated even as a sinking cold feeling settled throughout his body as his eyes stared down at the fight below, his whole body numb to everything around him. The only feeling he had being the sickening guilt that was now workings its way through his body, even as flashes of Naruto fired one after another before his eyes. A smiling child his face scrunched up in concentration as he carefully made his way one foot after another into his own outstretched arms. The same child only a year later laughing happily from his shoulders one small hand clutched in his hair as the other pointed out at the parade before them excited noises issuing between giggles as he had stood feeling the simple weight of the boy letting him know that he was there. Still more flashed by a boy running around his office pursued by his Neesan's hopping from couch to floor as the three giggled in excitement the blonds face turning to his and exploding into a large smile, that reached all the way to his eyes as he shouted out in joy at seeing the man. Then a final memory came, a boy…no not a boy a young man standing at a doorway looking back at him one hand raised to hold the door ajar, tears glistening in his eyes as he whispered to the man before him, "well hokage-san I've never been that good of a Namikaze, so I thought I would try at being an Uzumaki." The boy had said before he had turned and left the room. Minato saw all of this and more as he looked down below, and a feeling of deepest sorrow fell over him like he had been cast out of a sunny day, and into a cold starless night. And only one thought managed to make itself clear in his mind before he was simply unable to do more than watch the conflict before him in silence.

…N-naruto….oh dear kami….i am damned…

* * *

In the arena Naruko was still almost frozen solid as Naruto finished off the last of the clones and turned to face her. During the entire fight her mind had been reeling trying in vain to explain how what she was seeing was possible. So it was no great surprise that she found herself standing before Kyuubi's cage ankle deep in water and looking up at the great fox's face which was contorted in rage, its eyes almost bulging, while it's tails smashed into the watery floor sending up waves of water that crashed upon the bars of the cage sending echoing sounds of impact hurtling down the halls of its prison. In its fury the fox kept spouting out a series of curses even as it continued to smash at its cage.

"**IT IS HER! HOW DARE SHE SHOW HERSELF BEFORE ME! HOW DARE SHE BE HERE AFTER TOUSAN HAS GONE! I WILL SMASH HER FORM AND DRIVER HER BACK TO HER PRISON!" **howled the great fox as Naruko stood there watching the creature rage. After a few moments Naruko finally seemed to have enough and screamed out to the fox.

"FURRBBALLL SHUT UP AND TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON YOUR TEMPER TANTRUM ISN'T DOING ANYTHING BUT GIVING ME A HEADACHE!" shouted the blond the momentary pain in her head clearing out any other thoughts she might have been contemplating concerning her situation. Her words seemed to reach the Kyuubi who paused his cursing to glare down at Naruko slamming both his arms into the cage a final time before letting out a heaving breath, that blew hot air all over Naruko's form tossing her hair around in it as though she was caught in a gale. The fox seemed to take a few seconds to calm itself before turning its eyes to Naruko and speaking.

"**For once you are right meat bag this opponent is not one we can face halfheartedly, and if we are not carful we are the ones who will be destroyed." **He finished drawing a confused look from Naruko as he did.

"What are you talking about Naruto may be throwing some pretty weird moves, but your acting like he is some kind of monster or something." fired back Naruko still trying to piece the situation before her into something she could understand. Kyuubi let out a huff of obvious annoyance at the girl's words before replying.

"**That isn't your brother out there, that is my Kaasan the ten tailed beast that my tousan the sage imprisoned in the moon, somehow she found her way out of the moon and into the boy, make no mistake Naruko what we face is nothing short of a god, she almost ended the world the last time that she was free, and even limited she is not something to underestimate." **Spoke the fox, even as Naruko's face contorted into a horrified face.

"W-what N-naruto is being controlled?" asked Naruko abject horror in her voice as she spoke the words, her mind already showing her scenes of some faceless monster tearing the boy to pieces and taking his form. Kyuubi seemed to notice her distress for a moment before speaking up once again.

"**Hai, I would say it is likely that she is inside his mind, that chakra he wields is proof of that, from what my tousan passed to me before he died, she can appear in many forms and sometimes comes in piece, but it is always a trick. My siblings and I were torn from her and set free, but she can consume us again to get back her power. Likely this is why she is using the boy to get close to you, didn't you yourself mention that he had changed a while back." **Spoke the fox turning his head to look down at the girl with one great red eye. Naruko let out an involuntary shiver at the fox's words remembering how Naruto had behaved differently after his trip to wave, and how his eyes had changed.

"Oh kami we have to save him! Kyuubi how do we get her out of him!?" called Naruko her voice almost desperate with worry. The fox in turn let out a huff before looking away from the girl a small growl in his voice.

"**Stupid girl if she had the boy then he is as good as dead, we must consider how we can survive this battle not worry about the Niisan that you never cared for!" **Kyuubi shot back causing Naruko to stiffen as though his words had been a physical blow.

The girls head slowly dropped as memories of her time with Naruto flashed by, the arguments, the fights, the insults, but also the laughter and times when they had played as children. As these memories shot past her eyes Naruko clenched her fist looking up at Kyuubi her face set in a determined glare, that cause the fox to quirk on eyebrow up, in apparent interest.

"Fine Kyuubi we'll take whatever this bitch is down to size, but we are getting Naruto out of this safe DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR FURBALL!" shouted Naruko the water around her kicking up as the yell acted to physically push the water away from her form. For a moment Kyuubi only looked down at the girl slightly disgusted before shaking his head in apparent agitation.

"**Fine but the kid gloves come off, I am not going to get eaten over this!" **replied Kyuubi stretching a hand out of the cage slowly palm out as it did. Naruko in turn raised her own hand out so that their palms were facing one another as red chakra began to leak into the girl.

Back in the real world Naruko's eyes snapped wide as she took notice of the situation before her, and acting on instinct tried to call out a word of warning to Naruto as one of her clones rushed him with twin rasengans. However, as she watch the clone was destroyed, and Naruto turned to face her; the orbs around him forming into the figures she had heard described formed around him.

As the forms before her sank into battle stances Naruko let out a breath before allowing the Kyuubi's chakra to flood out of her, flowing around her like a sudden torrent held back for too long. Her blue eyes shifted to dark red, as her canines and nails sharpened noticeably, and the whisker marks on her cheeks darkened and lengthened. Her lips also darkened slightly taking on an almost black countenance as her long golden hair shot back from her fanning out as if caught in a gale wind. The final change was the red chakra bubbling up all around her solidifying into a cloak of chakra sprouting two long fox like ears from its top, and a pair of transparent tails from the girls back. The effect was quite intimidating as Naruko bent forwards until one hand rested on the ground before her, her legs bent slightly at the knee and her one arm raised up like in her toad style but the palm open letting the clawed hand point towards the figures before her.

Naruto watched all of this while he was forced to start asking himself some interesting question.

_Great why do I keep opening up my big mouth and pissing off every single girl I know, first Kaasan, then Minami, even Hinata has had a few shots at me I swear am I just cursed or something! _Thought the boy looking over to where Minami was staring at him.

"**Now is not the time for jokes Naruto you need to be on your guard, the way she is now, I'm not sure that all of you will be enough." **Called Juubi biting her lip as her mind showed her the raging face of her sochi obviously helping to feed the girls anger towards the pair. Naruto in the meantime noticed Juubi's discomfort… or more accurately he noticed her discomfort again, after all it was hard for either of them to hide emotions from one another, one of the perks to having someone in your head he supposed, they could always tell when something was bothering the other. So Naruto gave a mental shrug and continued speaking.

_Hai Juubi I know that, but I knew that coming here, and I'm not about to start giving up now, besides we still have to knock some sense into your sochi, and my neesan, so what do you say we get to work setting our family straight? _asked Naruto allowing a small smile to play across his face as he looked over at Naruko. Juubi blinked at his statement for a moment her mind trying to piece together how he could have known what she was thinking but soon stopped, simply bowing her head slightly a small smile spreading across her face as well.

"**Hai Naruto I think that is a good idea. Now let's go!" **called the women focusing back on the outside just as Naruko spoke up.

"Naruto if you can hear me I'm coming so don't worry!" called Naruko her voice harsh with emotion both anger and worry. Her words seemed to confuse Naruto for a moment before Juubi gave him an idea of what might be going on between the girl and Kyuubi. Once Naruto understood what was happening his smile faltered as he looked back at Naruko with the same angry worry on his own face.

"Naruko I don't know what Kyuubi thinks is going on, but I'm me, and I won't be letting you win that easily." called Naruto, but his words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Naruko crouched and shot forwards towards the boy one clawed hand drawing great furrows in the ground as she close in on him while the other remained cocked back ready to spring forwards in a destructive attack. Without waiting Naruto responded running forwards his seeding falling in on either side of him forming an arrow that rushed across the field at the red blur that was Naruko.

The two teens were about to meet when Naruto suddenly flickered out of the point position replace by a seedling that threw out an arm that suddenly expanded as it went changing into a wrecking ball sized fist towards the girl. Naruko, however, didn't even slow as she pushed herself slightly off of the ground and landed on top of the expanded arm racing along it down its length and towards the obviously confused seedling. Before the seedling could do more that let out a panicked hum, Naruko had leapt forwards smashing a haymaker into the figures neck and jerking it down sharply as she sped off the end of its arm and past the creature. The pull and impact drove the seedling head almost completely into the arena floor, and Naruko was still racing ahead, her eyes darting back and forth to find where Naruto had gone.

Just as she spotted him again she felt a tug as her right arm became ensnared in a wrapping of chains from two seedlings on her right while a third was rushing her two windmill shrunken taking shape in its hands as it closed in on the girl. Naruko let out a small growl of anger as she tried and failed to pull the seedlings off their feet, anger flared in her ruby red eyes as she spotted that the two holding her had apparently shot some kind of supports into the ground holding them in place. Before she could think of a way out of her situation the third seedling was upon her its two newly formed weapons twirling, becoming spinning circular blades that it swung forwards towards the blond. Just as the blades descended one of the girl's chakra tails came swinging around to smash into the seedlings right side flinging it off to one side where it lost grip of its weapons allowing them to spin off and bury themselves into the arena floor.

Naruko then turned and with a swipe of her free hand severed the chains holding her arm, glaring over at the seedlings that were letting out confused hums as if wonder how she had done that. However, before Naruko could turn her attention to the pair there was a sudden impact on her back, softened only slightly by the swinging chakra tails there. The blow caused her to stumble forwards a few steps before turning with a growl to see that Naruto had grabbed one of the bars he had thrown earlier and had leapt forwards to smash it into her back.

Naruto was then forced to leap back as Naruko swung around her arm coming up to grab hold of his arm even as he pulled it back attempting to avoid her grasp. Her hand was just about to close on his when he managed to substitute himself with one of the seedlings that had been holding the girl moments before. As Naruto adjusted to his new placement he saw that Naruko had managed to grab the seedling and had flung it away from her causing it to go skidding across the ground for several yards till with a crack it impacted one of the trees of the field, snapping it almost in half from the impact. Naruto let out a small shiver as he saw Naruko turn to face him again, but steadied himself before taking a tight grip on the bar he held and looking over to nod at the seedling beside him. The seedling gave him a nod as well before the two shot forwards once again, as Naruko raced towards them. The girls speed was incredible, and Naruto only had a moment before she was upon him spinning so that her new chakra tails would smash into him. Vaguely Naruto noted that the blow was likely to be less damaging than the ones aimed at his seedlings, however the thought was quickly pushed aside as he was forced to duck under the blow. As he did so the seedling with him leapt forwards using his back as a springboard to launch itself up to deliver a flying spin kick directly into Naruko's face staggering the girl again, but doing little else. A moment later Naruto was force to substitute yet again leaving the two seedlings behind to be smashed into the ground.

Naruko was apparently losing patience with the creatures, as just as the two most recent fighters were slammed into the ground she formed two rasengans almost completely made out of the chakra cloak around her and smashed them down into the two causing them to blast further into the ground and forming two small craters that shot out spider web cracks across the arena floor.

Naruto actually faltered a bit upon seeing this but didn't have time to think on it as Naruko rose again and turned towards him flying through a quick number of seals before thrusting her hands out sending a gale force blast of wind across the field at him. Luckily for the boy the four remaining seedling jumped in front of the blast the chakra of the blow lasting only for a moment before breaking apart and dispersing around them. Without waiting for instruction the four raced forwards even as the girl crouched down and shot across the ground another pair of rasengans forming in her hands as she came.

As the two forces were about to meet the seedling fanned out causing Naruko to hesitate for a moment, and that moment was all the seedlings needed as the two outmost seeding shot out long whip like lines that wrapped around the girls arms, so that the one on the left had hold of the arm farthest from it, it's partner mirroring its movements. Before Naruko could recognize the danger the two seedling had yanked with all of their might causing the girls arms to bend in slamming the two rasengans together directly in front of her chest. There was an explosion of chakra at this and Naruko was thrown up and back, the remnants of the seedlings whips dangling where they had broken free on either arm. Before Naruko could steady herself the other two seedlings closed in one grabbing his partner and swinging around hurtling the other like a missile up towards the girl. Naruko had just a moment to recognize the danger, and just managed to twist in midair to avoid the Seedlings fist, driving her own leg down upon the creature's neck and flinging it down into the ground below her with a crash.

Just as Naruko landed she had to turn suddenly to block an oncoming expanded fist coming from the first seedling she had encountered. The impact blew her back off of her feet and sent her skidding back across the arena where she managed to spring back up a moment later. Naruko was breathing heavily as she looked across the field, to see Naruto standing along with three of the figures around him while the two she had hammered with her rasengans seemed to be out of it for now, and the one she had just crushed into the ground seemed to be out of commission for a time as well. She allowed herself a small smile as she looked out at her work.

_Damn those things are tough, guess the other teams weren't kidding, but at least it looks like three are down for now….but niisan keeps dodging me and if I keep dialing back my hits he will have time to switch out between those things, and I end up getting nowhere…..guess I need to hit them all at once. _Naruko thought stepping back and crossing her fingers in a familiar sign.

Naruto was watching Naruko and felt the bottom drop out of his stomach as he saw the sign she was making. Before he could even shout there were a series of poofs around the girl and soon there stood a few dozen feral looking Naruko's all looking his way their eyes burning with battle fire. Naruto was about to take a step back upon facing such a force, but a humming sound from his sides drew his attention.

On either side of him the remaining four seedlings were all holding out there hands palms up letting out soft hums of concentration as they did. As Naruto watched bits of black and purple chakra began to break away from their hands swirling around and twisting as it did to form small orbs of swirling chakra in the creature's palms even as they all sank into a fighting position their hands held limply at their sides holding their mimicked versions of Naruko's rasengans in their palms. Naruto could not help but let a smile cross his face as with a small will of effort the two seedlings Naruko had smashed into the ground collapsed back into seeds and came flying over to float just in front of the boys arms. Without pausing Naruto thrust both his fists forwards into the orbs that seemed to slowly liquefy and work their way up his arm leaving what looked like black skin tight gauntlets as they passed over his skin.

Naruko watched in sick fascination as Naruto's arms slowly became covered in the black substance until she saw it bubble up over his neck and face obscuring it in for a moment in inky blackness. The liquid seemed to stop its progress at this point shrinking back until Naruto appeared to be wearing a black Anbu mask, smooth like those that the Mizu shinobi wore the only mark on it being a pair of bright orange orbs of light over where the boys eyes as been. As she watched Naruto sank down into his own stance before him and the four creatures shot off towards her force. Without hesitation Naruko and her clones shot forwards in turn several swiping their hands violently forward throwing pure wind out, laced with their chakra like invisible missiles. The two sides closed, the humming from the seedlings clashing with the primal roars from the clones as the two raced in twenty feet, ten feet, five feet….then they were amongst each other.

Mayhem was the only way to describe it, Naruko got a flash of memories as the first of her clones hurtled themselves upon the nearest seedling while the creature threw its attacks forwards into the first of the two. However, even as those two fell the remaining four rushed over the creature slamming claws into it and dragging it down. Another two clones perished as two chains shot out of the creatures shoulders impaling them and forcing them back, but the remaining two managed to dodge the blow and slam their fists down into the creature once again forcing it further into the ground.

Her mind snapped back as she saw Naruto slamming his now blackened fists in to two of her clones dispelling them, before turning his glowing orange eyes to meet her own red ones. There amongst the chaos the two stood for a moment completely frozen, before at the same moment the two sprang forwards towards one another. Naruko was faster and managed to dodge Naruto's first strike bringing down a hammer like blow onto the boys shoulder, but instead of buckling Naruto grabbed hold of the arm pinning it to his shoulder before driving a fist forwards at the girl slamming it into her chest lifting her slightly off her feet as he did.

The blow, however did not stop the girl for long as her two chakra tails shot forwards to wrap themselves around the arm jerking it back and away from her opening up the boys chest for a series of fast jabs that drew a muffled cry of pain from Naruto. Before Naruko could repeat the assault Naruto forced every bit of strength he could into his feet and pushed forward managing to throw the girl off balance and together they toppled to the ground, leaving Naruto on top of the girl, his glowing eyes only inches from her own.

_THIS IS GONNA HURT! JUUBI BE READY WE'RE TAKING THIS FIGHT INSIDE! _Shouted Naruto insides his head as she swung back his head and slammed it down into Naruko forehead with a cracking sound that send splinters all throughout the mask he was wearing, but dispersed the chakra cloak around Naruko's heads as well. Before Naruko could do more than look surprised as the cloaks absence Naruto hauled back and crashed his head forwards once again into the girls head, this time sinking into it as he did.

* * *

Naruto blinked his eyes open looking around at what he could only describe as a dimly lit sewer. Idly he noted that his body no longer was sending him the small twinges of pain it had been and he was able to stand up out of the water he was apparently sitting in. As he did he looked back to see the grassy field he knew as Juubi's part of his own mind the light from it stopping suddenly even as the water washed up and over the grass as what looked like the entrance to this sewer he found himself in. Before he could say anything Juubi stepped up beside him looking towards the end of the tunnel they were in, her eyes set and posture guarded.

"**It looks like Kyuubi's seal is more solid than Kyu's I can't seem to do more than link them together, from here on out we have to proceed carefully." **the women said, as Naruto turned his gaze from her to the long tunnel before them, with a sigh.

"Of course it is, I swear nothing is ever going to be simple is it?" Naruto half joked as he and Juubi set off into the sewer, Juubi's footsteps leaving behind a trail of fresh grass that managed to stay just above the water covering the floor of this chamber. The pair had walked for several yards before Naruto suddenly shot sideways grabbing Juubi and pushing down as a figure came flying at the two out of the darkness. As the two spun to see who it was they saw that an angry faced Naruko was glaring at Juubi her eyes slitted and bright red as she called out to her.

"You monster get out of Naruto's head now or I'll tear you apart!" screamed the girl readying herself to shoot forwards once again at the women. Before Juubi could open her mouth to speak Naruto's placed himself between the two speaking in a soft voice.

"Juubi you go and help your sochi….we both have someone to save here." spoke the boy without sparing a glace over at Juubi but simply looking over at Naruko his face set in a determined mask. Juubi looked at the boys back for a moment before giving a small nod and turning to continue down the corridor towards where Kyuubi's cage sat.

"Where the hell are you going!" shouted Naruko attempting to follow her, but finding Naruto barring her path his arms outstretched and his eyes focused on her. Naruko halted for a moment the expression on Naruto's face causing her to turn her attention to him.

"Naruto get out of the way that thing is messing with your head, I need to get rid of it so we can be ok, please you don't know what's happening to you!" called Naruko her face heavy with emotion. Naruto for his part just looked back at his neesan a small look of pity playing across his face as he did. The boy didn't move at all, and Naruko her emotions pounding at her quickly grew angry, and acted throwing herself forwards trying to get around the boy. However, just as she was moving Naruto moved as well crashing into her and the two colliding with one of the sewers walls and crashing through it falling into the blackness beyond.

The two fell for what seemed like only a moment before the two fell into a yard that they both recognized instantly, it was their own after all. As the two made their way shakily to their feet they saw their own younger selves, no older than four or five running by, giggling. The younger children all dressed in simply play cloths already dirty from a hard day at play. Before Naruko could do more that stare in shock at her own younger self Naruto was already making his way to his feet, and turning to face her. Without thinking Naruko pushed herself forwards talking the boy from his feet and onto the grass of the yard just as her younger self did the same a few feet away. As she and Naruto rolled on the ground their younger selves giggled happily, even the older pairs eyes blazed with intensity locked in their own battle.

The two came to a stop with Naruko on top holding Naruto down, gasping out breaths as she looked down at the boy. From a few feet away she vaguely heard her own self's younger voice calling out in a triumphant declaration interspersed with excited giggles.

"GOT YOU NIISAN!" called the excited voice of the five year old Naruko as she hopped up thrusting a fist up into a victory pose. Below the younger Naruto was grinning in a huge fox grin before he pulled one of the girl's legs causing her to topple over beside him with a soft thump. The two children looked at one another for a second before both exploded into fresh giggles.

Even as the younger children played Naruto had managed to pull his legs out from under Naruko and thrust them up and into the girl's chest flinging her back out of the scene, rising to rush after her a moment later. Naruto ran into the darkness blinking as it faded and he found himself standing in his own home his whole family present in the living room as Minato bent down to explain to him about delaying his training, Kushina standing a few feet back still with Mito held in her belly.

Before Naruto could take in the scene anymore he was forced to raise a hand up to block a fist from Naruko flying in from his right. Naruto managed to deflect the blow and pin it to his side even as with a heave Naruko spun him into a wall of the house even as his younger self spoke up.

"Hai Tousan, you better watch out Neesan cause in a year I'm going to catch up in no time!" called the excited boy, causing the family to smile and the younger Naruko to stand up on the couch a large smile on her face.

"No way niisan I'm going to be Hokage just like tousan by then just watch!" she called even as the family laughed happily the room ringing with the happy sound. Meanwhile the two teens struggled against one another Naruto managing to push himself off of the wall and grabbing hold of the girls other arm and turning it into a wrestling match to stay on their feet, their faces inches from one another.

"Darn it Naruto stand down you don't know what's happening I'm trying to help you!" shouted Naruko even as she started to force Naruto back through the hall and back into the darkness around them. The two kept struggling until they stood in a clearing in what looked like mid-day the sun beating down on them as it did with the other four there.

Over to their side stood what looked like a seven year old Naruko and Minami both dressed in training gear as Minato and Kushina stood in front of them. As the two kept up their match each trying to push each other back the other figures kept up a conversation they seemed to have been having taking no notice of the other two.

"So are you two ready to get started?" called Kushina grinning down at the two excited to be able to get into the training for real after a year recovering and taking care of Mito. The girls smiled nodding in excitement, but the younger Naruko looked around confused for a moment before looking up at the adults her look questioning.

"Kaasan where is Naruto-niisan isn't he starting to train with us?" asked the girl causing the younger Minami to nod in agreement with the girls question. What the younger girl hadn't notice was the pained expressions that flashed across the older parents faces at the time before they had replied…but the older Naruko did and it caused her to pause just long enough for Naruto to force her back the pair once again plunging into the darkness and exiting out into a park scene where a young Naruko looked horrified as she turned to run from a red faced three year old Mito who had tears streaming out of her eyes. The young Naruko fled soon followed by a concerned looking Minami even at Mito turned to see a young Naruto looking at her with a pained expression.

"Mito why did you yell at Naruko-neesan like that?" asked the younger boy his voice soft but obviously carrying with it a bit of reprochfullness. The young Mito looked confused as she wiped stray tears from her eyes looking up at the boy, who had bent down onto one knees and reaching out to pull the smaller girl in making shushing sounds as she held her close. The small girl sobbed in his grip as he held her cradling her small form against his own as she continued to cry softly into his shoulder.

The teen pair broke apart for a moment Naruto jumping back to catch a quick breath even as the small girl managed to speak through her sobs.

"b-but neesan was being mean to aniki….i-I I don't know what to do." cried the smaller child as the younger Naruto just made soft comforting sounds running one hand softy through her long red hair as he did.

"It's ok imoto, Naruko-neesan just wants to protect you and me…she just gets a little block headed sometimes, but she means well. So I want you to promise me that you won't stay angry at her ok, cause she loves us more than anyone" reassured the younger boy as the small Mito blinked up at him small trails of tears still falling from her eyes as she did. The small girl gave a small tearful nod before smothering herself into the boys shoulder again.

Naruko looked from the scene playing out before her, and back to where Naruto stood her eyes slightly wide as she did.

_n-niisan said that to her…for me. _thought Naruko remembering the day, and how Mito had come to hug her just the next day, and had never even mentioned what had happened that day. As these thoughts flew past her eyes, she looked up to see Naruto backing up slowly from her his eyes seeming to notice something in her own. Naruko stretched out a hand towards him and was about to call after him as the boy stepped back and faded into the darkness. Without hesitating Naruko charged in after him.

Naruko burst through the blackness into another scene this one showing Naruto sitting alone in the yard as he looked off towards where she and the rest of the family were working on something noises of enjoyment drifting over to where the boy sat his eyes fixed upon the source of that happiness. As Naruko was about to make her way out of the clearing the small boy spoke up.

"W-why, I don't understand Juubi, I know they have to help Naruko and Minami neesans but why can't I be there to." The small boy asked apparently thin air, even as Naruko turned to face the child. Then from nowhere she heard a soft voice answer the child,

"**I know it's hard sometimes seedling, you can still leave if you want the training would be easier if you hadn't split yourself." **Spoke the soft tone, of what Naruko assumed had to the women she had briefly seen earlier in the hallway. As she watched the young Naruto shook his head in apparent disagreement.

"No, no no Juubi I told you I have to stay I can't leave them they're my family….besides if I left my neesans would be sad I mean they're always looking after me and all, i-I just want to be able to help them too you know." replied the boy. Although Naruko could not see the Juubi she could imagine the creature giving a small nod as it spoke its next words.

"**Hai seedling family isn't something you should ever let slip away from you." **Agree the voice. As those final words came the scene before her began to fade slowly away as if the color was simply draining out of it.

Naruko spun as the scene began to fade and saw a visage of Juubi standing not far away. As Naruko watched she to faded, and Naruko was left alone in darkness with only her thoughts to keep her company….and they were not pleasant ones.

_n-naruto was alone all that time a-and I never…w-we never even noticed…wh-why, how, I didn't mean to. No no please tell me it wasn't like that please I was trying to make sure I was strong enough to protect him… to protect all of them. That is what I'm supposed to do. _The girl though even as the scene shifted to show the figures of Minato and Jiraiya standing before the girls, who looked to be just turning eleven.

"See girls you two have a big responsibility ahead of you, as jinchuuriki you have to be very careful, but it also means that you will be able to accomplish more than anyone else your age. Now that doesn't mean you get to boss everyone around, but it does mean you have a duty to look after everyone else, remember Konoha is like one big family, and we protect our family." smiled Jiraiya while Minato nodded his head in agreement, and the younger versions of herself and Minami nodded in agreement. Naruko turned to the scene as another voice shot into her mind, her voice only younger like the child version of herself she had seen not long ago.

_But we left niisan behind and he was family….maybe we were wrong. _It spoke softly. These words cut into Naruko like a physical blade as she spun throwing out her arm trying to tear the voice and the scene before her away, all the while letting out a pained cry of utter anguish.

"NO!" she screamed into the darkness. "NO I WASN'T WRONG ITS JUST LIKE I WAS TOLD, I HAVE A DUTY TO PROTECT THEM I'LL MAKE SURE THAT EVERYONE IS SAFE THAT WE ALL ARE NO MATTER WHAT I HAVE TO LOSE!" she screamed in a pained voice as a flicker of color just behind her caught her eyes. Without thinking she spun to face whatever new memory or shadow had surface, and her eyes widened in horror at what she saw. There a few feet before her in a clearing that looked as though it must border some kind of lake or river stood two figures. The first was kneeling golden armor shining off of them while the long red hair she recognized as her Kaasans fluttered in the wind. She was almost standing directly beside the women, and therefore had a clear view of what she was facing. There no more than a foot away stood Naruto as she had seen him dressed before leaving for wave…a blade plunged clear through him even as the lights slowly faded from his eyes, and crimson droplets fell from him the ground…

Naruko screamed a cry of bone deep pain as tears fell from her eyes, and she found her legs unable to support her weight. She fell then still screaming her eyes wide even as the scene wavered and the imaged faded.

* * *

In another part of the mindscape Naruko's cries could not be heard over the roar of the great fox that glared two giant red eyes down at the women who stood before his cage her black pools full of sadness, and small star like tears glistening on them as she spoke.

"**Will you not even give me a chance Sochi?" **Juubi asked, her tone carrying a note of pleading in it as she looked up at the great fox. Kyuubi in turn let out a snort before roaring down at the women again. The fox had been threatening and cursing at the women for a time now, even as she pleaded and begged him to let her speak to him to explain…but the fox would have none of it.

"**I TOLD YOU TO STOP CALLING ME THAT MOSTER! TOUSAN TOLD ME ALL ABOUT YOU, IF I RELAX FOR A MOMENT YOU'LL HAVE ME, BUT I WON'T LET YOU IF NOT FOR THIS CAGE I WOULD TEAR YOU APART!" **the fox cried as he slammed his tails into the bars of his prison sending waves through both it and the water around it. Juubi did not flinch away from the harsh words of her sochi, but stood looking at him even as fresh tears poured from her eyes. After a moment she nodded her head as if accepting something and without warning stepped forwards through the space between the bars of the cage.

The Kyuubi let out a roar of anger as it first sprang back from her, landing in the center of the massive cage his slitted eyes narrowing as he let out another massive roar. Juubi did not seem to pay him any mind and simply took a few more steps out before stopping to look at the massive fox her face showing nothing but a clear sadness upon it. Without warning the Kyuubi shot forwards one clawed hand stretched out before it claws extended like some massive spears aimed straight for the women's chest.

There was no resistance as the first claw rammed through the women, no twitch, no movement to avoid the blow at all, and no cry of pain. The Kyuubi came to a halt looking down at where the women stood still unmoving her black eyes looking into his red ones even as his claw plunged through her, and bits of odd purple fluid seemed to swell from the tip that stuck out of her back. Kyuubi couldn't understand, she had just let him attack her, and even now was just looking at him. He was still frozen when she gently leaned forwards to brusher her hands softly against his massive paw, a small smile playing across her lips even as tears continued to fall from her eyes.

"**Ju-just look at how big they've gotten…when you were born they were so small, so fragile…and I never got to hold you…none of you, but I saw them, I saw your ears and tails take their first twitches…you grabbed hold of Shukaku's tail first thing do you remember that…" **Juubi said her voice almost dancing in painful happiness as she just ran her hand through the fox's fur. The fox just seemed to deflate as he heard the words, his own mind remembering the vague shadow of a memory he had held of his birth. Of the figure standing back from where he was…no that wasn't right being held back crying and looking at him with those eyes. The same ones now looking at him now.

"**And then I was gone… away from all of you..and all I could do was watch.. watch as you went out into the world…so Kyuubi please...even if you hate me...just let me be here with you like I dreamed of from the moment I first saw you." **Juubi asked looking up into the fox's face. Kyuubi's mind was spinning, his memories flashing by of the sage's words… his warnings…and of his death. The times after when his uncle had tried to tell them about a mistake, but he hadn't listened. How his older siblings had argued about what had happened…always he had simply followed his Tousans words…b-but the woman before him didn't seem like a monster…no she felt safe.

Slowly the Kyuubi drew back its claw, getting a small sob from the women as her hand was slipped out of his fur. Without thinking Kurama swept one of his massive tails forwards towards her, but instead of crashing into her it simply caught her as she stumbled a little. The women seemed to sink into the fur sobbing as she just took happiness in feeling his closeness. At some point Kyuubi had begun to cry himself, and as she bent down he brought the tail and the women close to him until they were pressed softly against his cheek whispering a single word as he did.

"**Ka-kaasan." **He breathed out, causing the women to let out a happy sob and bury herself deeper into his fur trying to hold as much of the fox as she could even as she choked out a few words between the cries.

"**S-sochi…oh my Kurama….t-thank you." **She replied. And so the two sat there for a time simply holding one another, never wanting to let the other go from their grip.

* * *

Elsewhere Naruko had collapsed still crying drawing her knees into herself as she cried softly into them. Every now and then there would be a small sob, usually accompanied by an apology, or a single name…Naruto. She sat there for what must have seemed like an eternity before a small voice called out to her.

"N-naruko N-neesan what's wrong?" called a child's voice. Naruko looked up to see a five year old Naruto standing a few feet away his face holding a look of concern upon it as he looked at her. Naruko looked behind her for a moment searching for what the memory could be talking to, but found nothing there. Then she felt a small hand rest itself on her own as the voice spoke again.

"Ne-neesan why are you crying?" the boy asked again. Naruko almost broke down into fresh sobs as she all but leapt forwards wrapping the child in her arms and drawing him in close to her, fresh tears spilling from her eyes as she did.

"Na-naruto oh kami, I'm sorry, please, I'm so sorry, please don't leave me…I didn't mean to hurt you please I'll never do it again…please…..please.." her cries petered out into an almost chant, begging pleading for any kind of forgiveness from the boy. The child stood there for a moment before it wrapped its arms around the girl's neck holding her close as well, and speaking in a soft voice.

"oh course Naruko-neesan that's what family is for." The child replied. As Naruko blinked tears from her eyes she looked up to see that the child was emitting a soft golden glow. She almost cried out again as the child slowly began to break apart, but a whisper kept her from doing so.

"It's ok Neesan, I'm not going anywhere… I promise dattebayo." Whispered the voice as the golden light began to eat away at the surrounding darkness. The blackness gave way to a field of soft green grass that slowly spread out around her even as a clear sky began to become visible as the blackness seemed to be wiped away from it. Naruko, however didn't notice, her eyes were drawn to a figure standing just a few feet from a great white tree… the figure of her Niisan. Without a pause Naruto slowly walked down to where the girl sat offering her a hand up. She took it before he pulled her into a strong hug holding her close.

She held strong for a moment before allowing herself to cry out once again fresh tears falling from her eyes as she pulled herself into her Niisan, who just held her whispering softly as he ran one hand gently though her long blond hair.

"Welcome back Neesan." spoke the blond boy, as he held his sister close and the two simply allowed themselves to bask in the happiness of being a family once again.

**Ok done…..wow that turned out to be pretty long lol .. I hope everyone liked that fight and that it didn't seem rushed or forced. If you have any questions or comments I would be happy to answer them. In the meantime let it be known the contest ends in the next chapter so keep up the guessing. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and that you are excited for what comes next. Thanks again for all of your amazing support Songbird out!**


	21. Chapter 19

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Ok everyone the contest is officially over, I will posting the winners at the end of this chapter and for those of you that won first congratulations, and second your prizes will be sent out as soon as I get around to writing them . Don't worry they will all be out as soon as I can get them that way, just have a lot of work at the moment with class starting back up.

Now a few things I would like to announce before going any farther. First is that I would like to thank each and every one of you who reviewed for last chapter. It took me some hard work to get that chapter the way I wanted it, and I think the finished product was well put together, but you never can tell until it's out there so thanks for the large response, got me writing this one almost the next day so thank you again. Now that brings me to my second point you see there was one review who I owe an apology to. If Zentari2238 is reading this then I am sorry for the way I reacted to your post. It is my belief that any review is fair, as long as it is not trolling and I didn't practice that on your review, and for that I am sorry. This story is supposed to be for fun, to shoot something out there that I would want to read, I should be grateful that someone cares about it enough to want to see it improve, and instead I acted like a child. For that I am sorry.

Ok on to a happier topic some people pointed out that Naruto needs a large power up….lol I love keeping you guys in the dark I'm so evil. I will say this chapter will explain what I mean, but let me just leave you with a question before I start it. We have seen Naruto's abilities from training with Kushina in shape manipulation, and his seedlings learning along the same lines…..now what could Juubi have been taking him away to train with alone since wave ….god I'm evil lol.

Also I have over a thousand followers….he he thump… a door opened up and a tiny redhead poked her head into songbirds room looking around and spotting the man lying on his back a small smile plasters across his face. The girls head drooped slightly before she marched over and flung a blanket over the still from turning to the monitor as she did.

"Sorry everybody Songbird had to take a little nap, but don't worry he has the chapter done." Called Mito as she gave the monitor and little wave and smile.

Ok enough stalling enjoy!

**Chapter 19**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-We can throw one heck of a party-**

"It's ok Neesan, I'm not going anywhere… I promise dattebayo." Whispered the voice as the golden light began to eat away at the surrounding darkness. The blackness gave way to a field of soft green grass that slowly spread out around her even as a clear sky began to become visible as the blackness seemed to be wiped away from it. Naruko, however didn't notice, her eyes were drawn to a figure standing just a few feet from a great white tree… the figure of her Niisan. Without a pause Naruto slowly walked down to where the girl sat offering her a hand up. She took it before he pulled her into a strong hug holding her close.

She held strong for a moment before allowing herself to cry out once again fresh tears falling from her eyes as she pulled herself into her Niisan, who just held her whispering softly as he ran one hand gently though her long blond hair.

"Welcome back Neesan." spoke the blond boy, as he held his sister close and the two simply allowed themselves to bask in the happiness of being a family once again. For a long moment the two just stood there holding one another, until a sound like a thunderclap rent the air and the two blondes spun their heads as a whine of apparent pain shot up from far off to their right.

Both teens looked at one another for a moment before nodding and turning to run towards the source of the sound. When they arrived Naruto almost fell over laughing as Naruko just looked on, her own mouth falling open at the sight before her. The Kyuubi was hanging from the top of his cage, literally hanging his many tails wrapped around the bars on its top while his great paws held onto it for dear live as it looked down with comically watering eyes to the figure below it. Tracking the fox's gaze Naruko saw Juubi standing there her fists set on her hips looking up at the fox with all the authority a Kaasan could possess.

"**Sochi you get down here right this instant you pranked your sister ****Chōmei for over a hundred years and I won't have my children getting away with that!" **called the woman raising a hand to point up at the great fox and then down to the now grassy ground below her with a swift motion as she called, **"now get down here and accept your punishment!" **

The fox responded by tightening its grip on the top of the cage and shaking its head violently from side to side before shouting back down at the woman.

"**No I am the great Kyuubi no Yoko and I will not** **allow you to spank me like some errant child, if you want that go find Kyu!" **shouted the beast even as Juubi crossed her arms and fixed an annoyed look on her face as she did before responding.

"**What you are mister, is in a great deal of trouble if you don't get down here right now, and Kyu already got his punishment, and now it's your turn I'm not angry about the claw but I will not let this slide." **called the woman, even as the fox shook its head in apparent dismissal of the woman's comment.

"**Never! You may be my Kaasan but I will not be treated like a child!" **fired back the fox, even as Juubi quirked an eyebrow up in apparent amusement before she allowed her head to drop slightly, absently rubbing one hand over her forehead.

"**Says the ten story fox currently clinging to the ceiling like a frightened cat, kami give me patience, at least Kyu took his spanking like a man." **The woman continued to mutter to herself. This was the breaking point for Naruko as she too succumbed to a fit of laughter beside Naruto. The combined noise drew Juubi's attention behind her, and a large smile broke out over her face as she saw the two laughing children standing out on the grassy meadow. She looked up giving Kyuubi one more annoyed look before making her way over to the two who were just managing to stifle their laughter.

"**So Naruto I see you and your neesan seem to be doing better, how about it Naruko are you going to attack me again?" **asked the Juubi her tone, carry a twinge of mockery, but surrounded by a bone deep happiness that made it come off more playful than hurtful. Naruko had just managed to stop her laughter, and shot an annoyed look up into Juubi's wide black eyes, taking note of the teasing smile spreading across her face as she did. The girl managed to straighten herself before breathing out a reply.

"N-no." the girl responded a little embarrassment at her own actions clear on her voice. Juubi saw this and the small downcast look on the girl's face, and shrugged before plopping a hand down on the blonde's head ruffling her hair slightly as she did.

"**It is ok Naruko, this is all a bit fast but I'd like for you and I to be friends, so let's just start fresh. You can call me Juubi and I hope that we can get along. Besides,"** here she shot a thumb back over her shoulder at where Kyuubi was still hanging from the top of his cage, **"my youngest is renting a room here, I should at least try and be on good terms with the landlord shouldn't I." **she finished in a kind tone, that brought a small smile to Naruko's lips.

"Hai, thank you Juubi-san." replied the girl giving the woman a smile, just as Naruto managed to control his laughter and stepped forward to clap on hand onto his neesan's shoulder.

"Aw come on Juubi lay off, after all she's still getting over losing to me in the match." chuckled Naruto a large smile spreading across his face as he said it. Naruko spun to face her brother an annoyed look now on her face instead of a saddened one.

"Ya right Niisan I totally had you beat, I was holding back, and I was still bouncing you all over that stadium." Shot back the girl making Naruto's smile falter slightly as he looked back at the girl a little annoyed as well.

"Bouncing all over, heck you were doing your fair share of that if I remember, and I was holding back too and besides I got you in here didn't I." Naruto fired back leaning in just as Naruko did the same. Naruko waved that aside for a moment before speaking again.

"Ya but that doesn't change the fact that if I hadn't pulled my punches you would look like Neji after his fight with Hinata." The blond girl replied leaning in even more just as Naruto had. Naruto in turn leaned in until their heads were almost butting together, and let out a small growl.

"Want to try me?" he said in a challenging tone a smile spreading across his face as he said it. Naruko smiled as well, the same smile she had once worn years ago when the two were still children, when one had challenged the other to a game. Neither had ever been willing to back down, and this was no exception.

"Bring it on niisan!" Naruko said, her voice carrying a happiness in its challenge that had not been there for years. Sometimes it is the simplest things that brought people comfort, and for the siblings their old rivalry was just that, there were still many things that the two needed to overcome between each other. Even now Naruto could see the ghost of those feelings etched into Naruko's eyes, and Naruko could see the small twinges of pain still visited upon Naruto as well, but for now….just for now they could be as they once were, without anything else to focus on nothing to take their attention away from one another.

Which is probably why they didn't see it coming when Juubi swung a fist down onto the top of both children's heads causing them to let out gasps of pain as they both pulled up their hands to rub furiously over the small bumps appearing on their heads even as water appeared at the edges of their vision. As the two looked up at Juubi she had an exasperated look on her face as she let out a small sigh.

"**I swear Kushina must have had the patience of a saint to look after you two as children." **The woman muttered as she gave the two a wiry smile. Both teens shot the woman an annoyed look even as they continued to nurse their heads slightly.

"Gah niisan it's like you have another Kaasan living in your head, and she hits just about as hard." Commented Naruko as Naruto paused for a moment before letting out a small chuckle.

"Hai I guess I do, but she does keep me in line, heck if not for her I'd probably have been ranting and raving like a maniac shouting about my vengeance, and going emo on everyone." Replied Naruto giving his Neesan a small smile, that didn't quite cover up the twinge of sadness that had come from thinking of how much he had been forced to rely on Juubi. True she had been happy to help him, but it was never easy for him to remember that it had been necessary because of his own messed up childhood. Naruko seemed to sense in some way Naruto's discomfort before doing something she hadn't done for him in years. She leaned over and grabbed the boys head in a headlock, laughing as she did.

"Oh no you don't Niisan I already have to deal with one emo, and trust me Sasuke is enough of one for any village." Laughed Naruko as Naruto struggled to break the girls grip, laughing despite himself as he did so. After a moment Naruto managed to slip out of the headlock before giving little huff, looking away from Naruko in mock contempt.

"As if I, the great and powerful holder of the mighty Juubi, would sink to such levels of self-pity." The boy said in lofty tone that caused both Naruko and Juubi to look at one another before they both stepped forward to push Naruto so that he toppled back onto the grass with a soft thump accompanied by the playful giggles of the two females.

As Naruto was making his way back to his feet Naruko was just beginning to relax, her mind finally coming down from what had occurred to her moments before, and with it came a fresh release of questions, and before she could stop herself, she let one tumble from her mouth.

"Naruto why didn't you tell me, Tousan and pervy sage about having Juubi with you for so long?" asked Naruko not noticing that the gentle breeze that had been blowing around the open field had suddenly stopped. What she did notice was that Naruto seemed to stiffen slightly his hands gripping the ground tightly as if holding back something. Juubi looked over worriedly at Naruto and then back to Naruko as she stepped forward reaching out to the boy a worried expression on her face.

Right before her hand alighted upon his shoulder her wrist was caught in a strong pale hand. As she looked up Juubi's black eyes meet her own, as she gave the younger woman a small shake of her head before pulling her lightly away, even as the grass around the boy slowly darkened, as if it were feeding on something deadly. Naruko looked both confused and scared as she caught the sound of two voices arguing with one another from where Naruto sat, as though there were two boys there instead of the one she was seeing. Confused she looked up at Juubi who had lead her away a few feet, and was looking back at the boy's form a concerned look on her face as she did.

"**Naruko you need to leave him alone for a moment, he needs to gather himself again." **Spoke Juubi her tone not commanding, but carrying with it a gravity, that did not suffer anyone to question it. Naruko looked confusingly from her to the form of her niisan before turning back to Juubi her face etched with confusion and concern she was still not sure of what to think of this Juubi woman, but it looked like Naruto was in some kind of pain.

"W-what do you mean, what is going on with Naruto?" she managed to ask, even as Juubi looked down at her, and let out a small sigh.

"**I suppose you need to know something, I take it that he showed you a few of his memories during your fight?" **began the woman getting a small nod from the girl.

"h-hai I saw….i saw him.." here she was forced to stop as the vision of Naruto impaled resurfaced in her mind. Juubi seemed to understand the girl without her saying another word and nodded before continuing.

"**I see he showed you the events in wave, well that makes things a little easier to explain. I'll leave most of it for him to tell you but for now I'll cover the basics. You see Naruto was split, not unlike how my sochi Kyuubi and Kyu are now. You grew up knowing the Naruto from wave, and when he was attacked he was mortally wounded, and the other Naruto and he joined together again, but there was damage, you see the Naruto now is made up of those two halves, and usually they are in agreement, and you see the happy boy you knew your whole life." **explained the Juubi Naruko looking more confused then ever.

"W-wait then what's this?" she asked pointed over to where Naruto was sitting the voice's slowly fading as she did. Juubi turned a sad face over to look at where the boy sat letting out a breath as she looked at him.

"**This is when the parts don't agree, think of it like when you argue with yourself, only a little more literal. You see one half of Naruto is still hurt by the hokage's actions, and wants him to answer for what he did to him, but also still wants to have a tousan. The other side was the one who watched Naruto be left alone and then die before him powerless to do anything" **continued Juubi her tone soft and worried. Naruko looked up at her and then back to where the grass was slowly coming back to life around the boy, as Naruto seemed to be coming to the end of his private debate.

"a-and that other Naruto what does he want?" asked Naruko scared of what she was about to hear. Juubi looked down at her for a moment before looking back at where Naruto was pushing himself up to his feet.

"**When he learned the true reason for it all….he wanted to kill the hokage, and Jiraiya with his own hands." **the woman said getting a shocked look from Naruko as she looked over to her niisan's form, a vague memory of his first response to her when he had arrived back from wave, as though he had been holding himself back from her in some way, and with that came a fresh wave of sadness.

_Kami n-naruto what have we done to you? _She thought her hands tightening into fists, as her own anger at herself grew. However, before she could do more than look down ashamed a soft hand alighted upon her shoulder and she looked up to see Juubi offering her a small smile.

"**It is alright Naruko, he is getting better, and you being here for him will help more than you could ever know. The thing to remember is that Naruto is doing this because he wants to, he had a choice to make, and he chose to have a family again… as for your tousan... Well let's just say that his will be a much harsher wake up call, but I think Naruto will be able to manage just fine if you're willing to help him." **spoke Juubi offering her a smile as she finished. Naruko considered the woman's words for a moment before nodding, but noticing something missing from Juubi's words before speaking up again.

"Juubi you said he wanted to work things out with Tousan….what about pervy sage?" asked Naruko, as the boy turned to see them and slowly made his way over to them and embarrassed little smile on his face.

"**Oh the toad, well I wouldn't hold my breath." **Replied Juubi just as Naruto came within earshot, calling out a small apology as he did, even as his mind replayed the recent argument over in his head.

-argument a few moments before-

"_THE HOKAGE! AS IF I WOULD TELL HIM OR THAT DAMN TOAD ANYTHING! WHAT THE HELL IS NEESAN THINKING ASKING ME THAT MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE POUNDED HER INTO THE GROUND A FEW MORE TIMES CAUSE HER HEAD SEEMS TO BE PRACTICALLY FULL OF SO MUCH USLESS CRAP SHE COULD STAND TO LOSE SOME OF IT!" _one half of the boy shouted, to himself the sound forcibly continued, so that it came out only as a whisper to those around his form. Immediately another voice calmer and gentler responded to the others harshness.

_Neesan didn't know, how could she, darn it we have been over this she is just as much a victim here as we are. We are not taking out our anger and failings on others, not after what we just went through to get close to her again. Do you want to waste that chance..w-we just argued like we use to…we smiled, we laughed isn't that what we wanted? _The other voice responded in an almost pleading tone. This seemed to halt the other for a moment before there was a growl of anger and it continued.

"_Fine your right about Neesan, but darn it, if she thinks we are just going to leap back to the Hokage and that useless excuse for a godfather after some nice words she can forget it. She, Minami and Kaasan may have been hurt just like us, but it ends there as far as I'm concerned. I won't be letting him get away scot free from hurting them and me just like that queen from snow, or spring or whatever it's called hurt Mito." _Shot back the voice. The other let out a sigh of apparent exasperation before speaking up again.

_Hai, hai fair enough we both know that the Hokage and toad have some things to answer for, but lashing out at others when they come near our family isn't the way to solve anything. You and I both know that we don't want to be some raging lunatic, so just calm down already, I swear it's no wonder all of Juubi's kids have anger issues, I swear did she put something in your food while you were with her or something? _The voice replied half mocking. The other let out a small indignant huff before letting a small amount of annoyed happiness creep into his tone as he replied.

"_Ha as if, Juubi was just ok with me expressing my anger is all, not all of us had Hinata-chan to cuddle up with in the park, or take on secret dates to the hokage monument." _It shot back actually drawing a small smile from its fellow.

_Still jealous about that are you? _Mocked the other the laughter almost visible in his tone. The other let out an annoyed huff before responding.

"_Ya well I'm here now, and you didn't seem to mind letting me take command during that last kiss, haha I swear you were so shocked I was afraid you would freeze up on me again." _The voice huffed out in a mocking tone that caused the other to fall silent for a moment.

"_But I guess you're right sorry, let's just get back to neesan already, we must look like a lunatic at the moment…..a-and it was good to see her like that again i-it's been a long time." _The voice finished, as the other gave a mental equivalent of a nod as they allowed themselves to shift back into one entity again. As they did Naruto blinked slightly as he felt a small headache.

"Gah I hate it when I, they…we? Oh whatever I hate it when that happens, why is it my mind has to go into a civil war all the time, still I guess it does make me happy knowing that they are still there…here…ahhhhh forget it where did Neesan and Juubi go." Naruto said to himself as he stood up and looked around spotting them a short distance off.

-end of argument-

"Sorry about that just had to get my head in order." chuckled Naruto as he reached the pair one hand slipping idly behind his head and scratching it lightly. The gesture was so Naruto that Naruko found herself relaxing as she saw him do it.

_I guess niisan really is still here… _she thought as she let a smile cross her features and playfully punched Naruto's arm before speaking up.

"Hai you better be, I don't want to win on account of you having a mental breakdown." She said noting the irony of her words as she did so. Naruto grinned as well for a moment before seeming to pause for a moment as if only remembering something he had just forgotten.

"Oh ya about that, I kind of forgot but we have to push back our fight for a while, something big is happening in the stadium, I don't know what but I've been hearing weird things all month from around the village, and something big is supposed to happen today at the stadium from what I've heard today." The boy said drawing Naruko's attention in once again.

"Huh? What do you mean something big?" she asked her tone expressing the confusion mirrored in her face. Naruto gave a small shrug, in answer.

"Don't know exactly, I have just heard snippets here and there from my pollen net, but the village is on high alert, and something is going on, I just don't know what." Replied the blonde. He then proceeded to explain the idea of the pollen net, and the info he had managed to gather with them over the past month. After he had finished Naruko nodded in understanding.

"Hai I guess wearing each other out more in a fight wouldn't do us any good, but still it's not like we can just call a halt to it and give up right?" she asked as a large smile played across the boy's face. For a second Naruko looked confused before she started shaking her head in apparent fear of what was to come.

"Oh no, no way we are not settling the match like we did when we were kids I never won once against you and you know it!" called Naruko even as the boys smile grew steadily bigger threatening to cover his whole face.

"Hai neesan that." Replied Naruto letting out a small chuckle as Naruko dropped her head in an over the top comical gesture of surrender.

"You're evil Niisan…b-but it's nice to talk to you like this again." She said giving him a happy look as she straightened herself back up. Naruto simply shrugged before holding out a hand, and speaking.

"Hai it is, now get ready to lose Neesan!" he called his voice echoing around the open expanse of grass around the pair.

* * *

In the arena everyone had been watching with anticipation as the commotion below was obscured momentarily by a burst of smoke as Naruto had tackled Naruko to the ground. A moment after the two teens had crashed to the arena floor the remaining sea of clones exploded into clouds of smoke throwing up a concealing dome. As the smoke finally cleared it showed first four of the black figures, two of them having to work to pull themselves out of holes they had been smashed into looking around apparently just as confused as the audience.

A moment later the figures of Naruko and Naruto came into view, the boy still crouched over his fellow blond only this time with a kunai held in his hand and to the girl's throat. For a moment no-one spoke, and then from the two a voice issued out slightly horse from apparent discomfort.

"P-proctor I surrender!" called Naruko her voice carrying in the silence of the arena clearly. A moment later the Jonin who had been standing a good deal back flickered into view beside the pair, his eyes tracking wearily around to the black figures around him for a moment before raising a hand up in the air and calling out in a loud voice.

"NARUKO UZUMAKI NAMIKAZE HAS SURRENDERED! NARUTO UZUMAKI IS THE WINNNER!" he called his voice ringing out around the stadium. For a second there was no response to his words, till a sudden call of happiness came from a familiar part of the stadium.

"THAT WAS AWSOME, ANIKI AND NARUKO-NEESAN WERE AWSOME! YOU TO SEED-KUN!" called a young girl's voice overflowing with apparent happiness and excitement. The girl's voice seemed to act as a trigger, and soon the crowd was roaring its approval, even a few of the shinobi joining in, though most still watched the black figures below with obvious suspicion.

Naruto stood up offering a hand to Naruko, which she took and soon the two were standing giving a small wave as they moved back towards the contestant box, and medical area. The seedlings in the meantime where following behind humming happily as they did, one even waving excitedly at the crowd unfortunately shifting into its Ino form as it did so, and bringing forth what sounded like a series of curses and shouting from a part of the stands that had been silent a moment before, but that could have been simply the two's imagination. As they walked Naruko elbowed Naruto gently in the side, with a look of annoyance on her face.

"It just had to be janken didn't it, you know I'm horrible at that game." She whispered to him, even as he forced himself to keep from laughing as the two made their way through the arena.

"Hey not my fault you always lose." He teased as they continued on nearing the contestant booth, Tsunade and Shizune standing a few feet in front of it, both looking at the two approaching teens with hopeful, and at the same time proud looks on their faces. Naruto let his face show a small smile as the two stepped forwards running brief check over the two.

"Well gaki's this is odd now isn't it Naruko you don't look all that hurt, it's almost as if you two decided to throw the fight." Tsunade said with a knowing tone and smile that caused the teens to smile back at her. Shizune in the meantime handed both a couple chakra pills before giving the two a quick hug.

"Good match you too I have to say most of the crowd are still picking their mouths off the ground." Continued Tsunade fixing a few of the minor scrapes on Naruto, Naruko's having already healed thanks to Kyuubi's presence. At this Naruko gave Naruto a playful shove that almost overbalanced the boy, Naruko was many things but a delicate flower wasn't one of them, however all her action got was a happy little smile from the rest of the group.

"Ya well thank this guy for that, and those." She said jabbing a thumb back at the seedling's who were standing behind the two humming slightly in apparent contentment. Shizune gave a shrug at her words while Naruto looked over towards the four seedlings still behind him as if he had managed to forget they were there. With a small pulse they all collapsed back into seeds and shot into his coat taking their places on the tree on its back once again.

"You know you're going to have to explain how exactly that works sooner or later." Naruko said while Naruto just gave her a mischievous grin before replying.

"Hai, hai but for now you just get to be amazed by how awesome I am." This caused Naruko to roll her eyes as the two started to make their way back to the competitors box. As they approached Naruto held out his hand to Naruko palm down pushing something into the girls hands as he did. When Naruko looked down she saw a small black orb the size of a marble. Before she was able to ask what it was about Naruto's voice spoke up in her head.

_It's just a gift Neesan, don't worry it won't explode or anything…..at least I don't think so. _He finished in a tone only a known prankster can master. Naruko was about to ask how he was doing this, but thought back briefly to the discussion and decided just to wait. After all she had already learned a lot for one day, and if Naruto's feeling was correct the day was going to get more interesting…._great more craziness, just what I needed. _She thought as the two reached the steps and started up them.

_Preaching to the choir Neesan, preaching to the choir. _Naruto replied causing the two to snigger slightly as they reached to top of the booth. Before the two blondes could prepare themselves they were both impacted in by two figures. Naruko was the first as Minami crashed into her giving her a hug as she did, the girls own pollen allowing her to instantly communicate with her Neesan.

_Naruko, you baka I was worried about you, but you did it didn't you, Naruto and you are ok now, that's great now I can stop hiding it from you, Kyu was driving me crazy wanting to talk to Kyuubi about it, oh and good match by the way. _The redhead said firing off so many comments that Naruko at first thought that Mito had suddenly aged a few years and had replaced Minami in the booth with her. After a moment Naruko was able to steady herself enough to reply.

_H-hai Minami w-we are getting better, I won't say it is fixed or anything but we have a chance now….a-and sorry for being so pig headed about everything…thanks for trying to help me see it, if you hadn't I don't know if Naruto and I could have this chance….so…thanks Neesan. _the blonde replied just getting an exasperated smile from Minami as she gave her neesan another quick hug.

_No problem Naruko, after all one of us has to keep their head in this group, or you and Naruto would have blown up the whole stadium before one of you gave in, I swear you two are the most stubborn people I know…. But it's good to have you with us again. _Replied Minami as the two broke apart, and turned to see their brother locked in another long kiss, with Hinata. At first the two just blinked as the kiss seemed to stretch on, for a few seconds…then a bit longer. Finally even Sasuke was having to suppress a blush at the two's antics and Minami spoke up.

"OK THAT'S IT HINATA, YOU AND NARUTO GET A ROOM SOME OF US HERE ARE SINGLE AND YOU'RE MAKING US FEEL INADIQUATE!" called Minami loud enough to break the couple out of whatever world they had been lost in, and bringing them back, causing both to flush bright red as they looked around the booth at everyone's watching eyes. For a moment neither moved, then to everyone surprise Hinata leaned up to kiss Naruto once more before taking his hand and walking them over to the railing, in a posture that made it clear that embarrassed or not, she was not going to let anyone else forget who Naruto belonged to. Naruto in the meantime just followed her with a small grin on his face as he looked around at the rest of the men in the booth, as if saying "Ya that's my girl!" As the two teens reached the railing, both Naruko and Minami looked at one another for a moment before sending each other a small mental agreement.

_Ok ya Hinata-chan might be onto something we need to find a guy. _They thought at the same time, causing them to giggle a bit even as the announcer's voice rang out again and Sasuke and Gaara moved to exit the contestant box.

* * *

While the Jonin proctor called for the next round of contestants, and a red and black haired youth respectively made their way into the arena, a figure in the kage box was looking like he had just been hit squarely in the face by one of Tsunade's blows. Jiraiya was looking down as though he expected someone to suddenly jump out and yell just kidding, and show him that the last few minutes had been some kind of dream. His mind raced as he tried to make some sense of what he had seen.

Naruko…the child of prophecy…ha-had lost…had been beaten by Naruto, a boy that had only followed the basic ninja training…true he didn't know what exactly the boy had been using in the fight, and he was determined to figure out just what was going on, but at the moment his mind was consumed by one overarching thought. Naruko had lost…she had fallen. And as is the case when the mind is forced to comprehend something it doesn't want to it grasps at straws trying to find some kind of thread to attach onto. And the thread he found was one that led to a truly unpleasant view.

The way the old man's mind saw it there were only three possibilities to explain what he had seen. First that Naruko wasn't the child of prophecy, and that it was now clearly Minami, as she fit all of the requirements now, but he had been so sure it would be Naruko, well he supposed he could have been wrong about the girl, but still Naruto's abilities made it harder to simply write Naruko off. The second possibility was that the defeat had meant nothing… after all the prophecy had said fallen, it hadn't said how, for all he knew this defeat was nothing more significant than a set back or a coincidence, but again Naruto's strange new abilities seemed to strange to simply be dismissed again. Which brought him to his final view…and most assuredly the worst possible of the three. What if Naruto was somehow involved, true he couldn't be the child of prophecy, after all he didn't have any great burden like the girls, and how could he be two people, but could he be an obstacle. Jiraiya had never considered threats to the prophecy, in fact where had Naruto gotten his abilities….and there were powers working in the shadows these days….but at the moment this was all speculation.

Jiraiya may not have found any answers yet, but one thing he was sure of, after the tournament Naruto was going to have some major explaining to do. As this final part flashed vaguely through his mind the sage looked over to where Minato sat, looking just as blank as he had after he had taken his seat half way through the match. For all the movement or noise he was making he might as well have been a statue. Jiraiya seeing this put his own mental debate aside for a moment and walked over to stand by the hokage bending down as he did.

"Hey gaki, we need to look into this, but for now you need to focus, you're in the middle of the tournament, I know it's hard, but we need to not show any weakness here, so just put it away for now. Minato's head cocked slightly as if he had been poked suddenly as he turned to fix Jiraiya with a look that clearly indicated he was questioning the others sanity at the moment.

_f-focus….is he serious he wants me to focus on some blasted tournament, some stupid politics, or my fucking job, my sochi just won against my musume, something I would have called impossible an hour ago, and he wants be to focus. I have all but destroyed my family, I have hurt and pushed everyone I have ever loved to the breaking point, all of it to figure out some FUCKING PROPHECY AND I'VE FOLLOWED EVERYTHING YOU HAVE SAID LIKE SOME DAMNED PUPPET AND NOW IT LOOKS LIKE IT WAS ALL POINTLESS BECAUSE APPARENTLY NARUTO MANAGED TO BEST ALL OF OUR WORK DESPITE ME BASICALLY ABANDONING THE CHILD! AND HE WANTS ME TO FOCUS, THE ONLY FOCUS I HAVE RIGHT NOW IS DECIDING WHERE I WANT TO HIT HIM WITH MY RASENGAN, AND WHERE I WANT TO PLUNG THE DAMN THING INTO MY SELF, CAUSE I'M STARTING TO THINK I HAVE LOST EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER LOVED AND IT WAS __ALL FUCKING POINTLESS!_ Minato roared inside his mind. The intensity of his anger at both the man before him and himself was so great that the intent coming off of him almost caused the other members in the Kage booth to lose their own composure, as they fought against their own instincts to distance themselves from what felt like a volcano about to erupt. Whether for better or worse Minato's rage actually managed to render him incapable to speaking further, and he simply looked from the man beside him and back down at the arena trying not to contemplate a murder slash suicide combo as the next competitors Gaara and Sasuke entered the stadium floor. As for his guilt….well it would be the one aiming his strikes, it had had enough of its peaceful and passive resistance, and was seriously throwing in with the mutual destruction option.

* * *

While this was occurring over with the rest of the Hokage's family, while a few of its members were busy celebrating the last match in their own way. Mito had been jumping up and down for the last few minutes giggling and calling out excitedly as the match had ended. She wasn't concerned about winners and losers for the last match, all she had cared about was that the two seemed happy when they had left, and for her that meant the world. First Minami-neesan and now Naruko-neesan, she was seeing her family happier than she could ever remember them being, and for her that was the greatest feeling she had ever known.

Unfortunately her celebration had, had an easily foreseeable result. As Mito had begun to cheer and clap the banner she was holding had of course fallen out of her hands and the cloth had been dragged forwards over the figures sitting next to her. So for a moment it looked like she was cheering beside several very lazy trick or treater's, before the three managed to pull the banner off of them with the helpful hand of Hanabi.

As the banner came down off of Hitomi and Hiashi they turned at a small soft choking sound coming from over where Kushina still sat covered by the folds of the banner. The two looked at one another for a moment as Hanabi hopped down to join in Mito's cheers, and then back to where the women sat apparently unbothered by the sheet currently obscuring her from view. Hitomi gave Hiashi a small concerned look that he understood without words, and with a gentle effort he lifted Hitomi gently from her seat and carried her over setting her beside her friend before moving over taking the two younger children with him. Hitomi gently leaned over to Kushinas covered form as she gently pulled the cover off the woman, allowing the soft sound of sobbing to come out no longer muffled by the cloth. There Kushina sat her eyes pressed shut, but unable to halt the slow trickle of tears that came from her eyes all the same. She had pulled Kyueed close to her chest and was cradling it as though it were a child, the small orb letting out a small concerned whine barely audible over the woman's own stifled tears.

Hitomi reached out resting a hand upon her friends shoulder and leaning in before speaking.

"Kushina, what's wrong I thought you would be happy, Naruto won." Asked the confused woman as Kushina shook her head allowing a few tears to fly from her and land on the area around her.

"I-I am happy Hito-chan, I'm so very happy…h-he did it again….what did I do to deserve a Sochi like him that would fix all of my failures…..oh my maelstrom…thank you." Whispered the redhead more to herself than to Hitomi. The Hyuuga woman didn't say anything more. She understood her friend's words all too well. To see something like her family saved was the greatest gift Kushina had not dared to truly believe in. She had spoken of it, she had dreamed of it, but in the end she had believed that after her and Minato's actions she had doomed them all…and her Sochi had just shown her that hope wasn't gone after all. For that Kushina wept tears of joy, as her friend sat by her one hand resting on her shoulder as she bowed her head in silent agreement with the source of the redhead's tears.

* * *

At the same time below the match had just begun with Sasuke dodging in and out of blast of sand and attempting to breach Gaara's defenses. While this was occurring Kakashi and Guy were busy having a conversation about the match, Kakashi explaining his own teaching method as his rival listened throwing in a comment ever now and again. Meanwhile a few feet below them the other Jonin senseis and their students were having a very different conversation, oblivious to the conversation of the others.

"Well that was a surprise with the last match." commented Asuma as he leaned back his eyes lazily tracking the match bellow without much interest. So far neither competitor had shown any real shift in their abilities since the prelims, and while Gaara's sand was impressive, and Sasuke's speed had improved, after the previous match it was hard to capture the same amount of interest. Kurenai gave the man a look before letting out a sigh.

"You're angry at me for not telling you about what I knew aren't you." replied the red eyed women, making it a statement rather than a question. Asuma in response just pulled out a cigarette and popped it into his mouth lighting it. To his surprise Kurenai did not move to pull it from his mouth, he turned to see her measuring him with a steady gaze. After a moment he looked back down at the match letting out a puff of smoke as he did.

"In a way I am, but more than that I'm wondering what is going on, I'm not stupid Kurenai, I know someone told you to keep quiet, but that isn't what worries me. Something here doesn't add up, I've seen a lot in my time, and I mean a lot and that last fight was just plain wrong." He finished taking a drag of his cigarette as he did. Kurenai looked puzzled at his words but before she could say anything he spoke again.

"I never told you I ran into another jinchuuriki did I, heck must have been nine years back, no idea what number he was, but he shot up a cloak and came at us trying to aim for the fire daimyo. Took four of us to put the bastard down and even then he didn't stay down. And you know what I remember more about that fight than anything Kurenai?" Asuma asked his tone distant. The woman could only shake her head in response as Asuma pulled the cigarette from his mouth and continued on.

"What I remember is hitting that guy with everything I had, blades, Justus's heck my best stuff, and that damn cloak of his sending it off like it was nothing. Heck we had to bust out some team attacks just to punch through it, and I just saw a genin do what a team of A rank shinobi couldn't do. So Kurenai what I'm angry about is that either the Hokage is keeping secrets from us, or that we have all been dooped by a genin who kami only knows what his abilities are, heck from what Ino said he may be able to create life." Finished the man as his hand tightened and the cigarette in it was crushed in his palm. Kurenai let a small worried smile grace her lips as she laid her hand gently upon Asuma's causing the man to look down at it and then back up into her bright red eyes.

"Asuma," she began her tone soft but firm, "I will tell you everything I know soon, but I can let you know that neither the hokage or anyone else truly has any idea of what is happening besides a handful of us, but you can trust me that Naruto hasn't been dooping anyone, he isn't that smart." She finished with a small smile, as Asuma let a small chuckled spring from his lips as he opened his palm allowing the woman's to slip into it.

"ok Kurenai, I believe you, I guess I'll have to find out everything sooner or later, but for now I trust you." replied the man as she looked back towards the fight below.

While the two had been talking Yakumo had been edging slightly away from Ino, who in turn had edged closer to the girl, till they looked like there was some magnetic pull occurring between the two. After a while Choji finally spoke up his tone exasperated.

"Ino stop that, Yakumo doesn't have to tell us anything right now, and we can just ask Naruto later. You just got done screaming about that thing that change into you and now your eyeing Yakumo like she is some kind of accomplice, can't we all just get along." asked Choji his tone soft and hopeful. His kind heart did not enjoy seeing Yakumo in such obvious discomfort, and after finding Shikimaru in his own little world he had relented to trying to help the girl on his own.

Both girls turned their eyes over to where Choji sat, Yakumo sending a silent thank you while Ino just looked slightly annoyed.

"Look I just want to know what's going gone Choji, that thing, seedling or whatever it is, looks like me, and she knows something, and I want to know what it is." The girl said turning to look at Yakumo again, who had pulled out her sketch pad to try and hid behind. Ino however, seemed unperturbed and just kept staring at the girl's sketchpad as if willing it to become transparent, and allow her to continue to see her target. Choji let out a sigh and turned back to the arena watching at Sasuke leapt back dodging a fresh wave of sand before spitting out several blasts of fire that impacted upon Gaara's shield throwing up clouds of smoke, but doing nothing else as far as the boy could tell.

Ino in the meantime was silently trying to piece together how she was going to get Yakumo to open up to her.

_Hm from what Sakura says she likes drawing, and is rather shy….great I don't have idea one on how to get her to open up to me. Crud and she knows something about those Seedling things….darn it I can't have that thing running around looking like me kami only knows what it has been doing….wait if Naruto made those things… _And as Ino's mind settled on that thought a horrible and completely inaccurate idea overcame her on what exactly Naruto could have possibly done in connection to the Seedling. Without warning Ino let out a cry of mixed horror and anger that caused everyone around to suddenly focus on the girl as a fresh round of shouts and curses spilled out of her mouth.

* * *

Over in the contestant box Naruto and Hinata were standing beside Minami and Sakura all watching the match with some interest. Naruko, had already headed out of the box and was making her way up to where she had seen Mito's signs looking to find a place to sit in order to watch the remainder of the matches. The group had mostly remained silent as they did, none of them wanting to miss what came next with the fight.

"So that kid Gaara is like you and Naruko." Sakura asked looking over at the redheaded girl who gave her a small nod.

"Hai from what Naruto, and Kyu have said he holds the one tailed raccoon, Shukaku, but besides that I don't know anything." Replied Minami looking over at Sakura before the two turned to look over at the blond boy beside them. Naruto seemed to notice their eyes on him and pulled his eyes away from the match to look at the two.

"huh did you to say something?" asked the boy turning to face the two girls.

"Ya sorry Naruto I was just asking about this raccoon thing that the kid from sand has, I mean I know Minami and Naruko have been trained to control theirs, but something seems off about this Gaara kid, do you or… well your guest know anything?" Sakura asked. Naruto seemed to consider the question for a moment before giving a shrug.

"Well really all I know is that he controls that sand via Shukaku's chakra, apparently it was a trick he learned from the Juubi, he just adapted it to fit his chakra stores, and abilities, beyond that all I can say is that its Shukaku in the driver's seat out there, the Gaara kid might as well be a puppet." Naruto replied, the three girls nodding their heads as they took in what he had said. From a little ways behind the four Temari went ridged as she heard the other blonde's words. As the four genin continued to chat away the genin from Suna was busy having a small panic attack.

_HOW! HOW DID THEY KNOW, FUCK THE INVASION WAS BASED ON GAARA BEING A SUPRIZE ACE, AND THESE GENIN SEEM TO KNOW ALL ABOUT HIM! DAMN IF THEY KNOW THEN THERE'S NO WAY THE HIGHER FORCES DON'T, THIS WHOLE OPERATION IS FUBAR AND WE HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED. and what the hell was that about Shukaku being in charge what does that mean for Gaara, crap there are just to many questions here! Damn it I'm almost empty as it is, if we lose the element of surprise I'm as good as dead….what the hell was the Kazekage thinking, we never should have trusted that blasted snake he's leading us into a fucking minefield. _The girl raged inside her mind, trying to keep her calm facade in place. However, her subtle shifts in facial and body language had caught the eye of an easily overlooked genin standing just a few feet from her.

Shino who had been standing stoically in the rear of the competitor's box watching all of his fellow genin in silence had seen the girl's apparent anxiousness. For a moment he was willing to let the action go unnoticed, however, a nagging feeling told him that to do so would be unwise. So he moved over so that he was situated directly behind the girl, his eyes trained on her, and his stance lax.

_Something is happening here today…Naruko took a dive in that last match, and I know darn well that Naruto must have had more up his sleeve as well… something is coming, and this Suna kunoichi seems to know about it….better to be safe on this one. _Thought the teen as he took up his new position.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Arena Sasuke was quickly losing patience with his match. True with his new speed and fully developed sharingan he could accurately predict Gaara's next attack, but even then he could not find a blind spot to exploit. Every time he had closed in the sand had been there to either trip him up or funnel him into a more direct path. Once he had only managed to dodge the next attack thanks to seeing a small smile on his opponents face. He was slowly starting to suspect that he was being lead around the fight like a chess piece, lead into attacks that were more dangerous to him, or bluffed into dodging an attack that never came, and this was making him angry. When that anger came the sand seemed to almost slide around with some excitement as if it had tasted blood in the water as it rushed in redoubling its efforts on the boy.

So Sasuke had decided to end the game and had shot away from the redhead and up the arena wall ducking down as he did so. From Gaara's mind a low chuckle came as Shukaku watched his opponent.

"**So the little red eye has some brains after all, I was half expecting him to not notice I was leading him around. Still his speed is a problem, Gaara is still slowing me down, or this fight would have been over by now…but no matter, the red eyed one has gotten angry, all I have to do is wait and he will make a mistake…they always do in the end…and I can wait…" **Chuckled the great raccoon as he sat watching the match as though watching a particularly fascinating game of chess. As Sasuke dashed away from him he allowed his mind to wander for a moment. It found itself thinking back to his encounter with his Kaasan a few days before…and with that came a small twinge of sadness. True he did not question his choice, it had after all been the correct one, but to see the sadness on his Kaasan's face hurt him, after all if he hurt her, how was he any different from that bastard of a man and his kind.

"**Damn I need to stop thinking like that, I do what is right, they harmed my family, so I will tear theirs to sunders. This is not petty revenge this is justice, and I will not forgo it…." **Shukaku thought again, as he idly waved a hand causing Gaara to raise his ultimate defense. It was not wise to leave a vulnerable weakness exposed, while he was thinking after all. Outside people watched as Gaara was slowly covered in a massive orb of tightly compacted sand, encasing the boy in darkness.

As the darkness fell Gaara found himself standing on the edge of a great expanse of white sand. Shukaku sat way off in the distance out of the boys view, but for the eldest of the tailed beast the child may as well have been standing on his own finger, after all he was the desert, and his reach was all encompassing. Ideally Shukaku gave a small wave and a figure rose from the sand forming into the body of a motherly figure, her face soft and comforting even thought it was made of the same white sand as everything else. Shukaku looked down at the figure for a moment before gesturing it away off towards the boy to act as his mouthpiece. He couldn't remember where he had first come up with the idea to use the child's mother as a disguise….heck he couldn't even remember how he had known what the woman looked like to begin with. He had just remembered awakening in his latest host and feeling an odd pull to create the mouth piece…and so he had.

Now that he thought about it the mouthpiece had also acted oddly a handful of times, hugging the redhead, and pulling it out of his own shifting dome, as though it thought it was the child's real Kaasan. Of course Shukaku had investigated the phenomenon, but as of late he still had not found an answer to why the mouthpiece still acted every now and then to protect his host. It was as he thought this that he looked down to see that the mouthpiece hadn't left and was looking up at him its white face looking at him with a blank and slightly saddened look on its face.

"**I told you to go, you useless construct not to gape at me!" **called Shukaku in annoyance, then pausing raking one massive clawed hand over his head recognizing he was basically yelling at himself. However, before he could calm down there was a voice…soft and sad…and definitely not his own.

"Your Kaasan loves you... and all she wants is for you to be safe…that's all any Kaasan wishes." Spoke the figure below. Shukaku simply stared down in confusion at the mouthpiece as she slowly turned and made her way out over the shifting sands and towards his host's location. For a moment Shukaku just sat there his mouth slightly agape before shaking himself slightly, and forcing his mind to think logically.

"**I need to stop thinking about this kind of thing, my own doubts are starting to talk too, at this rate I'll end up being broken in half just like Kurama….well at least I would have someone to talk to, but for now let's see what little red eye is up to." **He finished as he looked to see that the redeye had stopped up the side of the wall, and was focusing a large amount of chakra into his open palm.

Meanwhile the mouthpiece had arrived where Gaara stood. As it approached it dropped to one knee and pulled the boy into a small hug that the boy sank into for a moment.

"Ka-kaasan." The boy half whimpered as he held onto the sand vestige that was an exact copy of his deceased Kaasan.

* * *

Meanwhile on the outside Sasuke had finished charging up his next strike. His open hand now looked like it was holding pure lightening, bright violent blue that sent off small sparks as it bit into the wall the boy stood on, even as a high pitched chirping noise accompanied it. More than a few Jonin looked on in shock at the boy's latest move, many recognizing it as the signature move of Kakashi of the sharingan. Kakashi at the time was busy explaining to Guy why he had taught his prized move to his student, while up in the Kage box the Kazekage's eyes gleamed with an excitement that was almost physically visible.

The rest of the genin, even Naruko and Minami were forced to admit that this latest move had caught them off guard. They all watched with rapped attention as the boy speed down the wall and forward towards the great orb of sand. As he closed in great spikes of sand shot out of the orb deadly points plunging forwards towards the advancing teen. However, Sasuke's eyes allowed him to see the coming assault, and dodge the deadly spikes reaching the orb and plunging his hand forwards. There was a retching sound as the lightening first dug into the orb with a crack that echoed around the stadium. For a moment there was no noise in the stadium. As the crowed watched a small trickle of red leaked its way down the red eyed youths arm a few drops falling onto the arena floor with an indistinguishable sound of impact.

As those drops fell there was an ear piercing shriek of pure anger from the orb of sand, and Sasuke was struck in the chest by a solid poll of sand that shot out of it flinging him across the open arena, his eyes open and staring in confusion and fear at what he had seen inside the hole that his blow had punched in the orb.

Several things happened at once as Sasuke fell back, and the scream called out through the stadium. Feathers began to fall suddenly from the sky, while several figures in the crowd leapt to their feet, and started to move. There was a deafening explosion from the Kage booth, and over from the contestant box a particular blond had called out in a half crazed voice in apparent frustration.

* * *

A few minutes previously Naruto had been watching the fight, while the girls had continued their conversation on Gaara without him. The blond had allowed himself a moment of calm after everything that had happened.

_You know Juubi I think things are going to be alright…I mean Naruko and I are shaky now, but I think we will be able to move past everything, and nothing looks like it's going to happen after all, maybe everything will work out. _The boy said to his companion in a happy little tone. Juubi in turn gave a small nod, but her countenance was still dubious.

"**Maybe Naruto, but I wouldn't relax just yet true we managed to get through the match, but even still the exam is far from over, and something tells me that it won't be that simple…besides we still have Shukaku to deal with, and he is one of the more dangerous challenges we are likely to face." **Juubi replied, causing Naruto to give a small mental shrug.

_Hai Juubi, but still come on my luck can't possibly be that bad. _Naruto finished. Juubi was about to respond to the boy pointing out several occasions where just that had indeed happened, but it seemed fate beat her to it. Without warning just as a roar went up from the arena a sudden carpet of chakra started to cover the stadium as feathers began to drift slowly down. At the same moment there was a sudden explosion from the Kage booth, and figures began emerging from everywhere. Behind him Temari started to make a move, but suddenly fell to the ground as Shino's insects quickly drained what little chakra the girl had left, and Haku with a worried tone shouted something about Zabuza-sama before disappearing leaving a small gathering of frost and snow where he had been standing.

Naruto only had time to give the chaos before him a brief glance before he threw up his hands and in a snarl of rage yelled out!

"OH COME ON YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!" the blonde yelled grabbing his hair in complete frustration. Inside his mind Juubi couldn't help but wonder if one of Kami's court enjoyed setting up moments like this just to see people like Naruto flip out. Luckily for the shinobi and citizens falling under the effect of the genjutsu Naruto managed to keep enough sense in him to set off his contingency plan.

* * *

When the genjutsu had first begun falling the Jonin sensei along with their students had felt the effects just in time to throw up a counter. Some of the less experienced shinobi and kunoichi around them, however, slumped forwards apparently asleep. Before the Jonin could get about to assisting their comrades they were forced to swing to meet a now oncoming force of shinobi bearing sound and sand headbands.

With an angry roar Guy shot forwards sending a pair of sound shinobi back into the concrete wall of the stadium, even as on his right Kakashi caught one attack Suna shinobi's arm directing his kunai thrust into a kunoichi from sound how had attempted to get at his back before slamming his own kunai into the original suna attacker. Kurenai had been forced to leap forwards to catch an attacker that was descending towards Yakumo and Ino, but managed to thrust her own Kunai into the attacking sound shinobi's back forcing him face down between the two teens, who both let out small gasps of panic. Asuma in the meantime had jumped to cover Kurenai's back and had already cut down a pair of advancing shinobi, but more were on the way.

"Shit!" the bearded man yelled as she gave another swipe cutting both the opponent kunai and through in one swift gesture letting a small red mist fly out of the man. "They planned this out, there are too many civilians and comrades here, I can't use any jutsu's!" he called as he was forced to spin taking another Suna shinobi down with a pair of quick blows.

As Asuma shouted Shikimaru had already dropped to a knee firing out his shadow and catching a pair of charging sound that were headed for Choji.

_Oh course they did, that was the point of the genjutsu, to shift the stadium into a killing field, the Konoha forces can't fire off larger attacks for fear of hitting the unconscious ones, meanwhile the enemy can go weapons free. Damn it's not even that simple is it, their forces are less experienced than ours from what I've seen so far, but with this handicap the playing field is giving them every advantage! _Thought the boy furiously as Choji swung his expanded fist forwards into the two figures that Shikimaru had immobilized.

As the blow threw the pair back Shikimaru spun ready to receive orders from his sensei when he saw it. There floating a few feet off of the ground was the black marble he had been holding just a few moments before. Looking quickly around he saw that there were many other orbs hovering around seemingly all around the stadium. The orbs also caught the eye of several other of the figures around them, but before anyone could do more than stare at them there was a small pulse from the orb, and all of its fellows.

The shinobi all around the stadium felt a small wave like sensation that came off as a small tingling sensation. At first the wave seemed to have no effect, but as Shikimaru watched he saw a chunnin sitting not too far from him suddenly stir from his sleep blinking around confused for a moment before jerking left out of the path of the kunai swung by an attacking sound shinobi, managing to grab the attackers arm and pulling him down to the ground where they continued to struggle. The boy felt a sudden dawning understanding as he looked around seeing shinobi and civilian alike coming to. Some beginning to shepherd the civilians out of the fight, while others rushed forwards to attack the invading force.

Shikimaru felt a fierce grin spread across his face as he saw the effect the orbs were having.

_Well played Naruto it seems you managed to even up the playing field. _The boy thought as he trapped another figure who had rushed towards Kurenai's unguarded side as a section of the stadium seemed to come to life and grab hold of a shinobi that had leapt over his fellows aiming for Shikimaru. The boy turned to see Yakumo holding a painting out depicting a great stone fist coming out of the ground reaching out to grab a figure.

Beside her Ino was lying limp as a suna shinobi leapt forwards to attack his confused sound allies. However, while their group seemed to be holding its position rather well, most of the rest of the stadium seemed to be in utter chaos. Before he could focus again a blast caught his attention from over on the other side of the stadium. Spinning he saw a strange figure on all fours crouched beside a group of people, and if he wasn't mistaken whatever it was it had several of what looked like tails.

* * *

When the genjutsu had begun to fall around Kushina's group she had immediately recognized the danger, but before she could do more than cry out in surprise several enemies were springing forwards aiming at the group. It seemed the enemy had a particular interest in taking out the small group, and as Kushina's eyes went wide she saw that the oncoming forces were likely to simply overrun them. She spied out of the corner of her eyes that both Mito and Hanabi had fallen asleep their small forms held against one another, and their faces sunk into small faces of sleep. Hiashi had jumped into action stepping over the pair, towering up as he sank into his stance and his Byakugan flared, but even he knew that protecting the children and himself was a losing battle. However, if that bothered the man he did not show it as he set himself ready to meet the oncoming hoard.

Kushina also noted that Hitomi looked to be in a clear panic, knowing that she could only put up a token defense at best, but more horrified at the possibility of seeing her husband and child fall just a few feet from her. All of this flashed through Kushina's mind, even as she summoned as many chains as she could fire them off towards the oncoming shinobi. However, it was too late, although her chains struck true, at least half of the oncoming attacker barreled through the golden assault and plunged forward, kunai bared like the fangs of some great beast. Kushina gritted her teeth as she waited for the blow to come fighting the fear she felt, as she roared in her mind that she would not die here, not now, not when she was just starting to have her family again…and that is when it happened.

Hiashi had just battered away two shinobi, as a third managed to plunge a kunai into his back before the Hyuuga spun slamming a palm thrust into the man's chest, and liquefying his chest cavity in a second. As he turned to meet the next assault a sudden blackness rushed across his vision as he heard a strangled gasp from the attackers he had seen racing towards his exposed back. Hitomi also saw the black appendage's intercepting the coming attack and with her byakugan blazing turned to see where the long oddly furry looking thing had originated from. Both Hyuugas eyes fell upon Kushina who was looking just as shocked as her fellows as the figure to which the tails belonged to crouched beside her as it left off a low humming growl, and its purple and red eye flashed in apparent anger.

Kushina could only blink down in surprise momentarily forgetting her position, or the fact that she was under attack. A moment before when the enemy had closed in the orb in her lap had exploded out, as nine great….well tails of black fur shot out, either slamming into the shinobi around her or, flying out to grab the ones headed for those around her fellows. As the redhead watched as the orb in her lap fell to the ground breaking and spreading out into a figure that looked like a cross between her sochi, and a fox. Two long almost rabbit like ears shot out of the creatures head twitching slightly in apparent agitation as from its newly formed face a small humming growl escaped from. Kushina was able to take notice of a small jagged crease where the creature's mouth must have sat. With a jolt she realized that the creature before her looked almost identical to the girls when they had manifested four tails of power. However, before she could do more than look down in shock Kyueed had leapt between where Hitomi and Hiashi were, dragging several of the would-be attackers with it in its powerful tails. With a few jerks its tails swept out flinging those held in them out into the stadium bringing small cries of pain as they smashed into different parts of the stadium seating. Then the creature was back down between the group its eyes narrowed as it looked around at the others that had sprung forwards to attack the group.

The three adults stared confused, and a little afraid of the creature before them, even as Hanabi and Mito blinked slowly awake, as the pollens around the stadium let out their pulses. The two leaned up off of one another apparently ignorant to the havoc occurring around them. The two blinked for a moment before Mito leaned over and grabbed hold of one of Kyueed's tails letting out a small sigh as she let herself fall back to sleep with a small mutter of "Hi Kyueed." Before the genjutsu's effects caused her to slip back into sleep.

The genjutsu may have been broken, but the after effects were enough to overpower the children, and after arranging themselves happily against one of the Kyueed's tails the two children sank back into sleep. Kyueed along with all of the other adults could only look in wonder at the children wondering how they could have fallen asleep at a time like this. However, the next moment another pair of sound shinobi were rushing them, and before any of the adults could do more than start to move, Kyueed had allowed its mouth to pop open and spit out a blast of purple and red chakra that impacted the two in midair flinging them back into a wall with a blast that caused the watching adults hair to blow back slightly in the wind. The last assault seemed to have caused the attacker to fall back for at least a time, and Hiashi managed to put into words what the others were feeling at that moment.

"W-what the heck is that?" the man asked through the pain in his back as he reached around to yank the blade from where it had been buried in his back. Hitomi grimaced and pulled herself over to Hiashi tearing a strip from her kimono as she did to push into the wound and keep it from bleeding out. The pair turned to look over at Kushina who had moved to put her back to them her eyes looking around trying to make sure that no one got in an attack on them.

"I-I think that's Kyueed." Kushina said not dropping her guard or taking her eyes away from any potential attacker. However, she almost let out a yelp of shock as Kyueed hearing his name let out a half hum and purr leaning over to rub affectionately against the women's side looking up at her with it bright eyes now back to their round proportions. Kushina managed to look down for a moment, and couldn't help but give him a small smile before looking back out over the stadium her mind racing as what to do next. However, before she could do more than start thinking of her next move there was a familiar voice not far from her accompanied by several explosions that caused both her and Kyueed to spin their heads around to focus on the commotion?

"YOU PICKED THE WRONG GIRL TO MESS WITH TODAY TAKE THIS RASENGAN!" called Naruko as she blasted through a mixture of sound and suna shinobi, her form already cloaked in a level one shroud, and her red eyes spinning in search of her family. Her eyes spotted them a moment later and she hurried over swatting a few stray enemies away as she did. As she reached Kushina she almost lost her footing as she saw Kyueed, but managed to keep from crashing by falling to all fours a few feet from the group bringing her almost eyes level with Kyueed himself. For a moment the two just looked at one another before Kyueed let out a small purring hum and proceeded to rub its face against her cheek.

Naruko just stared momentarily dumbfounded as inside her mind her thoughts matching her confused expression perfectly.

_Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh? What the heck is that thing and what's its doing? _Her mind blankly asked, even as she heard a deep chuckle coming from Kyuubi's cage.

"**Hm so it seems I'm an uncle...no wonder Kyu was so excited, oh and look he likes you." **Chuckled Kyuubi in mocking tone, directed at the frozen girl. Naruko shook her head slightly giving the fox a mental glare as she did.

_Oh shut up Kyuubi we don't have time for this! _she shot back just as the….whatever it was leaned back its nine tails swishing back and forth in apparent happiness. Naruko pushed herself to her feet and looked over the group letting out a small happy sigh as she saw that Mito and Kushina were unharmed.

"Kaasan, what's going on I was on my way up when all heck broke lose, and what's that thing?" she asked looking over at her Kaasan for answers. Kushina gave Naruko a small smile before focusing back on her surroundings.

"Hai, Naruko we're all ok, but this position isn't secure and Hiashi is injured we need to move, oh and that's Kyueed." The woman said firing off a pair of golden chains to stop a sound shinobi from jumping onto a leaf chunnin that was just staggering up from his seat.

"Naruko we need some cover and time to organize I need you to buy that time, ok!?" Kushina said as she yanked the enemy shinobi forwards and down the stairs. Naruko gave a fierce little grin before crossing her hand in a familiar sign, soon there was a large poof of smoke and there were several dozen Naruko charging in every direction charging into the sound and suna forces. As her clones crashed into the enemy forces Kushina took a moment to look upwards to where an explosion had torn the kage booth apart. She spied a blonde figure charging up to the roof after someone, and let out a breath she hadn't know she had been holding. It seemed that Minato was alright, and joining the fight as well, so she turned back to focus on protecting those she could.

"Ok Hiashi we are getting out of here and getting the kids to the hospital, it will be the most heavily defended and knowing Tsunade and Shizune they have already gotten there and raised the alarm, understood!?" called Kushina as the group around her nodded in agreement. Before they moved Kushina cast a look down below into the arena where Minami and Naruto were likely still there along with Hinata. Naruko seemed to notice her Kaasan's gaze and without waiting summoned another force of clones around her, drawing Kushina's eyes.

"Don't worry Kaasan I'll head down and support Minami, Hinata and Naruto, you just get everyone out of here, my clones will give you cover!" called Naruko as she flashed a smile towards the redhead. Kushina looked as though she wanted to argue, but the words died in her thought as she looked around at her group, two children sleeping, while one cripple and Hiashi was injured….no she couldn't move them all alone, after a moment she finally managed to speak up.

"No Naruko I need you here, I can't protect everyone here and get them to safety alone, I need you here, send a few of your clones below and tell them what is happening, but I need you here to help me!" Kushina called as she bent down to pull Hanabi and Mito into her arms, while Hiashi picked up Hitomi, without showing the obvious pain it must have caused him to do so, giving the pair an affirmative nod as he did. Naruko looked left and right for a moment before seeing the small smiling face of Mito as she pulled a lock of Kushina's hair in her sleep. Then without any further argument she directed a few of her clones into the arena and towards the contestant box, while the remainder formed up around them, as she took point. The group noted that Kyueed seemed to have been watching them in slight confusion its head tilted to one side as it watched them talking to one another. With a small bolt of inspiration Kushina called to the creature.

"Kyueed go with the clones and look after everyone!" called the women as Naruko moved to take her position. Kyueed looked at the women for a moment before letting out a little yip that seemed to indicate its understanding, before taking off after the clones Naruko had sent into the arena ideally swatting a few sound shinobi out of its path as it headed out. At the same moment Naruko had moved to stand in front of the group and had her eyes closed in concentration for a moment before with a blast of chakra they opened, and she called out in a loud voice.

"Hai Kaasan, lets go I have point!" called Naruko as a second tail of chakra sprang from her back, and she charged forwards with the group falling in behind her, even as her clones flanked the group every now and then deflecting an incoming attack, or dispelling as it flung itself in-between an attack headed their way.

* * *

As Naruko's group shot out of the seats heading for the hospital Minato was racing up the side of the stadium his eyes blazing as they focused on the figure before him, and the four that were flanking him. The blonde's eyes focused upon the bright yellow eyes of Orochimaru as his viper like smile leered down at the hokage, even as he fled to the top of the tower disappearing into another cloud of smoke and dust from a second series of explosions.

The first set had apparently been interwoven into the false Kage robes that the snake had been wearing. As the screech had come up from the arena floor, and the genjutsu fell across the stadium, Minato had turned just in time to see the Kage's cloak flying towards him small sparks of flame already dancing across it the seals drawn over its inside. Minato had managed to move in time to teleport just out of the blast radios, his eyes blazing as the disguise fell away and revealed the grinning face of Orochimaru. Before Jiraiya could call out to the hokage, he had already thrown a handful of his kunai into the snake disappearing into a flash of yellow and appearing just before the still motionless enemy smashing a swirling ball of chakra into the figures smiling face, only to have it crumble into earth, as a wicked laugh issues out from above him causing him to jerk his gaze up to see Orochimaru and four others retreating up the tower. Without hesitating Minato was up and after them followed close behind by Jiraiya, whose face had set itself into a neutral mask.

As the two landed on the top of the building Minato swept his hand out in a fierce gesture and a blast of wind flew out forcing the smoke and dust off of the roof. As the wind flew Minato caught a glimpse of Orochimaru a few feet away flying through hand signs. Without pausing Minato flung a kunai towards the man before slamming out a few hand signs of his own, multiplying the projectile from one to dozens, before he disappeared into a flash of lights that seemed to dance in between the multiple kunai as they hurtled towards the pale figure.

Just as the blades were about the reach the snake his grin broke as Minato appeared slamming another swirling ball into his chest and causing him to cough out a small glob of blood before pushing away from the Kage. Minato, however, was not about to let the Snake go and disappeared into another flash of light before appearing behind the snake and kicking him with enough force to launch him into the air above him. Even as the pale figure went sailing up Minato pulled two fists full of kunai out of his pouch hurtling them up around the figure before disappearing into another flash of light. Before the sage could right himself in the air he was slammed in the chest by a bone crushing kick that caused his bone's to crack with a loud snap, but that was only the beginning.

Minato flashed back and forth between the kunai in the air landing blow after blow, throwing the kunai he had teleported to a fresh one as he did, and using the momentum to slam blow after blow into the figure each becoming harder and faster as he continued to build speed. The pale figure in the center of this shining ball of dancing light and pain could only jerk and spasm as blow after blow fell, too quick to even properly react to the first blow before three more had fallen. Finally after a few moments that felt like a lifetime through an almost destroyed face the man saw Minato appear above him two swirling balls of blue chakra clutched in his hands along with small trails of what looked like wind swirling around them as though each had a mini tornado wrapped around it. The snake opened its eyes in horror but was only able to watch as with another flash the orbs were suddenly buried in his chest as he and the blond flew down into the ceiling with a small destination from the force with which they struck. There was a horrible breaking sound as the pale figures form distorted under the blow his insides turned into an absolute mess as bone became a ripping blade that shredded the figures chest from the inside….and all the while his barely visible yellow eyes looking up into his killer….blank. It was that blankness that caught Minato's attention, and allowed him to escape the coming attack. Just as Minato vanished into a flash of yellow the explosive tags literally stitched into the pale man's chest went off with a deafening blast throwing up a fresh cover of smoke from which came a horribly familiar laughter from the obscuring cloud of smoke and ash.

Before Minato could do more than grit his teeth four walls of purple light shot up around the roof enclosing both he and Jiraiya in a tower of purple light. Minato was about to let out a howl of anger before he felt Jiraiya step up beside him motioning for the younger man to hold himself steady. As the smoke once again thinned the pair could see Orochimaru standing a few yards from them his face practically ecstatic as he looked at the two.

"Well this is better than I had hoped both the toad and his tadpole in one net, you must be slipping oh great fourth to not notice that…well the term person no longer really applies does it." The real Orochimaru chuckled as he gestured lazily with one hand over to where the smoking remains the broken double had been. Minato gave the spot a quick glance before focusing back on Orochimaru his eyes narrowing as he did. Orochimaru smiled even wider as he saw the hokage's action.

"Oh don't worry fourth he was no one of consequence just a pawn who served his purpose…truth be told I doubted I could even survive the assault you just levied but thanks to my pawn the game has changed." Chuckled the pale faced man, as two figures stepped out of the cloud of smoke behind Orochimaru as the smoke revealed a pair of open coffins where the two had come from. There standing before them was the first and second hokage both blinking in apparent confusion as they looked around them, not seemingly able to understand how they were standing there. Minato and Jiraiya both let out a small choked gasp at the sight of the two even as the pair focused on the two, and the two seemed to become aware of them for the first time.

"I-is that?" started Minato not believe what his own eyes were showing him, as Jiraiya let out a small bitter snarl and nodded.

"Hai gaki that's your predecessors alright." Answered Jiraiya as the first and second hokage's eyes focused on the two, their expressions blank and their eyes wide and unseeing.

* * *

As Minato and Jiraiya were setting up to engage Orochimaru, Naruto and his group where trying to figure out what to do next. Naruto looked from those around him and back to the boy for a moment, then around to those in the booth. However, before he could do more than summon his seedlings a group of clones of Naruko including Kyueed arrived in the arena sprinting towards their position. Without waiting the remaining Konoha shinobi rushed forwards to meet with the clones and figure out their next move. As the teens rushed down the steps the sounds of battle flared even louder around them coupled with cries of pain and roars of challenge. The two groups meet at the base of the stairs as the clones drew up to them looking around as if checking to make sure they were all present.

"Oh thank kami you all are ok, Kaasan sent us to tell you she had to evacuate the stadium with Mito and the Hyuugas, the boss is there now and they are falling back to the hospital to get Hitomi and the little ones out of danger." Spoke up on of the clones as Kyueed bounded over to sit beside Naruto and Hinata letting out a small humming purr as it brushed up against the girl. However, they didn't have time to play with Kyueed at the moment as a howl from the other end of the arena drew their attention where they saw a monstrous sight. Gaara…or at least what had been the boy. Now he looked nothing so much as a cross between a tanuki and a sandstorm as he swung clawed arms forwards towards Sasuke the blue veined claws ending in great black talons. The boy's body from his waist up was now covered in a thick coating of sand that gave him monstrous proportions including one long tail, all of it made from sand with wicked blue veins running all around it, from the tips of its pointed ears to the tip of its grotesque tail.

Even as the group watched they saw the dark haired boy dodge the swipe only to be hammered by a smashing blow from the arena floor where the earth had turned to sand throwing him back, as the tanuki turned its yellow eyes to see their group standing across from it.

"Oh crap." Sakura muttered as the Tanuki seemed to have finished playing with the Uchiha and had turned its focus to them. However, it seemed that Sasuke had some fight left in him as he rose, a black mark racing around his skin as he did so a burst of purple chakra falling from his body as a fresh ball of lightening manifested itself into his palm. The boy sprung forwards at the turned back of Garra red eyes spinning as he roared out at the target. If not for his own rage brought on by the curse mark, his blow may have managed to land, but as it was the sound alerted the figure to his presence in time to spin, turning the ground below the Uchiha's feet to sand causing him to falter, and open him up to a smashing blow from Gaara's tail that sent him sailing into the nearby wall, with a loud crack, that sent both the boys senses and his chakra scattering all around. With that the teens let a small shiver of terror run down their spins as the sandy figure turned its eyes upon them once again.

"**Naruto I'm sorry to ask this but I need you to help me now." **Juubi suddenly spoke causing Naruto to blink for a moment before responding.

_Wha-what oh Juubi please tell me you aren't going to ask me what I think you are? _Asked the boy having a horrible feeling he knew exactly what the women was about to ask. Juubi seemed to know that the boy knew so settled on simply sending a mental nod, before speaking.

"**Hai I'm afraid so Naruto, Minami could definitely defeat the boy….b-but I want to help my sochi and the boy and we are the only ones who can do that." **replied Juubi, causing Naruto to let out an agitated sigh before sending a mental nod of his own and turning to address the group around him.

"Ok everyone we need to move, Hinata, Sakura we need you two out there helping people to get to the hospital, and you two are the only ones here that can manage that. Minami you need to go with them and cover them, they can't fight off attacks and help the injured at the same time, and they will need your clones to help carry the wounded." Continued the boy as the group around him listened. "Naruko's clones can start moving on the offensive throughout the village helping where they can, my seedlings will go with to provide backup, Naruko you instruct them with what to do and try and keep them in line." The blond spoke as two to three Naruko clones stepped up to four of the seedlings as Kyueed blinked up at Naruto. After a moment Hinata spoke up.

"Naruto then what about you and Kyueed?" asked the pale eyed girl, fighting the worry of her family as well as the growing worry for what she feared Naruto was about to say. In answer Naruto simply jabbed a thumb back at the monstrous figure behind him.

"We get that, Juubi and I have to get some work done." Responded the blonde, as his neesan's and Hinata looked ready to start arguing with him. However, before they could he raised a hand up.

"I know, I know you want to stay, but this is something I have to do…please trust me, you can all help save the village in a way I can't, but this I can do, I need you to trust me, kay." He said as the girls and the clones stopped their protests before they could form. Finally one of the Naruko clones let out an angry little sigh before speaking.

"Fine, but just so you know boss is going to kill me for this." she said turning to face the others who all gave Naruto a small nod. Hinata gave the blonde a quick hug before she and Sakura prepared to move. Naruko's clones gave him a quick nod, as they too headed out. Minami was the last to leave as she looked at Naruto as two of the seedlings collapsed back into seeds and Naruto struck them re dawning his black skintight mask and armor around his arms, neck and face. Before she left Minami gave Naruto a quick hug and then she hopped back as a chakra cloak surrounded her and she and the others raced out, the three girls headed up into the stands to find any injured, while the seedlings led by the clone teams headed off into the village to attack any targets they could find.

As they all left Naruto turned slowly to see Gaara staring at him with a positively evil smile upon his face as his massive arms and tail slammed into the arena floor with dull booms.

_Oh ya this is going to be just great! _Thought the blonde as he stretched out his hands, and Kyueed on all fours crouched beside him letting out a small growl towards the figure across from them.

* * *

Up in the stands the Jonin senseis had managed to gain the upper hand in their area, and had managed to gain a quick breather as they turned to their students prepared to issue orders. Kakashi and Guy had already shot off in pursuit of the enemy after Guy had told Tenten to stay with the others. So Asuma and Kurenai turned to face the five genin who were in varying states of weariness. Battle is not an easy thing to do and even a brief bout of hard fighting can quickly exhaust someone, but to their credit the genin looked prepared to move again if they needed to.

"Ok everyone it looks like sound and suna are launching a joint attack, I need you to start getting the civilians out of here, Kurenai and I need to start taking out the pockets of resistance, stay together, and you should be ok." Asuma called turning to look around at the gathered genin. Kurenai beside him nodded her head in agreement before shifting her gaze around the stadium where, she could see fighting still going on. The genin looked at one another before Shikimaru let out sigh.

"Troublesome, ok we'll head out, where is our meet up point?" asked the boy as he glanced up at his sensei. However, before he could answer a group of four figures jumped up over the arena wall and into the seating. The group was about the jump the new arrivals when they saw that they were three Naruko's along with the seedling version of Ino. For a moment the two groups looked at one another before one of the clones let out a small chuckle.

"Um…hi we were just leaving." It said as the three clones started to leave, along with their seedling, but Ino was having none of it. Exhausted, and in the middle of the battle didn't seem to even register with the girl as she leapt forwards in time to grab onto the end of the retreating Seedling's ponytail bringing it to sudden halt as it let out a startled hum, as it tried to turn and see what had attached itself to its favorite appendage.

"OH NO YOU DON"T!" called Ino as with a yank she pulled the seedling over as it let out a panicked hum and started to try and run, only causing it to trip and fall over its own feet as it was pulled back resulting in it toppling over on top of Ino. The two came down onto the seating with a thump. For a moment everyone just looked over at the spot where the two had fallen before the Ino seedling shot up looking around in apparent panic as it spotted the Naruko clones and took off like a rocket towards them humming in apparent terror as it sprinted past them. The Naruko clones looked around at the retreating seedling, and then back to the group before giving a small shrug and following the girl's hasty retreat. The rest of the group in turn had their attention drawn down as a small groan came from where Ino was pushing herself to her feet. As she did Shikimaru spotted that she had a few strands of what looked like black hair clutched in one fist as she rubbed at her head blinking around.

"W-where'd it go?" Ino asked a little punch-drunk as she looked around at the rest of them. The rest only shrugged before Shikimaru spoke up in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Ino just drop it for now we have a job to do, you can hunt down your double later." The boy said as Asuma gave him an affirmative nod.

"Hai he's right Ino, and Shikimaru meet back here if it's clear, if not then head to the hokage tower, now get moving the civilians need to get moved out of here now. Without any further arguing the genin took off headed for the nearest group of civilians while Asuma and Kurenai dashed off in the opposite direction heading towards where the fighting was thickest. What neither group had noticed during the small exchange and confusion was that the small orbs that had been floating a few feet away since the pulse went out were slowly unfolding as if they were a bit of paper that had been folded up, fading slowly from black to an electric purple, that seemed to be waving slightly as if they were being blown in the wind. Nor did they see when it and its fellows suddenly began heading down into the arena below as another crash occurred below.

* * *

Meanwhile Naruko's group was having problems as they battled their way through the town heading for the hospital. Though Naruko could handle just about anything that was thrown at her, she was constantly summoning more and more clones, to act as shields for her group whose speed was horribly slow. Between Hiashi's damage, and the two children held by Kushina they weren't able to effectively travel at their usual speed. This made the trip a moving battle, with the enemy taking the opportunity to attack and harass them as often as possible.

Early on Naruko had tried to carry the group with her clones, but one wind blast later they had found that the clones created to great an opening to get at the weakest of their party if they were dispelled, so the going was slow at best. However, as they reached the square things went from bad to disastrous as the summons appeared.

The first warning they had was a sudden crashing as the store a little ahead of them became flying rubble as a great two headed serpent forced its way through the stone structure turning its two massive heads to face the oncoming group. With movement that they would have sworn was too quick for such a massive beast it shot forwards towards them its massive jaws open wide as it came its hiss causing their bodies to shake despite themselves.

Naruko, however was having none of it, with Kaasan and Mito at her back not to mention the Hyuugas the girl was not going to let some snake get anywhere near them. With a primal roar the girl shot forward into the oncoming serpents first head smashing a rasengan into the creatures form and turning its head into a blast of gore. However, even as the first head detonated the second seemed to split from its fellow striking forwards. Naruko had just enough time to swing her now gore soaked arm out of the mess that had been the summons head and into the passing cylinder of snake hide her claws digging deep into the snakes flesh tearing a deep furrow in it as it passed, causing the creature to hiss in abject pain and rage.

Before the summon could do more than scream, however Naruko's clones were upon it slamming weapons and blows into its body keeping it back from the rest of the group…however this seemed to have been the enemy's plan. Just as the clones abandoned their position to finish the snake sound shinobi appeared jumping from the rooftops and doorways all hurtling down towards the now unprotected members of the group. Kushina was about to panic, but before she could do anything she felt a soft impact as Hitomi was pushed onto her back, and the women's arms locked around her shoulders. Kushina's eyes turned in time to see Hiashi darting towards the oncoming shinobi blood trailing from his wounded back as he threw himself into their mist.

Hitomi was letting out chocked sobs as she held onto her friend. Hiashi had told her that should they be stopped it was her job to look after Hanabi… a-and to apologize to Hinata for him. Hitomi knew that Hiashi was planning to buy them the time they needed, and it broke her to know that she may well have just been beside her husband for the last time, but she forced herself to chook out the words to Kushina.

"G-go Kushina he will catch up with us at the hospital….go!" the Hyuuga matriarch said as Kushina steadied herself before hefting the four of them forwards. Naruko's clones had managed to hack their way through the latest summon, and now turned to throw themselves at the oncoming numbers, but the area they were in did not give them a real fight. The enemy had chosen their ambush spot carefully it would seem. High walls and openings were perfect for hidden attacks, and even with the massive amount of chakra the clones would still dispenses from a solid kunai or shrunken blow. Naruko herself had managed to clear them a path, and was rushing to meet them as the second summons burst out of a nearby building its mouth open wide as it charged towards Naruko. The girl spun in time to meet the attack head on, but the sheer weight of the great serpent was enough to force her back and into a wall.

Kushina was about to turn when she heard a strained voice call out to her from where Naruko had crashed into the wall.

"Kaasan go I can handle these guys get Mito and the rest out of here I'll catch up!" called Naruko as with a snapping sound she forced the summons mouth open even more that the snake could managed. Kushina seemed ready to argue, but realized that carrying who she was she was in no place to argue. Without waiting she pushed her quickly tiring body forwards and out towards the Hospital. She had made it a few blocks before another screaming hiss roared our above her and she turned her face suddenly upwards to see another massive summons this one with three heads falling towards her fangs bared and its three mouths gaping as they shot towards her. Without another thought Kushina threw herself, and her three companions sideways into a nearby stand as the serpents heads crashed down into the street one after another sending cracks all throughout it, and rattling the nearby store doors and windows. Kushina look up to see the snakes head pulling themselves up their tongue's darting out to taste the air, and she felt a horrible shiver as the three heads turned slowly to face her position.

Kushina slowly pushed herself up to her feet while moving the two still unconscious children into Hitomi's arms as she turned to face the summon. Her armor was still at home, her weapons left as well, but she was not defenseless. As the snake reared back Kushina let a dozen golden chains shoot from her back and position themselves to receive the next blow and protect those behind her.

"Well come on you overgrown purse!" she called as the snake rushed forwards.

* * *

As Kushina's group began to strike out in defiance, Minato and Jiraiya were engaged in their own battle. As soon as the two past hokage's had arrived Minato had moved to try and get both he and Jiraiya out of the area, to come back when the odds were not so heavily stacked against them. However, it seemed whatever kind of barrier Orochimaru had constructed had severed Minato's connection to his other kunai, while he could still move between them inside of the barrier escaping was not on the table. So without any other choice the two had turned to attack the three figures before them.

Minato was still the fastest and closed in on the three before they could raise their defenses in time. His first blow drove a hard kick into Orochimaru's chest forcing the snake to fly back even as the two kage's both swiped out with their arms trying to catch the man who had appeared between them. However, with another flash of yellow light Minato was gone and before the two could even realize this, a torrent of flame smashed into them courtesy of Jiraiya. As Minato appeared beside his sensei they saw the two black figures amongst the flames falter slightly. However, the next moment they were forced to dive apart as a bullet of water fired past the two tearing up the roof where it impacted sending clay tiles spinning out in every direction. Before the pair could steady themselves they were forced to move again, as what appeared to be living forest shot towards them long vines and roots digging into the roof as it came diving in and out of the structure like some giant living creature reaching out for them.

The vines closed in around the two, but before they could tighten there was another pair of yellow flashes as Minato disappeared soon followed by Jiraiya the two landing on top of one of the large wooden roots that had stopped growing the blond hokage looking down at his two predecessors as the fire died away and he saw as their bodies were knitting themselves back together even as they turned those dead eyes up to look at the pair.

"Jiraiya what the hell is going on, with them?" Minato asked as he summoned another kunai to his hand, and prepared to reengage the two below. Jiraiya in turn was looking down at the two his mind racing, before as though struck by a shock he stiffened.

"Oh kami he did it." The toad sage muttered as the bit into his thumb and started drawing a seal onto his other palm with is blood. Minato flashed his sensei a puzzled look as the sage finished his work and slammed his palm into the wooden surface obscuring him momentarily in smoke. When he had reemerged he had changed, his noise had swelled out and sprouted a few warts while his hand had become slightly webbed, and the lines of red on his face now stretched out. Minato recognized this as his sensei's sage mode, something he had only seen the man adopt once during the last great war.

"Did what Jiraiya?" Minato barked out his anger still fresh in his mind, and in no mood for the sages half answers. Jiraiya turned slightly to face the blond man before answering.

"Edo Tensei." the man breathed out before the two turned to face their opponents once again. Minato's mind raced as he recalled what he knew about the forbidden jutsu, and he felt himself suppress a small shiver as he thought what it meant they were up against. However, he was the Hokage, and Orochimaru had picked the wrong day to pull off this attack. Without waiting for another word Minato disappeared in another flash hurtling down towards where the hokage's and presumably Orochimaru waited.

* * *

At the same time just outside of the stadium another group was having its own run in with the living dead. Mei the Mizukage stood tall one hand raised to her lips tapping idly as she looked across the chaotic area outside the stadium where fighting was still occurring towards where three figures stood. The first was a man apparently in his late teens, his hair was pure white, while his skin just a shade darker. He wore a simply open kimono tied with a purple rope, and his sunken eyes focused on the woman before him with a calm attitude of a trained killer. Behind him stood two men taller than him, that Mei recognized clearly. The one on the right was a skinny man, his head covered by a huge mane of shaggy blond hair almost like some kind of animal and his face hidden behind the mask of a hunter shinobi. The other wore a simple green kimono, and had his head and one eyes bound up in bandages, his brown beard hanging down over his chin.

Oh yes she knew these two men, after all she had killed them herself just a few months ago during the revolution. What caught her eye more than anything were the weapons clutched in their hands. The skinny figure held a needle like blade lightly in one hand, while the other had a massive club like blade that had a roll of explosive tags carpeting one side of it.

"Hm well now isn't this interesting who would have thought I would run into some familiar faces, and in the middle of all of this chaos, what are the odds?" the woman spoke her dangerous sensual tone, telling anyone who listened that she found nothing about the situation amusing. From behind her Zabuza let out a small chuckle as he glanced over at the three looking them up and down.

"Oh I don't know Mei, I would say they were here just to see little old you, aren't these business reunions always such a blast." mocked Zabuza as he unslung his blade from his back allowing it to crash into the ground in front of him, even as a small mass of purple chakra began to form behind him taking on the form of a demon. Mei actually gave Zabuza a small genuine smile at this before casting a look over to the pale member of the group.

"Well now a survivor of the Kaguya clan, I had heard you had all died out, are you here for some petty attempt at revenge, because the time for that has passed." called Mei even as three figures dropped in behind her and Zabuza. The pale figure didn't seem to even notice her words and his eyes tracked to the three newcomers. Haku, along with Karin and Suigetsu had just arrived the three looking over at the figures across from them their faces blank with apparent shock.

"Hey isn't that Jinpachi, and Kushimaru I thought they were dead?" called Suigetsu raising a hand to point at the two. His question was answered by the impact of Karin's fist on the back of his head causing it to explode into a wave of water.

"Baka of course they are dead, this has to be trick or something!" she called out in an annoyed tone. Haku let out a small sigh at the others antics before looking over at Karin with a blank expression.

"Karin you know he can't hear you if you destroy his head like that." The boy said in a tone that made it clear he had, had this same discussion countless time. Karin seemed not to notice his words as she looked up to where Mei was still watching the three figures across from them.

"Mei, tell you what, I'll take the two big ones, and you and the genin get to play with the bone boy." Zabuza said stepping forwards to stand before her and the genin. Mei seemed to consider it for a moment before giving a small shrug of her shoulders

"That is fine by me, it will at least let your apprentice fight someone after his match was so rudely postponed." smiled the woman her tone one of almost sensual pleasure. Zabuza smiled behind his bandaged as he fixed his gaze across at his newest targets.

"You here that gakis try not to die out there!" the man called as he charged, the two figures behind the pale figure darted out to race towards him leaving the Mizu-kage and her genin relatively alone with the pale figure who finally seemed to have found his voice.

"No." he said in a flat tone, which almost sounded like it belonged to a dead man. Mei and the genin looked slightly puzzled at this before he continued.

"In answer to your question earlier this is not some revenge on the Mist, I am here at the bidding of my Master and nothing more." The pale figure called before he pulled his head to one side, and with the same dead expression yanked a blade made from bone from his shoulder before pointing it towards the woman before him.

"And he had ordered me to make sure that you do not interfere in his plans for the leaf." Finished the youth. Mei looked at the boy for a moment before a small laugh escaped her lips and her eyes flashed with an almost primal excitement, her lips curving into a wicked smile that promised nothing good.

"Well boy you don't lack for courage, but let's see just how long you can keep that up." She called as with a small flick she blew a kiss that was accompanied by a small ball of molten lava that the boy threw up his blade to block. As he lowered his blade he saw the three genin charging forward as Mei smiled behind them. Without another sound he flung himself forwards intent on serving his masters goals, even if that meant slaying the kage before him.

* * *

As the kage's began their battles Naruto was about to get their own match underway. Gaara had turned his full attention from the now unmoving form of Sasuke as he watches the two figures before him. Without a moment wasted he dug his two hands into the arena before with a move like a cross between a track starter and a pole vaulter he flung himself forward at the two. Shukaku in the meantime was staring across at the two figures his mind focused on the two as a naggings feeling kept trying to force its way into his mind.

"**Gaara's rage should be enough for these two, but something doesn't sit right here. That one on the left looks like little Kurama…I wander why that is, and the monkey..why does that form of his look familiar…it's almost lik!" **Shukaku was saying before his thoughts suddenly slammed into place and he let out a cry of rage, at what he had just realized. There was no time to communicate with his host, or to stop the assault already in progress, but he could act now and hopefully stop what he feared was about to happen.

As Garra flung forwards the sand that had been shifting around him suddenly swarmed infront of him like a cloud spreading itself out into an almost cushion like shape between him and his target. Just as the sand expanded out what looked like a sudden wave of black and purple shot over the walls of the arena shooting forwards to form a wall like structure just a foot in front of the redhead's two targets. If not for the cushioning sand Gaara likely would have plowed directly into the obstacle and smashed against it like a bug. Instead the sand broke like a wave and Gaara managed to dig his tail into the arena floor before flipping back to land crouched as he let out a roar at the obstacle keeping him from his prey.

Shukaku in the meantime was not much calmer than his host as the anger boiled up inside him seeing his Kaasan's technique, the one he had pain stakeingly recreated in the hands of one of those puny monkeys.

What he saw was a wall made up of overlapping leafs that shifted lazily between black and purple, the same as those that adorned his mother's true form. As he watched the leafs seemed to relax before as if carried by a gentle wind moved too slowly circle the boy's form a few gently alighting upon him and covering the orange of his coat turning it that same shifting countenance. Even as he watched the coat seemed to spread out behind the boy as if caught in a breeze itself the back parting becoming ten separate ends gently swaying like tails flashing purple and black in the mid-day sun, even as his face looked at him with those two glowing orange globes. The rest of the leafs simply drifted around the boy gracefully like his own sand, almost as if they had a life of their own.

Naruto let out a small breath that couldn't been seen through his mask and privately thanked himself for all time he had spent working with Juubi to work on the foundations of her own style. The real luck had come when they had found that tree in the forest of death that had been so saturated with chakra, without that he doubted he could have collected enough chakra paper to even get the real training with his pollen underway. Still he had to admit the feeling was still very odd to him, as though he was directing a thousand fingers all attached to one hand.

The boy did not have time to ponder this further as Gaara and Shukaku recovered and threw out their arms howling in a blind rage as his now monstrous voice rang out.

"HOW DARE YOU STEAL FROM MOTHER! SAND SHURIKEN!" shouted the tanuki boy as what looked like dozens upon dozens of bullets of sand shot out forming into spinning stars. The hail of bladed sand shot forwards seemingly cutting the very air as they came sending up a shrill shriek as they came. Naruto in turn swung both his hand through the swirling leaves swiping them violently forwards towards the oncoming projectiles. As if by themselves several leaves pulled themselves forward and grouping into spinning blades of their own that plunged forwards shimmering between violent purple and black as they spun forwards.

The projectiles smashed into one another bits of sand and leafs scattering as the impacted with a sound of ripping furiously. Even as Naruto had launched the assault his own voice rang out in a commanding tone.

"KYUEED GET IN THERE I'LL COVER YOU!" the blonde shouted as he swiped his arms forward again countering a second volley of sand that flung itself forwards. Kyueed let out a small humming growl before it shot off like a dart on all fours racing over the ground towards the sand monster before him. Gaara was still too focused on Naruto to give the approaching figure any mind, but Shukaku was not so blind to the danger.

Great claw like spines shot up out of the ground as the fox creature charged, trying to entangle the creature. Kyueed dodged in and out of the virtual forest of sandy spires its eyes glowing as it closed in on the boy. Finally Gaara seemed to recognize the danger and swung his arms over into a crushing blow that looked likely to smash the creature before him with his two great sand claws.

As the two arms closed there was a sudden surge of those same purple and black leaves that slammed like living waves into either arm forcing them apart enough for Kyueed to rush through the gap. With an unintelligible cry of rage Gaara looked up to see Naruto his two arms outstretched towards him as if pushing on a great weight, the leafs that had been dancing around him now holding the Tanuki's arms at bay. Before there was time to process this there was a crashing sensation as Kyueed plowed into the boy's chest with a cannonball worth of force. Suddenly Gaara found his arms wrapped in several powerful black bands, as he twisted his head down just in time to see Kyueed's mouth opening right in his face. This may have been the end for the boy if Shukaku hadn't been ready for the next attack.

Without a moment's hesitation Gaara felt his mouth slam open pulled by the sand around him as a concentrated ball of chakra formed in his own mouth. Just as Kyueed had finished its own blast Shukaku/Gaara spit their own down into the creature's mouth causing the two to detonate. The resulting blast blew threw the two apart sand flying out in every direction even as Kyueed skipped back over the ground near to where Naruto was still standing. As Kyueed skidded to a halt looking disheveled one of its tails bending in an odd way as its ears drooped in obvious discomfort.

Gaara was in a similar state. The sand face around him had been crushed back along with most of the chest and one of the arms of the beast, sand trickling down like blood from his monstrous form. However, even as Naruto watched the sand stopped its collapse before surging back up the face repairing, as the boy's body and arms swelled out to their previous form.

"Oh come on that's just not fair!" Naruto shouted as Gaara stood again apparently unharmed from the last assault. Kyueed beside him let out a small whimpering hum of annoyance. The two looked at each other for a moment before Naruto nodded his head and Kyueed flicked its tail in a "I'm ready if you are." Kind of motion before the two turned to face the sand figure before them once again.

Gaara had just managed to recover from the last blast when he looked up to see the two charging him. Without another thought he threw his arms up in violent slashes great clumps of sand flying off of his arms becoming great flying claws of sand followed by slivering rivers of the grainy substance. Kyueed leapt into the flying claws swiping its tails around to smash the coming projectiles spinning forwards through them one after another. Naruto beside him was busy directing waves of his leaves crashing into the waves of sand countering them before they could push forwards and entrap the pair. As the detonations of sand and leafs blasted all around them Naruto and Kyueed closed on Gaara bringing the battle into close quarters.

Kyueed was the first to move, leaping up at Gaara's face his claws pointed forwards towards the boy's face. Shukaku, however, was coming to an end of his patience with this fight, and without pause pulled the sand around the boy's right arm swinging it up to block the oncoming creature. Kyueed buried its claws into the great sand arm its tails wrapping around the appendage, even as a couple shot forward to wrap around the sand boy's neck and chest pulling, trying to force itself closer. Almost without thought the sand upon the arm shot out into spines several shooting up into the creature's tails, and body sending up a cry of humming pain from the creature. The cry soon turned into a roar as Kyueed swung its head round and began spitting out small fast blasts of chakra into the sand around it. However, before he could get off more than a handful of shots Gaara's tail came slamming forwards to crash into the figures head crashing it down into the sand of its arm and smothering its attack.

At the same moment Naruto had shot up and under the beasts other arm even as he threw out another wave of leafs to intercept a missile of sand that shot towards him. As he reached the base of the sand monster he slammed is still armored palms into one another in a clapping motion. As he pulled them apart a length of chain extended between the two, as Naruto swung himself up and around the figure looping the chain around the beasts neck before yanking it taught pulling the howling beats head back just as it let out another blast of chakra that had been meant for the entangled Kyueed. Without pausing Naruto set himself before pulling the chains taught and sending what few leaves he had available into the boys exposed leg causing it to buckle with the force and the whole beast come toppling down onto the arena floor.

As the beast fell Naruto released the chains before leaping up and towards the now fallen boys head looking to end the battle now while he had the advantage. Kyueed in the meantime had managed to free a few of its tails and was even now fighting to free its mouth, and open up with a fresh volley of blasts. Gaara was lost in a blind fury as she struggled to crush the two figures around him, all sense of reason having left him some time ago. Shukaku however, was had calmed into an ice cold calm.

"**So the little monkey wants to play like he is a monster….well lets show him what a real monster is like." **called the great sand tanuki as he closed his eyes in focus and let out the seals limiting the amount of chakra allowed into his host.

The only warning that Naruto had was a sudden pulse of bone deep fear, and Juubi suddenly calling for him to watch out, but both came a second too late. There was a moment before it happened when Naruto was still hanging in midair committed to his next strike, even as Kyueed was just managing to pull its head free. In that moment Gaara suddenly halted his shifting as his yellow eyes went wide, and the sand around him stiffened for a half a second before suddenly exploding out.

Naruto was caught and flung away from the sheer force of the coming wave flying a few dozen feet to skip across the arena floor swinging his head up to see the slowly growing mass of sand before him. Kyueed, wasn't so lucky, he was carried up with the blast, as the arm he had been battling with slowly formed into a single claw of one great hand. Naruto watched in horror as the sand slowly formed into a head and legs, while an immense tail burst forth from its back. Bright blue veins sparling up around the body as the mouth opened in an earth shaking roar. Shukaku's body fully formed now stood in the center of the stadium, its bulk taking up nearly the entire floor area, the still form of Gaara hanging limply from the center of the beasts head. With an almost lazy movement the great beast looked down at its figure, where Kyueed was firing off a few blasts of chakra into the beast's arm and chest blowing chunks of sand that shifted back into place a moment later. Without another thought the massive creature flicked its arm in a swishing motion flinging Kyueed free of its claw, and into the air away from itself.

"KYUEEED! CRAP JUUBI WHY THE HECK DO I EVER LISTEN TO YOU!" called Naruto as his wave of leaves surged around him, even as Shukaku looked down at the boy, along with Gaara hanging limply from the beasts head.

"**Oh and you never get us into trouble!" **Juubi fired back her tone a little anxious as well.

"YA WELL THIS IS STILL WORSE!" Naruto yelled back almost causing Juubi to smile despite the situation. However before she could respond Naruto forced his waves of leaves to fly between him and an oncoming blast of wind that the giant tailed beast had fired off at the boy. The blast hit the wall with such force that the whole structure bowed in, despite the chakra being weakened as it hit.

"JUUBI I DON'T THINK I HAVE A CHANCE HERE!" Naruto shouted his tone slightly panicked. Juubi let out a breath before nodding and starting to move up the tree she had been sitting in with a determined look on her face.

"**Naruto get it ready we don't have a choice!" **called Juubi as she climbed causing Naruto to look up at the slowly breaking barrier he had formed as a second blast hammered down into it. Some of the leafs fell from the mass slowly crumbling away until it was caught up in the intense winds still flying around the last blast and was carried away and off over the battle around him. The boy watched the remains for just a moment before bowing his head in acknowledgment as the black armor around him slowly receded leaving the boy's face exposed, covered in sweat and slightly panting. The black armor continued to shift away from him until one seed was there floating just a foot in front of him while the other flew back into his coat.

* * *

At the same time that Shukaku was taking shape the Konoha defenders were throwing everything they had into the oncoming forces. The ino-shika-cho trio had just finished fighting a group of enemies and were headed towards the outer walls when they saw something that brought them up short. There a few yards away were their children all battling against a small force of enemy's as civilians ran behind them fleeing away from the conflict happening around them. Beside the teens was what appeared to be a noble looking woman with long purple hair, who seemed to be directing the panicking people away. As they watched one man in fancy cloths tried to barrel his way over a pair of children only to be caught by the neck by the woman's hand and yanked back before she slammed a foot down into his body holding him down as she waved other on, and out of the field of combat.

"Hey isn't that the queen of snow?" Chōza called even as the three rushed forwards to aid their children. The other two gave him quick nods as they raced forward. However, just when they were about half way there a giant serpent shot out of the building beside where the attackers were coming from, before charging the genin's position. The parents let out cries of fear as they saw the beast charge their children. However, before the snake could reach them something else caught their eyes. From the top of the stadium four figures leaped flying down like bullets down at the summon. The first three impacted the summon with blue orbs of chakra that exploded into small blasts all along the creatures side, sending bits of scales and blood out into the air. The final figure however wrapped what looked like its own hair around the creatures mouth before landing on the beasts head before driving a fist the size of a food cart into the snakes head forcing it to crash a few feet before the genin's position. As the parents reached the position the form of the creature came into view, a perfectly black version of Ino who hopped happily down from the downed snake and letting out a small hum almost like a huff as it turned towards everyone its hands planted on its hips as it looked around at the group in apparent pride.

Before anyone else could speak the queen of snows voice bellowed out with an authority that did not allow for questions.

"YOU, THE ONE WITH THE SNAKE, STOP STANDING AROUND WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO PRAISE YOU AND GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME!" the woman almost screamed causing the Ino seedling to jump slightly before rushing over taking orders from the woman letting out small hums of apparent fright as it did. The rest of the group just looked over at the pair for a moment before Shikakucalled them back to the matter at hand.

"troublesome Shikimaru, Ino, Choji, Yakumo, Tenten we'll handle this spot from here you head back with the civilians, the village still has pockets of resistance and they need an escort called the man immediately getting nods from the genin who raced out to get to work as the adults rushed forwards towards the outer wall, spying a few groups of clones that they recognized as Naruko's accompanied by one of those strange black figures, usually causing nine kinds of hell for anyone they came across.

At the same time that the summon fell to the Ino seedling Kushina had just finished spearing the final head of the massive summon she had been fighting. She was now sporting a pair of cracked ribs, and one arm hung limply by her side, where she had been forced to hold her ground to keep the snake from charging past her to get at the three she protected. With a sickening crack her golden chains snapped the final heads jaws open and back almost splitting the creatures head apart, as she turned back to see Hitomi and the children still huddled a distance away still safe.

Kushina let out a heavy breath as she moved back to the three her feet heavy, but the smile on her face showing through the pain as she pushed herself back to their sides. However, just as she was about to reach them there was another loud roaring hiss, and she turned wide eyed to see another pair of serpents slithering forwards towards her over the body of the fallen serpent. These only stretched till the size of large horses, but even still Kushina let out a cry of rage, shouting as she did.

"WHEN WILL YOU FUCKING PURSES GET THE IDEA!" she called as a new group of chains burst out of her back and pointed towards the oncoming serpents. The summons reared up letting out hisses as their mouths stretched wide, showing long pointed fangs dripping with what could only be poison.

However, before the pair could strike there was a sudden boom off in the distance before a giant blade shot through the two snakes and into the ground a few yards in front of Kushina, accompanied with a crash that made the ground around her shake. The redhead threw her head up and found herself looking up into the giant face of a red toad.

"Ga-gamabunta." Kushina said her smile returning as she spied the two figures standing on top of the great toads head looking down at her. There was Minami and Naruko both looking more than a little worn out but smiling all the same as they look down waving, and calling down at Kushina from their spot above.

"Kaasan sorry we were late, are you and Mito alright!" called Naruko as Minami just waved one hand limply obviously running on empty but smiling happily all the same. Kushina had to blink tears out her eyes as she looked up at the two nodding her head in before brushing away the moisture with one sleeve and looking back up at the girls.

"Hai we are all safe thanks to you, can you get us to the hospital!?" called Kushina as the two girls nodded in reply.

"Hey Boss we need to get my Kaasan, Mito-chan and the others to the hospital, think you can help us out?" called Naruko as the toad let out a heavy exasperated sound.

"**I swear you two are running me ragged, but I suppose I can help you out this one time." **replied the massive toad, his tone intimidating, but the girls could hear the note of humor in it all the same. The toad boss may be prideful sometimes, but he was also very soft hearted, only don't let him know that, he thought he was a yakuza.

So Kushina, Hitomi and the two still unconscious children found themselves lifted up in one giant webbed hand as the toad took another crashing leap and they were headed off towards the hospital. As the groups headed out Naruko and Minami ran down to the toads hand, the pair flying into Kushina as they arrived holding onto her and letting out small cries of worry as they saw her injuries. Kushina in turn just pulled the pair close to her with her one good arm, ignoring her injuries and was just happy to see her children safe. From beside her Hitomi looked around before speaking up worry in her voice.

"Naruko where is Hiashi….w-where is Hinata….w-where is my family!" she asked her voice cracking with emotion as she looked at the pair in clear panic. Naruko and Minami looked over at her before quickly giving her a reassuring smile before Minami spoke up.

"They are just fine Hitomi-san; they will probably beat us to the hospital." Minami said in a happy tone as the group continued to journey towards the hospital. Minami set about explaining to the Hyuuga matriarch what she had seen just a few minutes before.

Hiashi had stood in the middle of a street weapons and bodies littered around him as several sound and suna shinobi closed in from all sides as if predators circling a wounded beast. A pair shot forwards only for Hiashi to spin catching the two with another solid pair of strikes causing them to draw sharp pained expressions before falling dead into the ground before him. However, even as they fell Hiashi felt the bite of another Kunai as it buried itself into his calf from behind him. Whether luck or simple odds the sheer number of projectiles had found his blind spot a handful of times. However, that was all they needed thanks to their sheer number. So as Hiashi stumbled forwards he looked around his mind drawing the grim conclusion to this fight.

_Da-damn them there's just too many…. _The stoic Hyuuga through as he saw the group pulling out another slew of weapons to begin their assault anew. As the next attack sprang forwards Hiashi found himself in a sudden sense of peace as he thought of the smiling faces of his wife and children…_well….at least they are safe._ The man thought as he prepared to sell his life at the highest cost he could manage. However, just as he swung to meet the attack that would likely claim his life his vision suddenly picked up several fast moving forms that crashed headlong into the forces around him. He had a moment to recognize the shapes of large hammers, and oddly fluffy shapes before a voice called out to him through the din of noise.

"Tousan!" called a concerned voice, which Hiashi recognized. He turned in time to see Hinata jumping down from the back of the same massive grey rabbit, which stood up and in a swift motion swung its massive hammer to catch a suna shinobi in mid leap hurling the figure into a nearby wall with a loud crack. The man blinked slightly as he felt his legs giving out under him even as his eldest leapt up beside him her, eyes the shining white and black that he had seen in the arena. Idly he also noted the horns that gave her the impression of having a pair of bunny ears shooting out from her head. She was speaking quickly in an half panicked voice as she applied glowing green chakra to his form as the pain slowly began to fade. With it soon faded his consciousness as well.

Hinata looked down at Hiashi trying not to cry out at the wounds littering the man's body, while looking left and right to where Roku and his siblings were smashing their way through the would be attackers. She, Minami, and Sakura had managed to fight their way clear of the stadium and were moving when they had run into an attacking force from sound. Minami's clones had been able to stall, but they were slowly losing ground and the injured behind them presented to great a target to hope that the assault would lighten any time soon. Then Minami had come up with the idea of helping Hinata to fuel a summoning, to help get the injured out. The girls had seized upon the idea and the next moment Hinata had slammed the abundant amount of chakra that Minami had created into a summoning. The result was what stood around them.

Roku and seven of his siblings had arrived turning their hammers into the attacking forces, before moving to help evacuate the injured. The group had been on the move when they had almost crashed into Hiashi's battle Hinata spotting her tousan and calling the summons forwards into the battle. Now she sat kneeling over Hiashi stopping the worst of the injury's as the rabbits formed up around her and the other injured creating a very deadly all be it fluffy wall around their position.

"Sakura I need you!" called Hinata her tone panicked as Sakura dropped down beside her taking a quick look before diving into her own medical work on the man. Minami in turn arrived a moment later draped across the back of a smaller rabbit, the amount of chakra she had discharged between the clones and the summoning having drained her impressive reserves more than she had thought possible.

"Ho-how is he?" asked the redhead the exhaustion clear in her voice as she posed the question. Hinata and Sakura remained silent for a few more moments focused on the man below them before they let out small tired but relived sighs.

"He-he's going to be fine." Whispered Sakura leaning back and letting out a small happy chuckled as one of the rabbits brushed up against her causing her to lean gratefully into the softness for a moment. The rabbit didn't seem to mind, and just let the girl rest for a moment. Hinata in turn was crying unable to speak, the fear she had felt at seeing Hiashi in such a state had almost driven her to break down, but with an effort she forced herself up to look around them.

"Ro-roku-san." The girl called causing the rabbit to turn its face to look back at her in recognition of her words.

"We need to keep moving the hospital isn't far, and the injured need to get to cover, can you and your siblings keep going?" she asked. The massive rabbit let out a small huff before calling out in a loud voice.

"**WELL NEESANS AND NIISANS WHAT SAY YOU, CAN WE CARRY OUR SUMMONER AND HER CHARGES TO SAFETY!?"** called Roku in a deep voice. There was an echoing cry of assent as hammers were lifted into the air and slammed back down as the force prepared to move again. That was when Naruko had arrived looking like she had gotten into a fight with half of the invasion force herself, but a small happy grin playing across her face at the same time.

"Hey Kaasan is up ahead Minami we need to head out." the blond called as the redhead lifted her head giving a small wave of acknowledgment. Naruko looked around at the summoned rabbits for a moment before hitting herself over the head for not thinking of the same sooner and flying through a few handsigns before slamming her hands down, sending out a billowing cloud of smoke that separated to show the massive body of Gamabunta. A few moments later the group was off, Minami along with Naruko perched atop the toad boss, while the rest flew forwards with their furry protectors.

-flashback end-

As the girls finished Hitomi relaxed slightly a smile spreading across her face as she heard her family was safe. Kushina to let out a happy little smile at the news before she noticed that someone was missing.

"Minami, Naruko where's Naruto?" Kushina called even as a sudden roar caught her attention and the group turned to see the massive form of Shukaku rising out of the stadium a great distance away.

* * *

Above the stadium in the purple pillar Minato found himself being driven back along with Jiraiya against the assault of the three figures before him. The two resurrected Kage's seemed to be able to absorb everything they threw at them, and keep coming. At the same time Orochimaru continued to harass them with long-range justus and weapons fading back every time they got close to him, and allowing his puppets to take any attack meant for him. Minato and Jiraiya had found themselves breathing heavily back to back as they looked over at the two immortal kage's facing them.

"Well gaki I hope you have a plan for this cause I'm just about out of tricks to pull, if we had time, we could figure out the seal that blasted snake used, but at this rate it isn't looking good that we are going to make it out of this." the sage said setting his eyes forward towards the second hokage who was standing a few yards before him. Minato in the meantime was still running on the combined rage he had been feeling and barely registered the sage's words. Instead he gritted his teeth in a silent snarl as he summoned a pair of shadow clones to either side of him.

"Buy me some time now!" shouted the blond as the three began to focus on whatever they had planned. Jiraiya was about to argue but decided against it. Instead he flung himself forwards towards the second Hokage throwing out everything he had at the figure forcing him to fall back, before swinging round to charge at the first hokage in turn. On his shoulders Ma and Pa toad did what they could to hold off any justus flying in at the man from afar. In the meantime Minato was busy as two swirling balls of chakra slowly began to change, as wing began to gather around them. A few moments later there was a whistling noise that drew everyone's attention back towards the blonde hokage. However, even as their eyes turned there was a bright flash of light, and then the noise was gone for a moment before it flared once again in to clarity just behind the two undead Kage's. The two turned only in time to receive two massive bladed rasengans like oversized shining shrunken that plunged into the two with a horrible sound of ripping and tearing that rent the air as though it could actually sink teeth into it.

Jiraiya looked on in utter shock as the two figures disappeared into blinding blue orbs of light, and that noise swelled out to earsplitting volume. Then it all came to an end with a massive detonation that dropped the two kage's to the ground their forms unmoving, covered in what looked like millions of cuts and stabs. Turning Jiraiya saw Minato standing a few yards above him upon one of the massive wooden branches that the first had thrown at them breathing heavily his arms hanging at his side, and his palms a horrible blackened color.

Jiraiya was about to call out to him when a sudden blow impacted his back flinging him into a wooden root and knocking the man momentarily unconscious. Minato who had been looking down saw a long snake slinking back into the shadows behind the man a manic cackling filling the rooftop as it did.

"Very nicely done Minato, I must say you truly are a genius of the highest caliber, something so destructive, I have to say I am impressed." Called the snake's voice as he stepped out of the shadows. Minato felt his stomach's bottom drop out as he saw the figure before him. Orochimaru's skin was still pale white, but instead of being its usual smooth completions it had rough breaks in it like scales. His eyes usually snake like had swelled out, his whole face shifting to become a horrible cross between snake and man, even as the snake that had impacted Jiraiya slunk back to show that it was attached to his back like some kind of grotesque tail. Orochimaru grinned up at the shocked expression of the Kage's face.

"Oh this," Orochimaru half asked waving his hands around at his form, "you didn't really think I would come here to burn everything you love without preparing did you, I may be ambitious my dear Minato but I am not a fool unlike those who live in this village." called the snake sage his grin becoming a leer of deepest enjoyment and insult. Minato's eyes narrowed upon the man as despite the pain in his hands he clenched them into fists, as he looked down at the figure below him.

"Orochimaru I should tell you this, you picked the worst possible day to pull this invasion!" called Minato, even as with some intense pain he pulled a new pair of kunai out of his coat Orochimaru giving the man a puzzled look as he did.

"Oh do tell oh great fourth Hokage, why is today any different than any other?" called Orochimaru his tone brimming with false interest as he reached out the hilt of a blade which he pulled out a moment later. Minato didn't even pause as he watched the display his focus elsewhere at the moment.

"Because you traitorous snake I'm about to show you what happens when I'm having a bad day!" called Minato right before he disappeared in a flash of light before appearing behind Orochimaru, as the snake sage swung his blade around to catch the oncoming blow the viper coming from his back striking out at the hokage as the blades clashed. Minato was forced to teleport again to avoid the incoming strike landing a few feet away from the snake and flinging a few blasts of wind at the sage, who replied in kind countering them with his own assault of wind.

As the two prepared to move again their attention was drawn to a tearing cracking sound that came from above them. Both turned to see something black and slightly humanoid smash into and then through the barrier surrounding them and crashing a few yards away from them with an audible thunk. The two shinobi stared from the hole that had already almost sealed itself back to the spot where the, whatever it was had landed both wondering how what they had seen was possible. However, before they could even grasp what had just occurred a fresh shock occurred as Kyueed ejected itself from its landing spot shaking its head and letting out an annoyed sounding hum as it fluffed out its nine tails. The Kyueed looked from Minato who it didn't seem to recognize then over to Orochimaru. It seemed to focus on the sage for a moment before its glowing eyes flashed, and then narrowed, and a clearly audible humming growl began to fill the air.

The next instant Orochimaru was forced to raise his blade up to block as Kyueed spat out a ball of concentrated chakra that ripped towards him like a small black missile. Minato seeing this turned to face the sage again his mind coming to two quick conclusions. First that he had no idea what the creature was or how it had breached the barrier…two it didn't like Orochimaru, which meant it was alright by him at least for the time being.

So with that Minato charged forwards even as on his side Kyueed did the same.

* * *

Below in the arena Shukaku was still firing blast after blast down onto the shield below that looked about to crack. Naruto in the meantime was huddled under the shield focusing on the pair of orbs before his eyes. Slowly one of the orbs began to shake as Naruto concentrated.

"Juubi for the record if this blows up I'm blaming you." Naruto called as a small hum started to shake around the orb before him. Juubi who had just reached the top of her tree when she let out a heavy breath, along with a small laugh.

"**Haha ok Naruto, but let's do this, I think it's about time that I started carrying my own weight around here." **Juubi called as Naruto himself allowed his face split into a fierce grin.

"Hai I suppose so, just make it count!" called the blonde, as he threw his hand forwards to grab the orb in front of him. Without waiting he swung the orb down into the ground below him and with a small effort fired the ball off like a shot, plunging it straight down into the ground with a loud crack. For a few moments the only sound was the continued crashing of air against Naruto's ever shrinking shield. Then it came, a loud rumbling sound that shook the ground all around him reaching all the way up to the stadium seats causing more than one group to turn down past the great Tanuki who was looking just as apparently confused down at the arena floor.

For long moment everything seemed to go quiet, the explosions around seemed to soften, as the cries of battle began somewhat muted, as all eyes seemed almost pulled to the arena, and not towards the great tailed beast, which wasn't exactly an everyday occurrence. What came next however, shocked everyone more than anything they had ever seen.

The silence was slowly overtaken with a sudden calm that seemed to stretch out over the entire village. Fire justus dimmed, and winds broke, as water seemed to calm it's crashing even the earth and lightening stopped their crashing, as if afraid of something that they had not felt in a lifetime. There was no violent roar or crash as the structure rose, no call of great power, instead an almost silent fear was all that announced its entrance. Thousands watched as from the arena floor a pillar of white slowly stretched out, slivers splitting off to for branches as it went, as millions of leaves, that seemed to shift between midnight black, and electric purple sprouted out to cover its branches. The tree, for that is what it was, stretched up and up until it was taller than the massive form of Shukaku who stood beside it, his mouth open wide in shock at what he was seeing. As the tree finally stopped its assent the leafs seemed to open up casting a soft glow over the stadium, even as small flecks of black and purple lights, like stars slowly drifted down from its branches.

Eyes turned from the magnificent tree to spot two figures whom appeared to be riding upon the sea of leafs that carpeted to top of the great monolith. Naruto was there sitting his hands thrown out behind him to keep him from falling through the canopy, and looking as though a stiff breeze may be enough to take him out of commission. However, that is not where everyone's eyes were drawn, they stared in wonder and shock at the figure standing beside Naruto, long purple hair blowing softly in the wind, as the light from the tree played off her porcelain skin. The figure slowly drew in a breath…the first in over a thousand years on this plane, and opened her eyes towards where Shukaku stood, a sense of power simply radiating off of her that swept out over the village and the elemental nations.

In other nations across the land, a girl jumping excitedly from tree to tree while trying to learn to fly nearly crashed as the creature inside of her suddenly froze causing the two to fall to the forest floor. In mountainous region two men sat drinking before at once both found themselves frozen as their tenants both suddenly came forwards at the same time calling out as they did. In a land of mist a traveler sat watching his student just as he was about to blow a fresh set of bubbles a sudden distress call from his tenant caused him to breath in and begin choking on the substance. From a lake off in the hidden waves a creature that had been sleeping let its one eye blink suddenly open in shock and excitement. Even as a pair of Jonin fell to their knees in the Raikage's office both stunned at the intensity of their tenants calls. In all cases the cry had been the same, called from many tongues in many lands, it cried out.

"**KAASAN!"**

Juubi looked down at Shukaku for a moment her eyes saddened but firm, as she did. Without a word she lifted one hand up in a smooth gesture before stretching it out towards Shukaku, the great beast withering slightly in her gaze.

"**Shukaku it's time you let your rage go my brave little protector." **Called the Juubi as from the tree around her great pillars of leaves shot up giving the impression of ten great tails swaying in the air.

**OK CHAPTER DONE. Now I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, and feel free to post any questions you have, and anything else. I'm ecstatic to have reached so many followers and favorites, and I just want to say thank you again for all of the support. Really it means a lot that all of you enjoy the story. Now for our winners. Drum roll.**

**The winners are in no particular order.**

**New to Naruto, 00phantom,** **NaturalSam14****, Lunarium Prince, TIMEANDSPACE12**

**Ok those are the winners that I could find, if by some chance I missed your review, or pm please just send me a message and I will correct this in the coming chapter. Till then congratulations to those who won, and thanks to everyone who played. LoL, now you know why they are called seeds and the title is the leafs new tree.**


	22. Chapter 20

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Well the contest is over, and the winners have been announced, hope no one is too mad that their guess didn't pan out. Also thank you to everyone who has followed, favorite, and reviewed, you are all what keep this story going and I hope that you enjoy what comes next.

Small point here as some of you may already know, I recently put up a challenge on my page in the stories. Well I took a different direction than I have seen and wrote the first chapter out and then left it open for anyone to grab onto, I hope that if you aren't interested in the challenge itself you may enjoy the first chapter for a one shot that it is, check it out if you think my writing should tackle a second project.

Well here comes the news, school is now officially underway for me, and on top of that I have a job to balance, and that means my free time is stretched at best. So the next few chapters will be coming out slower, sorry but priorities dictate that this is pretty low on things I have to do. I won't stop or go months without updating but just be prepared for longer stretches between weeks now that school is underway.

So enjoy the chapter and thanks for helping reach twenty chapters of this story it really is awesome that so many people seem to enjoy my work. The seedlings would say thanks as well but all they can do is hum, and Mito and Hanabi got into a paint fight instead of finishing the sign for all of you so just let me say thanks again and stop keeping you from the chapter. Enjoy.

**Chapter 20**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-The end of the beginning-**

Eyes turned from the magnificent tree to spot two figures that appeared to be riding upon the sea of leafs that carpeted to top of the great monolith. Naruto was there sitting with his hands thrown out behind him to keep him from falling through the canopy, and looking as though a stiff breeze may be enough to take him out of commission. However, that is not where everyone's eyes were drawn, they stared in wonder and shock at the figure standing beside Naruto, long purple hair blowing softly in the wind, as the light from the tree played off her porcelain skin. The figure slowly drew in a breath…the first in over a thousand years on this plane, and opened her eyes towards where Shukaku stood, a sense of power simply radiating off of her that swept out over the village and the elemental nations.

In other nations across the land, a girl jumping excitedly from tree to tree while trying to learn to fly nearly crashed as the creature inside of her suddenly froze causing the two to fall to the forest floor. In mountainous region two men sat drinking before at once both found themselves frozen as their tenants both suddenly came forwards at the same time calling out as they did. In a land of mist a traveler sat watching his student just as he was about to blow a fresh set of bubbles a sudden distress call from his tenant caused him to breath in and begin choking on the substance. From a lake off in the hidden waves a creature that had been sleeping let its one eye blink suddenly open in shock and excitement. Even as a pair of Jonin fell to their knees in the Raikage's office both stunned at the intensity of their tenants calls. In all cases the cry had been the same, called from many tongues in many lands, it cried out.

"**KAASAN!"**

Juubi looked down at Shukaku for a moment her eyes saddened but firm, as she did. Without a word she lifted one hand up in a smooth gesture before stretching it out towards Shukaku, the great beast withering slightly in her gaze.

"**Shukaku it's time you let your rage go my brave little protector."** called the Juubi as from the limbs around her great pillars of leaves shot up giving the impression of ten great tails swaying in the air.

Shukaku for his part reacted about as well as could be expected at seeing his Kaasan suddenly appear before him, while effectively terrifying chakra itself, and basically managing to silence a battlefield by her very presence. So his reaction was rather reasonable given what he was facing.

"…**..Ka-kaasan…..h-how, y-you?...what?" **The great Tanuki muttered while staring slack jawed up at the figure upon the top of the tree. This would not have been so bad if one didn't consider the fact that Shukaku was something like a ten story raccoon made of sand. So his small whimpering was effectively a bass drum roar to the forces still in the stadium. Even Orochimaru and Minato within the sealed top of the tower heard the beast's words, but without a line of site the words simply confused them.

Juubi in the meantime was looking down on Shukaku her face set, as the Tanuki stared up at her in shock. From beside her there was a small yelp of concern. Juubi turned her head in time to see that Naruto had managed to slip between the foliage of the treetop and start sinking into the leaves; the boys legs were the only thing left showing as they kicked back and forth in apparent panic. Juubi let out a small sigh as she idly rubbed at her forehead muttering something under her breath. Like some great tendril a vine of leafs shot over wrapping around one of the boy's legs before plucking him out of the purple treetop until he hung upside-down as Juubi looked over her hand at him, her expression exasperated.

"**I swear I'm not in your head to keep you on track for one second and you have managed to get yourself in trouble." ** She said even as she folded her arms and gave the boy a look of mix exasperation and good natured mocking. Naruto in the meantime had folded his own arms and had turned his head away from Juubi, even as a small grin spread across his face.

"Ya well not my fault your oldest is so stubborn, I don't even have enough chakra left to stick to this tree." He replied trying and failing to give a serious look while hanging upside-down. Juubi only smirked in reply before her attention was drawn elsewhere.

From below the remaining Suna and Sound forces left in the arena had been watching the appearance of Juubi, followed by Shukaku's apparent incapacitation. It took them a few moments before they recognized the danger that this put them in. Without their trump card the invasion was all but lost, already they were being pushed back, if they lost their tailed beast the battle was over. So through either bravery or desperation they launched an assault upon the tree and its occupants.

Juubi was just about to respond to Naruto's behavior when the sound of projectiles caused her to look around. A veritable sea of fire, water, rock and all manner of shinobi weaponry were pelting their way towards her position. Juubi quirked an eyebrow at this for a moment before letting out a small sigh and waving one hand in a lazy fashion as if swatting away a fly. The ten great tails of leaves suddenly swung forwards with one mind creating a mirror image of Juubi's own hand, with delicate vines and leafs overlapping to form the steam wreaker appendage that simply swatted the attack aside. Fire flickered and died as it impacted the massive black and purple appendage, water turning to a fine mist, as earth simply crumbled to dust. The weapons either simply tinged off of the form or sunk into it with no apparent effect at all. Once the blow reached the apex of the swing the leafs scattered once more returning to their ten pillars, whatever weapons still embedded in them dropping silently to the arena floor down below. Shinobi of every rank just stared open mouthed at the display of power they had just witnessed.

It wasn't a flexing of power; no rather it was the utter lack of it that startled them. The hand had simply brushed aside the attack, like mother's hand may sweep way the angry little fist of a newborn, no anger, nothing, just a simply commanding presence that told them that no attack they launched would pose any kind of halt to her intentions. Juubi looked around at the stadium from her perch letting out a little huff of pride, before turning to face Naruto once more. However, just as she turned a horrible cry came up from below causing Juubi to spin back around, and what she saw froze her blood.

Below all of those that had raised their hands to her, shinobi or kunoichi, sand or sound, were now being pelted by wave after wave of sand, either formed into projectiles or simply washing up and over the walls towards them before like the sea swallowing them up. Juubi's eyes went wide before looking to see Shukaku his gaze maddening as he looked around the arena the anger coming off of him almost a physical presence. As the sand continued its assault the great beast let out a roar at the surrounding attackers.

"**Y-YOU! YOU DARE TRY TO HARM HER! YOU DARE RAISE YOUR MISERABLE HANDS AGAINST HER! ALL OF YOU WILL DIE!" **screamed the sand tanuki as the sand continued its merciless assault at the surrounding attackers. Juubi stayed frozen for only a moment before she was off running full out towards the edge of the tree, even as the cry's continued to rise. Reaching the edge Juubi flung herself off from the edge spreading her arms out as she fell downwards the trails of leaves following behind her like a shining flickering cloud.

Shukaku looked up in time to see his Kaasan followed by the cloud as it spread out shooting out to insert itself between his sand assault and the denizens of the stadium. He had to suppress a snarl as he saw his sand either battered back with equal strikes from the purple and black leaves, or washed away with waves of his Kaasan's ability. However, before he could become focused on this Juubi landed softly before him her small form drawing his undivided attention.

"**SHUKAKU STOP THIS NOW!" **called Juubi slamming her foot down as the sand assault was cut off and the two were surrounded in a slowly swirling cloud of leaves. Shukaku looked down at her for a moment before shaking his head in a mixture of anger and confusion.

"**Why , give me one good reason why I shouldn't drown every one of these monkeys under my dunes for trying to harm you!?" **he replied his tone one of forced calm as he eyes settled upon the great black ones of Juubi. However, before she could respond he continued his voice booming out.

"**These creature dared to try and harm you and you would protect them, why, what possible reason could you have for standing between me and them, tell me why Kaasan!?" **Shukaku called swiping a great sand fist over into the swirling mass of leaves sending a concussively blast of them back scattering down the arena floor their glow fading as they dropped to the ground.

Juubi looked up at her Sochi with a sad smile on her face. After a moment she spoke up her voice twinge with the sadness she was fighting to master.

"**I'm not doing it for them Sochi….I am doing it for you, if you don't stop this killing nothing will change, and you will lose yourself in it…you'll become the monster they wanted you to be the weapon they wanted…and I won't be able to save you from that if I don't stop you now." **she called as she slowly slipped into what looked like the first movement of a dance, her eyes focused on Shukaku's a silent power emanating from her small form. Shukaku in turn let out a small growl turning to swing one massive claw out towards the stadium and the shinobi inside of it.

Without hesitating Juubi bent slightly before gliding forwards one arm rising in a graceful ark as she stepped forwards the movement graceful and simple. As Shukaku's claw raced forwards there was a shifting from below that he caught out of the corner of his eye. Just as his claw managed to plow through the small wall of whirling leaves a hand reached up out the ground catching the Tanuki's claw and gently directing it up and away from the stands causing Shukaku to let out a roar of aggravation as she turned his gaze to see Juubi's determined eyes upon him.

Without a pause Shukaku swung his massive tail around the many tails that composed it turning to point out turning the appendage into a great spiked club crashing down towards the stadium once again. But again Juubi swept through another step of her dance, and another hand sprouted out fingers made of leaves stretching out as they cupped the coming blow softening it and turning it aside yet again. Shukaku was about to let out another roar when he spied a dragon of wood racing towards him from the top of the stadium curling down towards his unprotected head. Before he could pull his free arm up to intercept the blow a swirl of leaves formed between him and the incoming attack before a great leafed foot shot out slamming into the dragon heal first and catapulting the beast down to splinter upon the stone stands below it.

Shukaku turned to see Juubi still looking at him a small smile upon her lips.

"**And don't think for a moment that I will allow them to hurt you either….not my Sochi….not while I am alive." **She said as Shukaku simply looked down dumbfounded by her actions; before he could speak another wooden dragon, along with one of flame raced out of the surrounding stands racing towards Shukaku once more. Just as with the last swirling leafs formed great appendages that mirrored Juubi's movements and struck down the blows, all the while her face never leaving Shukaku's own. So Shukaku stood in the center of the battle as blasts crashed around him….safe….surrounded by Juubi's power, and safe from any harm, all while she watched him, her sad countenance not shifting in the slightest. Shukaku's mind was fighting to keep steady as he watched his Kaasan protecting the apes …and him…his Kaasan was here protecting him.

* * *

While the stadium erupted into a series of explosions as leafs and sand flew round and justus exploded all around Minato was attempting to ignore everything around him but the form of Orochimaru. The snake sage stood only ten yards from him his body grotesque in its new half snake form, but no less deadly for his new. At the moment, however, there was another figure's presence that was such an abnormality that it drew both Orochimaru's and his own attention.

Kyueed crouched a few feet to his left, its wide eyes narrowed slightly and a purring growl issuing out of it, as it focused on Orochimaru. The snake sage in turn turned to face the creature his own eyes narrowing as his memory showed him flashes of a creature it had come across in the forest just a month ago.

_So it would seem that Minato has been busy since I've been away, still the creature was nothing more than an annoyance before, it should not change the field too much. _He thought as the turned back to focus on the battered but still deadly hokage. Minato in the meantime was looking between Kyueed, his own mind racing as well.

_Wait that thing looks like those things Naruto was using….c-could it be his, but why does it look like a jinchuuriki, what the heck is going on…..damn it I don't have time for this, whatever it is, Orochimaru seems to be its target. _The blonde finished as he pulled out another set of kunai from his seals, wincing slightly as his hands tightened around their handles. Meanwhile Kyueed was having its own series of….well thoughts.

_Bad snake man…..bad snake man hurt nice red girl…..nice red girl knows little red girl….little red girl plays with Kyueed….snake man pay!_ Kyueed finished letting its mouth drop open as chakra began to build up through its body. Orochimaru had only a moment to fly through a few hand signs before calling up a wall of earth before him as a ball of compressed chakra rocketed forwards into the structure. The orb hit the wall like a cannon blast sending bits of earth in a spray, kicking up a cloud of fresh dust from which a blade shot forth. The blade elongated out of the cloud springing forth until it crashed into Kyueed's body with a streaking grinding sound. As the point impacted Kyueed slammed all nine of his tails into the tiled roof causing him to rake back along the roof digging trenches backwards as the blade forced him back.

After a few yards Kyueed's pace slowed and with another growl he swept two arms down gripping the blade in its clawed hands and pulling it from where it had buried into its chest. Minato in the meantime had sprung forward heaving a pair of his kunai forward towards the cloud where the blade had emerged from. Orochimaru spun to face the new assault, and his eyes went wide as the first kunai's handle unwound into a trail of familiar looking seals. There was a small spark and with a roaring crash the hundreds of overlaid explosive seals along the kunai went off in a sudden blast that blew the hair back from Minato's face, and making Kyueed look like he had spent an hour in a wind tunnel.

However, before the blast had even died down Minato already knew that the blast had not found its target. Orochimaru sprang from above as the smoke cleared showing a pile of ash where whatever he had substituted with that been vaporized by the blast. The sages arms blurred in motion before blasts of wind and water alike rained down at Minato swirling together as they went becoming blades of water sharpened by the wind itself. Minato disappeared in a flash of yellow light, as the attack gouged into the ground appearing beside a pillar of wood where his second kunai had buried itself spinning around as he did to find Orochimaru landing and turning to face him preparing a second assault. Just as Orochimaru let loose another wave a watery blades, Kyueed leapt between the two charging the sage. Blades of water and air shattered upon his form as he came the water splashing aside, as the air turned to gentle breezes. Just as the fox creature reached the sage Orochimaru brought his sword swinging down at the beast as his new snake tail shot around at the creature's side. Kyueed saw the oncoming sword and brought his tails up to bash the blade aside, with a blow that sent vibrations up the sages arm. However, this left his side exposed and the snake tail crashed into Kyueed's side burying its fangs into the creature causing it to let out a whimpering cry of pain.

However, Kyueed wasn't done just yet. Even as the fanged tail bit down upon him Kyueed thrust his clawed hands out at Orochimaru's chest. Without pause Orochimaru swung his free arm fist forwards to crash into the Kyueed's face pouring the sages newly acquired natural energy into the blow. This was Orochimaru's first mistake. While the impact of the blow was enough to force Kyueed down into the roof, the backlash of the blow almost caused the sage's arm to tear itself apart. The Natural energy itself seemed to shriek in pain as the sages fist had met the creature's head, fleeing back away from it with all the power it could. This had resulted in the very chakra Orochimaru had intended to fling the beast away roaring back through his own arm forcing itself through his coils and out through his flesh sending a small smattering of blood and scales as it did. As Orochimaru tilted his head back in a cry of pain Minato sprang forwards kunai in hand swirling ball of chakra in the other.

In a flash he was beside the sage his kunai slamming into the sages sword arm right at the wrist and painting the white arm crimson, Meanwhile Minato slammed his arm forwards as the spinning ball of chakra within it crashed into the sages chest with a grinding sound sending scales up along with a cry of pain…but not from the snake.

Orochimaru turned his face down in a look of equal rage and mocking anger as Minato's rasengan tried and failed to punch its way through his newly armored chest. Minato watched in anger as the rasengan spun against his new scaled chest sending chunks of the plate like scales off in every direction, but doing nothing more. Orochimaru's new sage status had allowed him to become covered in a scale like armor that along with his own experiments make his new flesh harder to pierce than steel. Minato shifted his eyes from the snake's chest up to his sword arm seeing that his blow there, even sharped by his wind element, had only managed to deal a flesh wound. Before Minato could do more than look in equal parts anger and concern, Orochimaru's snake like tail sprang up from Kyueed's still form and smashed into the blonde's side burying its fang into the flesh and causing Minato to cry out in pain even as blood sprayed from the wound.

* * *

As Minato and Orochimaru became locked in combat the fighting around the village was starting to fall apart. Sound and Suna forces found themselves simply overwhelmed by numbers, and skill pushed back over ground they had gained in their surprise attack. Meanwhile Konoha forces raced back and forth carrying wounded out of the fighting and back towards the hospital through lines littered with enemy combatants. However, as each group would reach the building an odd sight would come into view causing more than a few to stop dead in their tracks and simply look forwards more than a little confused at what they were seeing.

In front of the Hospital standing like great sentries were….well rabbits ranging from four to nine feet in height, colored from deep greys and browns to bright whites, and in one case blue. The other distinguishing thing was that every single one of them wore a simple vest, and held in their paws a large hammer. One group had even witnessed the large creature's spring forwards to smash a group of approaching sound shinobi into a nearby building when they had tried sneaking in disguised as Konoha shinobi.

Behind the wall of rabbits the front lawns of the hospital were open littered with tarps and emergency stations try to contend with the simple mass of inbound wounded. From one of these makeshift tents there was a cry of anger, and a small scuffle.

"NO I AM NOT JUST GOING TO SIT HERE NARUTO AND MINATO ARE STILL OUT THERE I'M GOING BACK IN!" shouted Kushina her red hair flying around her as he was held down by a slightly panicked looking Shizune, who looked around at Tsunade for some kind of assistance. However, Tsunade had her hands full as she applied a choke hold to Naruko and Minami at the same time trying to keep the two struggling girls from over powering her grip. Granted Minami was all but spent, but Naruko still had some life in her, and between the two Tsunade was having some difficulty holding them.

The women's reprieve came when Sakura and Hinata jumped into the tent racing to the struggling women before slamming small injections into the Namikaze's arms causing them to go slightly limp and halt their fighting. Shizune and Tsunade let out small sighs of relief as their prisoners went limp in their arms before the pair released them onto a set of cots off to one side of the tent, the three still struggling weakly.

"Thanks Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan we need to get them down before they got free." Whispered Shizune as Tsunade leaned over the three inspecting them. After a moment she rose and pointed over towards where the three were standing.

"Sakura, I need two doses of chakra pills, medium strength the girls are running low, but besides that seem to be holding in there. Hinata I need you to go and get some bandages and a sling, Shizune I need you to get the disinfectant Kushina had a broken arm, but one of her ribs is pressing into her lung, I need to reset it." called the blond as the women around her moved into action. Despite the injuries Kushina had sustained within a few minutes Tsunade had managed to reset the bones, and seal the wound back up, the injection that she had told the girls to give the three had knocked them loopy for a time, but it would soon be wearing off. To no one's surprise it was the two girls that were up first, blinking around in confusion before turning to look over at Tsunade.

"Huh baa-chan what are you doing here?" Naruko asked in a dazed little voice. Tsunade in answer swung a blow onto the girls head with a moderate amount of force causing the girls head to bobble slightly.

"What I'm doing here Naruko is trying to keep my god daughters from running off into a battlefield, along with their Kaasan before they have gotten the proper medical attention!" called the blonde as she looked from the two girls over to where Kushina was just groaning herself back to consciousness. The redhead sat up blinking around as she felt the pain slowly returning to her body, even as her mind tried to gain traction. Her eyes fell upon where Tsunade stood, and then moved down to see where the girls were sitting, her mind slowly putting things back into frame.

"Tsunade what's happening, where is everyone?" Minami managed to ask even as Naruko nursed the small bump on her head. Shizune stepped out of the yard after assigning the next group of injured passing a clipboard to Tsunade as she did, before she spoke up.

"It's ok Minami-chan you all made it back here just fine, the Hyuugas are inside with Hiashi it was close but he should make a full recovery, Mito and Hanabi are sleeping with Hitomi right now, the genjutsu overloaded them a bit, but it should fade in a few hours, you two are just a little low on chakra." Spoke the black haired woman as Tsunade flipped through the pages of the board before letting out a sigh.

"Ok I have to get to one of these, Shizune if you can find Sakura and tell her to meet me in room 315, aside from that keep them here until they are stable, last thing we need is anyone tearing off and injuring themselves more." finished the blonde as she exited the tent, just as Hinata moved back in smiling as she saw the group around her alright. She had just been with her own family, her Kaasan had fallen asleep in the chair beside Hiashi's bed with the two little ones curled up with her just a few minutes ago allowing her to head back out into the courtyard.

Kushina finally seemed to get her senses back enough to remember what she had been fighting about only a minutes before. With a small twinge of pain Kushina pushed herself to her feet, but before she could take a step both Shizune and Hinata where there forcing her back down onto her cot.

"Oh no you don't." the black haired woman said as she maneuvered the redhead back to a sitting position. Kushina was too weak at the moment to offer physical resistance, and so was forced down.

"No you have to let me go sochi….Minato they're still out there, and you saw it the one tail is loose i'm the only one who can suppress it, I have to go now let me up Shizune." Kushina fired back trying and failing to push herself up. Before she could say another word she was cut off by Hinata's voice.

"Kushina you can't go anywhere right now, all you would be doing it putting yourself in danger, Naruto-kun is just fine look." The pale eyed girl said pointing to something off in the distance as she did. Kushina turned and as she did her eyes went wide. There standing tall enough to be seen even from this distance where she knew the stadium would stand was a giant tree…but one she had only seen when she had entered Naruto's mind. Kushina's mouth moved for a moment forming silent words, as she turned from the sight back to Hinata, her two girls mimicking her movements as well.

"J-Juubi…b-but how?" Kushina asked in an amazed voice even as she spotted what looked like a purple shaped hand raise up for a moment before sweeping something out of the air. Shizune along with Hinata gave a small shrug along with a happy little smile despite the situation.

"Naruto-kun must have been practicing more than we thought." She replied her voice cheerful as she looked over at the tree. Kushina and the girls also looked round in astonishment at the form in the distance. For a second all of them simply stared at one another before Minami summed up their feeling in one action. The redhead leaned back on her cot with a small fit of giggles before she managed to form a few words.

"O-on-only Naruto-niisan would pu-pull something like that." The redhead giggled at the mental image of Juubi running around free. Soon the rest of the tent was giggling as well, at the image even as they all silently prayed for Naruto's…and in some cases Minato's safety.

* * *

Meanwhile in the arena Shukaku was simply watching as Juubi swatted away any and all attacks that flew towards the pair, her liquid like movements forming a small grove of grass and flowers where ever her feet alighted. Any who saw past the storm of destruction found themselves transfixed at the woman who seemed to be dancing to the hymn of the battle, her movement somehow gentle and at the same time horribly strong, like they were watching a waterfall cascading down into a still pool far below.

After a time the attacks died off and Juubi stopped her dance the leafs that had been swirling around slowly drifting down to settle upon the fresh grass and flowers that now carpeted the arena floor, transforming the area into what looked like some kind of open field with the single great tree at its center. Everyone watched as Juubi looked up at Shukaku her face still with that saddened expression she had been wearing since the battle began. Despite himself Shukaku actually shrunk back from the woman before him the sand around him rippling slightly as he did falling off of his form in some places as he lost focus.

"**Shukaku you need to move on, you don't have to live like this anymore…you don't have to suffer alone anymore…you didn't fail your siblings you fought as long as you could to protect them…but you couldn't fight the world." ** Juubi said her voice calm as she walked towards the sand beast her feet pressing the grass and leaves as she went. Shukaku still seemed stunned as she approached his mind fighting to gain control of itself again.

"**I CAN FIGHT, I'LL NEVER STOP FIGHTING, I FAILED THEM ONCE AND I WON'T AGAIN, NEVER NOT TILL EVERY LAST APE IS GONE, I WAS SUPPOSE TO PROTECT THEM, I WAS THE ELDEST IT WAS MY RESPONSIBILITY AFTER THAT BASTARD TOOK YOU FROM US A-AND I FAILED THEM! I WON'T FAIL THEM AGAIN!" ** cried the tanuki as he smashed his great clawed fists into the ground on either side of Juubi, causing a gust of wind to kick up and blow her clothing and hair around her like she was caught in a storm, but her gaze never wavered. Slowly Juubi continued forwards step after step her head shaking slightly as she neared her sochi.

"**No my little protector you didn't fail, you did everything you could to protect them. You learned to adapt my own style even though you lacked your sibling's power, you fought to keep all of them safe but even with all of your strength you couldn't always be there. I watched I saw when they came and took them, one by one how you fought and fought until you were all that remained…and then you fought all the more until they sealed you as well my little protector, but the fight is over now, and your Imoto's and Otouto's don't need a protector anymore…what they and I need is my Shukaku-kun." **Juubi finished as she reached the bowed head of Shukaku stretching out a hand to lay it gently upon the forehead of Gaara. With a small shudder the sand around the boy began to slowly fall apart settling into a simply mound of sand that spread out slightly as Gaara was suspended, by his own gourd that was sunk into the sand around him. slowly the sand and gourd around the boys back shifted slightly and seemed to ripple as it did. Slowly the sand shimmered and was replaced by a soft fur. As Juubi watched the sand and gourd gradually shifted from their original visage into that of a large, but not monstrous tanuki that stood some fifteen feet tall. Its fur was the color of desert sand, and its' striped tail as well as the rings around its eyes were of the same blue that had decorated the great sand beast. Its eyes were the same, yellow star like orbs, but something seemed to be lacking from them now. Without a word Juubi leaned up to lay one hand upon the tanuki's cheek, her hand small in comparison to Shukaku's head, and pressed her lips softly into its furry head, even as the two were pulled gently into the boy's mindscape.

The two blinked awake in a vast sea of white sand Juubi looking over to see where Shukaku stood his body held in place by a series of seals that formed a pyramid of light around him as he looked across at his Kaasan his face turning from her as small tears worked their way to his eyes.

"**I-I tried Kaasan….i tried." **Shukaku whimpered out as he tried to keep from looking at the woman before him. Juubi in turn began to walk towards him when there was a scuffling sound and Juubi turned to see the boy Gaara running over to stand between Shukaku and her his hollow eyes looking at her with fear, and anger.

"NO I WON'T LET YOU HURT HIM HE GAVE ME BACK KAASAN! I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU TRY TO TAKE HIM!" shouted the redhead causing both Shukaku and Juubi to look at the youth in blank confusion. As if in answer to their questions the sand behind Gaara shifted slightly and form it arose the mouthpiece Shukaku had been using since he had entered the child. As they watched the sand form laid a hand upon Gaara's shoulder causing him to spin around to see the sand form shaking its head at him softly before looking over at Shukaku with a soft look.

"So this is the creature who let me protect my sochi…you have my thanks Shukaku… but your Kaasan is right it is time to stop…I can't watch you and my sochi suffer anymore." spoke the sand woman as she gently guided Gaara away from the two, giving Juubi a small nod as she left. Shukaku was completely stunned, it suddenly made sense to him, why the sand form had come to him, why it had always acted to protect the boy, even when he wanted the attacks to get through, and cause the boy an even greater amount of pain…it was a fragment of the boys Kaasan that had lived on in his sand.

"**No Kaasan should have to see their children suffer…not when they can try to stop it, it would seem that she has been waiting to tell you that for a while sochi." **Juubi said calling Shukaku's attention around in time for him to be embraced by Juubi, as she wrapped her arms around him holding him close to her, as she buried herself into his sand golden fur and continued to speak.

"**And I can help you now Sochi…I need you to believe me I won't be letting you go not when I can save you. Please Sochi you can let go, I know you can." **Whispered the woman even as she held close to her chained Sochi. Shukaku fought the desire he had to simply let himself part with his anger, scenes of his siblings being taken and sealed, and the feelings of helplessness crashing over him, all of the loneliness and sadness, the rage and hate…all of it. But as he stood there feeling his Kaasan against him, holding him asking him to let it go he could not keep up the fight. His eyes slowly drifted up and spotted the picture of Gaara a few yards away being held by his Kaasan as well, as she spoke to him. Shukaku heard her words as if she was right beside him, as she told Gaara of what he had to do from now on…with both his siblings and the rest of the people he met. Shukaku saw his own unwillingness mirrored in the boy's eyes as memories of pain flashed across his face as well; but as he watched he saw Gaara slowly relax and simply hold onto his Kaasan, small trails of tears falling form his eyes as he did.

Shukaku saw all of this even as he heard Juubi's words and something in him finally, after more than then centuries of fighting Shukaku, the one tailed beast, the lord of the sands let go, and simply held his Kaasan allowing her voice to echo around him. After all if a child like Gaara could move beyond his hate, than surly he could do the same.

* * *

While the conflict inside the arena was finally winding down, outside the battle was still occurring in full force. The trio from Mist were still dancing around the Kaguya clan member as he fought to tear into each in turn with his bone projectiles, however despite his skill he was being pushed back by the three. Kimimaro had long since had to unleash his first level curse seal just to remain in the battle, but still the fight was not going well for him.

Suigetsu leapt forwards once gain swinging his great blade down forcing the pale boy to swing his own bone sword up to intercept the blow aimed for his neck. As before he swept his other hand around a series of spiked bones firing out of his arm as he struck impaling the white haired boy sending liquid flying out of the boys form. However, like the time before the blow managed only to scatter water upon both boys as Suigetsu simply leaned into his blade pushing down upon the Kaguya boy even as the water that had slashed upon him started to freeze. Feeling this Kimimaro spun to see an ice mirror behind him the boy within already flinging out a score of ice needles that crashed upon him spreading ice over his bone weapons and causing them to become brittle and crack. The final punch came in the form of two whip like chains of gold that flew at him from behind the white haired boy that crashed upon his brittle bones sending them into shattered bits of ice that fell away from him, as the original attacker swept his massive blade down again drawing a fresh cut across the boy's body and forcing him to disengage yet again.

As Kimimaro fell back his eyes swept round eyeing each of his attackers in turn as his mind raced.

_They have well-crafted teamwork, any one of them would fall to me, but as a group they cover each other well….Orochimaru will be displeased but I am unsure if I can manage them without unleashing my second state…and the Mizukage has yet to make her move…this continues to be frustrating. _The boy thought as the three rushed him again causing him to whirl into their midst again trying to divide them so as to take them out individually. At the same moment a little ways off Zabuza was in pitched combat with two of the former swordsmen of the mist…and he was losing.

The immortal pair had rushed him originally, causing Zabuza to believe at first they couldn't possibly be the warriors he had once known. However, even as he had cut the smaller of the two, Kushimaru, in two the man's arms had blurred out flinging his needle like blade out towards Zabuza forcing him to spin to avoid its path and placing him right in front of an explosion from Jinpachi's massive blade sending the man flying back and into a nearby shop with a crash. Zabuza clawed his way back out of the building in time to see Kushimaru rising from where his body had stitched itself back together, even as bits of rock fell from the wounds on his body, as he turned to face Zabuza his masked face revealing nothing in its stare.

However before Zabuza could focus a small light caught his eye revealing the wires tied all around the building he had been blown into.

"SHIT!" he yelled as the wires were pulled tight and the building fell to pieces around him as the two undead swords man smirked at the wreckage.

"Well I must say that was a disappointment from our all comrade, I guess he was a baby demon after all." chuckled Jinpachi even as Kushimaru looked around at his current partner before marching over to the building in silence to make sure that Zabuza had fallen. However, just as he reached the edge of the area a sudden eruption of mist flooded out from where the building had cracked a water main. In a moment the two swordsmen were plunged into a thick mist. Kushimaru was the one to call out this time his voice disapproving in its tone.

"Really Zabuza do you take us for genin, you know we all have been trained to fight in the mist, maybe your survival was always due to luck, if this is how your mind functions." Called the thin man as he prepared to battle inside the mist. However, as he started to fall into position he noted a small cracking sensation in his limbs. Looking down he saw that his limbs were slowly being covered by a thin sheet of ice. Just as he noticed this a deep voice called out through the mist.

"And you disappoint me Kushimaru if you think I have learned nothing in the years I have been alive." Zabuza called just before his blade cut down through the mist cutting the man vertically down his center before continuing the swing forwards to rip Jinpachi apart from where he stood slowly freezing in turn a few feet away. True Zabuza may not have Haku's mastery of ice, but it was a simple enough process to chill the mist he could create after spending so much time with his pupil. However, even as the two fell once more, flecks of them gathered together again as they slowly began to reform. Spinning Zabuza was just in time to flatten his blade towards the pair as a huge explosion blew him back and off of his feet from where Jinpachi had unrolled a huge amount of explosives from his blade.

Zabuza was flung back through the air crashing into another wall sending spider cracks all around his impact even as his blade cracked from the impact. As the swordsman slowly slipped to the ground his vision blurred slightly red as a few trickles of blood ran down his forehead and into his eyes. Blinking the blood away Zabuza watched as the two figures rose once more their faces turning to sneer at his downed form. With a grunt of effort Zabuza pushed himself up staggering slightly as he did, forcing his blade into the ground beside him to steady himself.

The two undead shinobi looked at him for a moment before shrugging in apparent disinterest before they readied their weapons once again. Zabuza's eyes flicked back and forth between the two as an almost feral smile spread out visible even below his bandages. From the air around the man chakra seemed to spin as the face of a demon slowly came into view, as though it was watching over the man who stood before the two even as they charged each other once more.

* * *

As this was occurring Naruto had managed to make his way down the great tree, using what leafs he had left under his control to help steady him as he worked his way down the tree's massive frame. When he finally reached the bottom he saw Gaara sitting there the gourd still on his back, and his head bowed in apparent sleep. Before him stood Juubi her hand resting gently upon the boy's brow, as the wind around her blew.

Naruto made his way over just as Juubi pulled her hand gently away from the boy, and up to wipe a few stray tears away from her eyes.

"So I take it you managed to get through to your Sochi?" Naruto asked as he stepped up beside the woman. Juubi nodded silently as she heard the boy's words letting the silence stretch out between them for a few more moments, before the boy spoke up again.

"So what now?" the blonde asked as Juubi turned to face him a small smile upon her face as she did.

"**Well I still have some time left, I suppose that I can take a page from your book and cause some mayhem."** Chuckled Juubi as Naruto looked around the arena where the fighting was all but over, and he could spy more than one Konoha shinobi turning to face in his direction.

"You know I don't think that would be a good idea." Chuckled the boy as Juubi looked around nodding slightly in agreement.

"**Hai I suppose you are right about that, well then I suppose this is in order."** Juubi said stretching one hand up towards the tree where something fidgeted for a moment before dropping down to land in her hand. The object was little more than the size of a small apple, but it was unmistakable a seed.

"**Well looks like the little guy is about spent, if I go now he should be able to recover in under a year."** Finished Juubi as she tossed the seed into Naruto's hands, and turned to look around her one more time.

"**You know it was nice to be out again if just for a while." **Juubi said as her form slowly started to fade into a purple light before flashing leaving behind only the great tree and plants where she had been. The tree itself seemed to flicker slightly before the power from it slowly faded and the odd light left it leaving the purple and black leaves dull in comparison to their previous brilliance. From inside Naruto's mind there was a small sigh.

"**Still I suppose your noggin has become comfortable after all these years, probably because there are such wide open spaces." **Chuckled Juubi obviously basking in the happiness she was feeling at starting the reconnection with her eldest. Naruto in response simply gave a mental glare, before a few movements around him drew his attention. From a few entrances, and in one case the stadium wall, his seedlings were returning apparently having completed their duties, and heading back to find him. A few of the set bore new additions, in one case a long sword now hung from its back, apparently it had been watching a few sword wielders during the invasion. As the group of seedlings gathered around him there was a blast from above, and they and Naruto turned suddenly to see the tower of purple energy shattering into pieces as what looked like several figure leapt away from it. Seeing this Naruto contemplated pursuing but realized that in his current state he wouldn't be any good to anyone, so he turned his focus round to see where Gaara lay sleeping soundly a few feet away. Shrugging slightly Naruto began to make his way over to the boy, when there was a shout from behind him and he turned to see Temari staggering past the great tree, and towards the pair.

"HO-hold it you, stay away from him!" she tried to shout, but in her weakened state she sounded more like she was pleading as she approached the pair. Naruto's seedlings looked from her to Naruto as if asking what they should do, before one of the group walked forwards to throw an arm under the girls and help her along.

Temari at first looked confused, but the sad truth was in her condition she was likely to collapse without the aid. Slowly she with the help of the Seedling made their way over to where Gaara lay sleeping her mouth dropping open as she spied the still and peaceful form of her Otouto. Not believing her eyes Temari just sunk to her knees beside the boy looking between the boy and Naruto as if expecting him to explain the situation to her. Naruto in turn just shrugged before replying.

"Hey what can I say he's had a long day." Chuckled Naruto as Temari turned back to rest a hand gently upon Gaara's brow.

* * *

While Naruto and the rest had been finishing things below the battle between Minato and Orochimaru had reached its pinnacle. Orochimaru's snake like tail had buried its fangs into Minato's side holding him in place and halting his greatest advantage…his speed. At the same time Orochimaru's left arm was an utter wreak, and even now was dripping red droplets of blood down his leg. Meanwhile his other arm still fought against Minato's own, as the Hokage's Kunai had dug into his wrist, and despite the superficial damage held him in a stalemate. Worse yet Minato had just blasted a rasengan against the sages chest but doing only minimal damage to the target.

Orochimaru sneered as the power of the rasengan died away, and he looked down at Minato.

"I think not Minato, your pet may have managed to keep my arm out of action, but that is where your luck ends, I have not come this far to let you go now, so struggle, cry, swear, it matters not to me, because you are finished." Barked out the snake even as the pain of his body almost forced him to choke on his own words. Minato glared up at the man, but knew that he was right. The battle before had drained him, and even now he could feel the snake venom from the bite in his side working its way through him, weakening what little strength he had left. As his body began to fade his mind flashed to his family…Kushina her red hair flying in the wind when he had first kissed her on top of the hokage monument…Naruko and Minami out at the restaurant with him happily talking about the days training…Mito his little bundle of joy jumping around on her bed as she was settled down for the night…and Naruto…Naruto's sad look as he stood at his office doorway. With this final thought Minato felt a sudden surge of guilt, and raw anger.

"no," Minato whispered out causing Orochimaru to stop his laughing and look down at the kage. "No," Minato repeated again as he drew back his free arm pouring every bit of chakra remaining in him into his palm as the image of his sochi's saddened face looked out at him from his memories. "NO!" the blond repeated as the chakra began to swirl in his palm forming another ball of energy. "NO!" Minato spat even as blood flowed into his mouth and he felt his legs starting to go out from under him, and the ball in his hand suddenly began emitting a screeching sound as four blades of wind slowly formed around it. At this moment Orochimaru tried to pull himself free but Minato with strength beyond what he should have been capable of gripped the snake's sword arm in his own, even as Orochimaru's tail released it bite and rushed up to strike at the man's throat. However, even as the tail began to spring up a black tail wrapped around the appendage pulling it down, Kyueed was waking, and he was not going to let the pale man go that easily.

Orochimaru's eyes spun as with a snarl of rage Minato thrust his hand and the spinning ball towards the man's chest even as he screamed out his voice a mix of sadness and rage.

"I WON'T DIE UNTILL I FIX MY MISTAKE!" the hokage called as he plunged the attack forwards. There was a small punch of impact that threw both Kyueed and Minato back before a blast of blue chakra and scything blades erupted with a monstrous roar. Minato landed with a thud on his back, as Kyueed managed to land in a half crouch beside him with a small whine of pain. The two looked up to see the spinning ball of chakra slowly stop its revolution before they spied an arm lying a few feet away from where the blast had erupted. It was Orochimaru's own, still gripping the hilt of his blade.

However, before Minato could focus he heard an angry swearing that drew his eyes to a point past where the blast had erupted. There looking like he had just been put through a glass compactor was Orochimaru, bits of flesh hung from his body, as blood seeped from an uncountable number of cuts. His right arm was till a mass of blood, but Minato could see a small curved kunai clutched in it still glowing faintly with the traces of wind chakra. Minato's eyes looked over to see the stump that had been the man's arm the blood flowing freely from the stump. The snake sage's eyes were wide with anger and pain and madness. It seemed to he had only caught the edge of the blast, cutting off his own arm to escape the worst of the blow, but still nearly being torn to pieces by the attack all the same.

With an effort Orochimaru seemed to spasm slightly before he coughed up a stream of blood his voice coming out as a bubbling gurgle that barley sounded human.

"Wi-withdraw!" crooked out the sage, and suddenly the barrier around them fell as four figures raced forwards to reach the sage before leaping back off of the rooftop with the mangled man in tow. Minato tried and failed to stand to finish the fight, to finish the traitor, but his strength was gone… he didn't even know if he could manage another attack if he wanted to. However, just as his mind was about to accept defeat there was a small angry humming beside him. Looking round he found Kyueed his tails brisling in anger as it watch the group retreat. Minato's body ached; his mind felt like someone was trying to drill their way out and it was taking all of his focus to remain conscious, but he couldn't let that bastard escape!

"Hey you foxy!" Minato managed to call causing Kyueed to look around in apparent confusion at the hokage.

_Foxy? I'm Kyueed….at least that's was the little red one calls me….am I foxy too….wait pale man escaping to far from me!_ Kyueed thought turning to face Minato its head cocked to one side. Minato in the meantime pulled out a final kunai gripping it in his teeth, as he crawled over to Kyueed reaching out as he did.

"Come on we need to catch up to that bastard!" Minato managed to cough out as he managed to point towards the fleeing sage flinging a last kunai out into the air. Kyueed looked from Minato to where he was pointing and then back to the man its eyes wide, with apparent interest. Before Kyueed could do more than look confused Minato had managed to reach out and slap his hand upon Kyueed's back causing them to disappear into a flash of light.

The sound four were in full retreat Orochimaru held limply between them, even as Orochimaru swore silently his rage rendering him mute, but his thoughts remained.

_Damn him, DAMN THEM ALL! this isn't over Minato I'll finish you all soon enough, you may have won the day, but I'll kill you all EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU! _Orochimaru silently pledged his eyes wide with madness and rage. Which was why when the kunai flew overhead and the blinding flash of light came he had a clear view of Minato and Kyueed flashing suddenly into being above him. Minato hanging limply from Kyueed even as the fox creatures eyes went wide with recognition and rage before it swept one clawed and down towards the sages eyes. With a ripping sound and a cry of rage Orochimaru's world went dark. The sound four let out cries of rage and fear as Orochimaru spasmed in their grip. The four let out screams of rage as Minato and Kyueed plummeted to the village below, and they carried the broken form of Orochimaru away.

As they fell Minato had a small glimpse of the village his thoughts turning to his family as the wind whipped his hair and coat around him. His mind slowly faded as his vision darkened, and he fell into unconsciousness.

Kyueed in the meantime was looking around in a state of panic as it fell with the hokage draped across his back. Luckily for Minato Kyueed seemed to have an idea about surviving the fall. One of Kyueed's tails shot out catching onto a nearby rooftop causing the pair to swing down into a nearby alleyway crashing into a few trashcans along the way and rolling into a heap at one end of the alleyway with a soft crash. After a few moments Kyueed's head popped out from the trash looking left and right before a few of its tails shot out and pulled Minato's still form from under a pile of trash before curling around him and settling him upon his back once more. With Minato secured Kyueed set out towards where it caught the scent of the little red one that he had been told to guard.

* * *

At the same moment that Kyueed headed out following the scent, Kimimaro was reaching a state of desperation. His abilities were not suited for the battle he found himself in; two of the enemies were all but immune to his abilities, while the third simply stayed out of his range, covered by the rest. In fact without his level one curse seal he would likely have already fallen victim to their tactics. This flew through his mind as he was forced to dodge the crashing swing from Suigetsu only to be pelted by more ice senbon from Haku.

However, despite their impressive show the three genin from mist were reaching the end of their stamina. Their tactics were perfect against the pale boy, but the simple fact was that he had managed to avoid any fatal attacks, at the moment it was a battle of attrition and the question was if the boy could simply outlast the three until one finally messed up and gave him an opening.

As Haku vanished into a mirror just before a bond swords caused it to shatter, a pair of golden chains landed upon the bone wielders shoulders forcing him to his knees, and opening him to an attack from the sword wielding genin who rushed forwards to finish the target. However, just as he neared the figures Kimimaro found his moment. Reaching up he gripped the two golden chains before they could retract giving them a sudden powerful pull, causing Karin to shoot forwards into the back of Suigetsu as the two feel before the bone wielder. Haku spun and vanished in a flurry of ice appearing between his fallen teammates and the pale boy just as Kimimaro thrust a pair of bone blades forwards.

Haku gritted his teeth biting back a cry of pain as the two blades sunk into his chest bringing a small fountain of blood up from the boy and causing the pair behind him to let out cries of anger and shock. Just as Kimimaro was drawing back for another strike he was forced to leap back as a ball of molten lava missed his head by inches. Look up he spotted Mei smiling over at him as she idly wiped at a small bit of lava at the corner of her lips before flicking it aside in apparent carelessness.

Kimimaro looked at the kage and was about to charge when the barrier above shattered and he spotted Orochimaru along with the sound four falling back. Without hesitation Kimimaro turned and took off after his retreating master, without giving the mist shinobi a second glance. At the same moment Karin had leapt to Haku's side pulling back her sleeve exposing an arm littered with small bit marks, and forcing hit into the boy's mouth as Suigetsu pulled the two bone blades form the boy's chest. Karin let out a small cry as Haku bit down and his wounds began to seal themselves slowly. After a moment Haku had taken enough chakra to stabilize him and the genin turned to see Mei looking at them her arms folded as she examined the three.

"Well your abilities seemed adequate for fighting an elite like that Kaguya, still you did lose in the end, it would seem that Karin still needs work on her Uzumaki abilities, I suppose this treaty with Konoha would be worth hearing out at the very least, and with this invasion we can at least look at a favorable treaty." Mei trailed off turning from the group in apparent thought as she headed over to where Zabuza was battling. As she left she called back over her shoulder at the three genin who were looking slightly confused at Mei's behavior as if they were trying and failing to place her reaction to their actions.

"Go ahead and get yourselves to the hospital, Haku could still be in need of attention and I will not be losing the last member of a clan in this stupid invasion." called Mei as she left the three.

Meanwhile over with Zabuza the fight had quickly devolved into an all-out war. Bits of the street they had been fighting in had been sliced, blown, or simply carved out by a mix of explosions wire jutsus and blasts of water Justus.

From a cracked side of a building a thin figure shot out his wild mop of hair still soaking wet, as he flew forwards only to be hammered back by another water dragon that caught him mid leap before slamming him back down against the ground and raking him across its carving bits of the man away before crashing into a building. From the other side of the street Zabuza let out a choked cry of pride before he stumbled forwards his massive blade held in one bloodied arm that was covered in a mixture of burns and cuts, along with a solid puncture wound going right though his upper arm. The rest of his body was not much better, half his wrappings had been either soaked through with blood and his battered gear was hanging in tatters from his from. However, even still despite the wreak his body was, Zabuza was still standing.

However, across from him Kuromaru was slowly being pulled back together, even as Jinpachi pushed himself out of some rubble that had fallen on him from where Zabuza that hurtled him with a baseball swing of his massive blade. However, the blow had only slowed the undead shinobi apparently as the two sauntered forward both looking at Zabuza with seeming indifference.

"I have to say Zabuza you do live up to your name as demon of the Mist, just bad luck it would seem that you have to fight us today, still has to be better dying by our blades than serving that pathetic excuse for a Mizukage." Jinpachi was he moved to put Zabuza between him and Kuromaru. Zabuza's eyes flicked back and forth between the two, even as his body screamed at him to stop any movement he was planning.

"You are wasting your breath Jinpachi our part to play is simply to kill the bitch and her guard dog, after Zabuza the genin and the Mizukage should not take too much time to finish between the pair of us." called Kuromaru as Zabuza let out a growl as his mind showed him Haku being attacked by the two. However, before he could respond the pair was racing towards him, and his legs were refusing to move for him. Looking down he saw that his legs were bound in wire from one of Kuromaru's previous attacks. Seeing this Zabuza looked up just in time to see Kuromaru flinging his needle blade forwards at Zabuza's face. There was a splash of scarlet and then the world went mad for a moment.

Kuromaru looked on in a small amount of shock as Zabuza swung his face around as the needle meet his face. Without any seeming resistance the blade pierced into the man's cheek ripping straight out the other end splashing scarlet blood out onto the bandages wrapped around the man's face. However, before the blade could fly through, Zabuza with grunt of effort bit down onto the handle of the blade before it could exit his mouth completely catching the blade, and swinging his now impaled head round with the point aimed at Jinpachi's face. Before the eye patch wearing man could slow himself Zabuza had slammed his new blade into his remaining eye causing him to roar in pain, and stumble forwards, his blade swinging around in a sloppy strike.

However, Zabuza wasn't done just yet with a heave he swung his massive blade one handed into the edge of the explosive blade causing the explosive roll to go off firing his own blade back around with the force of a cannon blast. The now propelled executioner's blade swung round pulling Zabuza with it and cleaving Kuromaru in two once again trailing ash and fire behind it as it did. With the same stroke Zabuza spun bringing his blade down to rip through Jinpachi's blade arm causing him to lose hold of his blade just as he fell back from Zabuza. As the explosive blade fell down Zabuza's free hand reached out grabbing hold of its hilt and lifting it in an overhead swing brining it down at a spot before him where he saw the wires binding him stretched tight. With another blast the three shinobi were blown back, two scattering into pieces, before slowly reforming while Zabuza simply skidded back the massive blades in either hand forced down into the earth and dragging along like anchors keeping him upright.

Zabuza now stood supported by the two massive blades in his arms, as the third was still gripped tightly in in-between his teeth even as his myriad of wounds continued to bleed turning him into his own namesake in real life. However, despite his fear inducing new appearance the situation looked grim as the two other shinobi began to pull themselves together. However, just as Zabuza was about to truly give up and just blast them all to hell with the remaining tags on his new blade, a sudden heat announced itself. Without any more warning there was a rushing wave of lava that crashed over from the other side of the street rushing forwards over the two undead shinobi causing their forms to become buried beneath a wave of magma. Turning his aching head Zabuza saw Mei walking forwards even as the red hot rock settled upon the two undead shinobi.

"Honestly Zabuza I was beginning to think you had decided to run off again, but here I find you simply playing with your opponents." said Mei as she approached her hips swaying back and forth as her lips curved up in a mocking little seductive smile. Zabuza in turn just let out a small huff, unable to speak with the metal spike sticking through his jaw. Mei seemed to pick up on this fact as she let out a little chuckle as she walked over to him.

"Oh and look here you've learned to keep your mouth under control, if I had known that all it took was shoving a sword in your mouth I would have done it ages ago." She smiled running one figure up the man's chin before stepping back with a grin on her face.

"Anyway It looks like you managed to beat yourself up some, I'll get one of these Konoha medics over to you, in the meantime don't go anywhere." She finished turning to walk away leaving the man still standing a few feet away. As Mei left Zabuza looked after her his whole body aching, and his mind wondering if it would have been easier just to have died back in wave.

_Fucking immortal shinobi…fucking body….fucking Mei. _The man thought as he slumped slightly against the two blades his strength leaving him even as a team of medics approached his position.

* * *

As Zabuza fought against the pair of undead Kyueed was rushing around a corner and into sight of the hospital. By now the fighting was practically over in the area around the hospital, and the combined Suna and Sound forces seemed in full retreat. So as Kyueed raced forwards he encountered not enemy shinobi but Konoha forces. However, given he was practically dragging the limp form of Minato upon his back his appearance did not inspire calm.

While a few shinobi and kunoichi simply looked on in apparent confusion, a few of the more elite leapt at the creature, and to their Hokage's aid. What ensued was a group of shinobi attempting to catch Kyueed without actually doing damage so as to not accidentally injure Minato. So Kyueed found himself dodging around walls of mud and rock, and even having to swing its tails around to batter nets and ensuing justus away from itself. This mess continued up until it reached the line of rabbits at the hospital, and Roku stepped forwards spying the creature and recognizing it instantly as one of Naruto's seedlings. With a swift motion five of the rabbits sprang forwards crashing their hammers around Kyueed and creating walls of earth to fire up cutting off the pursuers from Kyueed as the fox creature bounded by letting out a small yip of gratitude as it raced into the courtyard.

The shinobi soon surmounted the walls but were then faced with quite a few displeased looking rabbits. One of the shinobi a tall man with several scars called out to them his voice thick with anger as he spat out his words.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING SUMMON GET OUT OF OUR WAY BEFORE WE MAKE YOU!" he shouted, his anger at seeing the fox creature escape coupled with the stress from the invasion robbing him of the common sense that would have told him that yelling at the giant hammer wielding rabbit was a bad idea. Roku for his part simply looked at the man for a moment before swinging his hammer down into the ground and causing a flat spire of rock to shoot up from under the man catching him in the chin and flinging him back into his fellows with a loud crack.

"**I would watch your tone boy, I and my siblings do not bow to you, we follow our summoner's word, and defend her allies, should you count them among your enemies then be prepared to have the fall of our hammers drive you back." **The great black rabbit spoke his tone one of perfect authority that caused the Jonin to stiffen. They were still intent on getting past the rabbit, but suddenly not one of them wanted to be the first to move forwards.

Meanwhile Kyueed had sprinted into the courtyard causing several shinobi to cry out in fear as the black fox creature sprinted by them. Kyueed ran straight into the building halting for a moment letting its ears twitch as if he was listening for something before sprinting down a corridor, and up a flight of stairs.

On the third floor Mito was still out cold in the arms of Hitomi, as Kushina and the girls arrived to see how Hiashi was doing, having been forbidden from leaving the hospital by Tsunade. When they entered the hospital room it was to find the small girl still curled up beside Hanabi on one hospital chair while Hitomi was sitting beside her still sleeping husband. As the three entered Hitomi turned her head and gave them a small welcoming smile.

"Hey Hito-chan, how are they?" Kushina asked as she walked over to the bed laying a hand on Hitomi's arm. The pale eyed women gave her a small smile before replying.

"They're going to be just fine, Hiashi just needs some rest now, Tsunade said she'd be stopping by in a bit to check, but the operation seemed to go well. As for the little ones, they are still out of it for now, but they could be up any minute." Hitomi replied on hand reaching over Hiashi's still form and gripping his hand. Kushina nodded in understanding before turning to look over where Mito was curled up. Somehow the little girl had managed to get ahold of one of Hanabi's arms and was now curled up around the thing like the boy was a pillow. From what Kushina could see Hanabi seemed resigned to his placement as a small content smile was stretched across his face. As she was noticing this the door opened and Tsunade walked in a small tired but genuine smile on her face.

As the blond entered the room she turned to see the occupants before giving them all a quick nod of acknowledgement before heading over to check on Hiashi. After a few minutes she appeared satisfied, and gave Hitomi the information before turning to leave. At the same time she was about to leave there was a commotion from outside as several voices shouted, and what sounded like a panicked whine rang out.

The rooms occupants turned to the door in time to see it fly open and Kyueed leap into the room and headfirst into the end of Hiashi's bed with a small crash. Before anyone could comment several figures appeared in the door way as Kyueed's tails unraveled depositing Minato face down onto the hospital room floor. For a second no one moved, most simply stunned at the simple oddity of the scene before them. Tsunade and Kushina however, raced forwards to the downed Minato, as the sage called out for attendants and Kushina looked at the pale face of the man, open worry and fear in her eyes. Naruko and Minami rushed forwards as well but were held back by Hitomi who managed to grab the two before they could get any closer.

"Damn it this isn't good get a stretcher and tell Shizune to meet me in operating room one now!" barked out Tsunade as she placed two glowing hands over Minato's chest and began forcing chakra into the man. Meanwhile the crash seemed to have awakened the children who were now blinking around rubbing at their eyes as they tried to focus on what was happening. Minami who was still in a state of panic over Minato's appearance managed to calm herself enough to move into the children's line of sight before the two children could see what was occurring. At the same time a stretcher had arrived and Tsunade rushed Minato out into the hall followed closely by Kushina as Naruko simply collapsed in tears at the sight of her Tousan's state.

As the room went quiet again Naruko's and Minami's stifled sobs were all that could be heard, along with Mito's confused waking sounds and a dull humming coming from the apparently exhausted Kyueed.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the stadium Jiraiya had been pulled out of the wreckage of the roof thanks to a few Anbu still stationed around. They informed him of the situation, as well as explaining that Minato had apparently vanished in the presence of what looked like one of Naruto's black creations. Speaking of Naruto he was currently in the arena along with Gaara surrounded by a mixed bag of chunnin and Jonin along with a sprinkling of Anbu all looking at the boy and the Seedlings standing around him as the two sand siblings sat a few feet away neither able to do more than sit there.

_Well this is great, figures my debut would have this kind of reaction, well no point in whining about it now I guess. _Thought half of Naruto as he looked around at the group. As if in answer the other more aggressive side of Naruto had a few choice words to say on the matter.

"_What really that's all you have to say WE HELP SAVE THE VILLAGE AND THEY LOOK LIKE THEY ARE ABOUT TO ARREST US!" _The other fired back, as the more relaxed Naruto tried to reason it out.

_Look can you blame them I mean there was just an invasion and all, things are going to be tense, we just have to stay calm and everything will be fine….i think. _He finished a bit lamely.

"_YOU THINK OH COME ON YOUR CAN'T BE THAT STUPID CAN YOU THEY SHOULD BE CHEERING US AS HEROES!" _the other fired back as the first just shook his head in exasperation.

_Oh come on a Hero, news flash we're shinobi hero's don't really apply here, so just keep calm and let's try not to make them nervous. _Naruto finished just as Jiraiya landed in the arena flanked by a pair on Anbu.

"_FI-fine you win this one, but we don't give them anything for now, we won't fight them but I won't be giving the whole village our secrets either… they have to earn that right." _replied the split Naruto as the two merged back into one. As the two came too they saw several Anbu approaching them along with the other shinobi their movement slow but focused.

"Genin Naruto Uzumaki you will need to come with us…and your….companions as well, there are questions you need to answer about the events today. The two Suna genin will also be taken into custody" Spoke a plane voice coming from behind a bear Anbu mask. While the tone was not one of fear or anger, there was a quite power of authority behind it that made Naruto understand that the question was not a request. Naruto took a calming breath before he raised a hand in assent to the man.

"Hai, Hai ok I'll come with you it's not like I could stand a chance fighting any of you even if I wanted to." The blond replied raising his hands in a sign of surrender. From around him the other Seedlings did the same as the Anbu headed forwards to secure them and move them out of the field. As the group was moving out Jiraiya was watching the progression from the top of the stadium his brow furrowed as a pair of Anbu stood beside him.

"I don't like this 'cough, cough' sure the kid is a mystery but his actions helped the village, taking him to be questioned seems overly forceful. Spoke an Anbu with a sword strapped across his back. From beside him the second Anbu who sported a large amount to purple hair nodded her head in agreement with the man, her thoughts going to when she had been fighting not long ago, and have witnessed one of the…well whatever they were block an incoming attack headed for her, before mimicking her sword style to help push back the Sound forces counter attack. Jiraiya let out a small sigh before speaking.

"This situation is not one to start taking chances with, from what you saw the Hokage was carried off by one of those things, and whatever came with that tree was fighting both forces off, and the boy knows something, you may not like it but the safety of the village has to come first." The toad sage finished as he leapt after the group and the two Anbu shot out to continue their search for the Hokage. Still even as they headed out the two gave each other small looks that made it clear they didn't like the idea of holding the boy. Still orders were orders and Anbu followed their orders.

As the pair dashed off Naruto was being led away by the group of Anbu, the fighting seemed to have ended, as the group ran across no one on their path. This of course meant that Naruto along with his seedlings had very little to pay attention to outside of their own thoughts.

"_Well ISN'T THIS JUST PEACHY, EXCUSE ME NARUTO WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO TO PRISON TODAY? OH YES THAT SOUNDS NICE LETS DO THAT! WHAT IS KAMI'S NAME POSSESSED YOU TO BE SUCH AN IDIOT!?" _Yelled the other Naruto as the other boy just shook his head.

_Hai hai we've heard this before, but it's better than starting a fight WITH A GROUP OF ANBU! _Yelled the other boy in response. Meanwhile Juubi was busy sitting in her tree sleeping as the two bickered.

"_OH WELL EXCUSE ME! HERE I WAS JUST THINKING OF A WAY TO KEEP OUT OF A PRISON CELL!" _the angry boy yelled as the other actually broke into a small mischiefs smile. Spotting this his fellow stopped his yelling for a moment as the calmer of the two fought to suppress his own laughter. After a few moments the more outspoken of the two finally lost his patience.

"_Ok what's so gosh darn funny!?" _he called as the other finally managed to catch his breath.

_I-i just thought what do you think will happen when Kaasan finds out about th-this. _Replied the other succumbing to giggles once again. His fellow took a few moments to picture their Kaasan's reaction before his mind showed him an image of a prison break in progress. That he decided might just make the whole thing worthwhile.

"_Ok I have to say I kind of want to see that." Chuckled the other voice, as they continued forwards towards what he could only assume was an interrogation of some kind._

* * *

As Naruto was being led away across the village in the hospital Tsunade was slumping back into a chair beside Minato's bed wiping sweat away from her face as she did. From beside her Kushina was looking over with concern present upon her face as she looked between the two blondes. On the other side of the bed were the three girls Minami, Naruko and Mito, along with Kyueed who had one of his tails held tightly by Mito in concern. Minato had come out of surgery a few minutes ago, and Tsunade had just finished administering the finally bit of anti-venom into his system. It had been touch and go for a time, but thanks to getting to him in time it looked like Minato would be making a full recovery. The group stood around anxious as they looked over at Minato worried expression upon all of their faces.

"Kaasan, tousan will be ok won't he?" Mito asked as she held tightly to Kyueed's tail, and the fox creature looked up between her and Kushina as if asking the same question. Kushina gave the girl a small smile before nodding.

"Hai Mito-chan don't worry he'll be just fine thanks to Tsunade and Kyueed." Replied the redhead as Mito gave a small smile giving Kyueed's tail a squeeze and smile as he turned to look at her.

"Hai thanks Kyueed for bringing tousan here." Minami said giving him a scratch behind one ear as she spoke and looked over at Kushina. Naruko too gave a nod of approval before giving the fox a pat on the head, as Kyueed let out a small purring hum of apparent enjoyment. After a moment Naruko and Minami gave each other a look before the pair pushed themselves to their feet and started towards the door. Tsunade turned to see the girl's movement and called out to them just as they reached the door.

"Hey where do you two think you're going?" she called as the two paused turning to face her Minami speaking up in reply.

"Now that Tousan is ok we are going to go find Naruto-Niisan, we're safe enough to travel again, and the fighting is dying down, so there's no reason for us not to go out and find him." replied the redhead as Naruko gave a firm nod, and Kushina gave the pair a nod and moved to join them.

"Hai the girls are right, we've waited long enough, Naruto is out there, and even if he is just fine I'm not going to relax until I see him with my own eyes." The redheaded woman said as she approached the door. Tsunade seemed about to put up a token argument but stopped as she realized that after the last procedure she couldn't have stopped the three even if she had wanted to. However, before she could give any remark on this the door to the room opened and two Anbu marched in looking around once before seeing Minato and both letting out small sounds of happiness.

"Oh thank Kami he is here," the one wearing the monkey mask said looking over to give Tsunade a nod, before looking over at his partner. The other Anbu wearing the mask of a bird of some kind had focused first on the Hokage, before turning his gaze around spotting Kyueed who was looking up at him in apparent innocence. The bird faced Anbu in turn just looked at the creature for a moment before nudging his partner to face towards the creature as well. With a small nod the pair moved forwards towards Kyueed the rest of the room following the pair's movement in confusion, as they marched forwards. As they reached Kyueed both stretched out hands towards the creature, however, even as they did so one found his arm restrained by a set of golden chain's as the other found his arm held firmly in Tsunade's firm grip. The two looked round to see Kushina and Tsunade staring at them the pairs eyes narrowed.

"Mind telling us what you are doing here Eagle…Monkey?" asked Kushina her tone dangerous as she spoke, "Or what you are planning to do with Kyueed?" she finished as her chains tightened around Eagle's arms pulling it back from the creature. The two Anbu in turn were at a loss, they had been ordered to find the hokage, and after that to apprehend the creature seen during the invasion, but now one of the sages and the hokage's own wife were apparently standing guard of the creatures as the Hokage seemed unconscious. After another exchanged look Monkey spoke up.

"Kushina-san we are under orders to find the hokage and to apprehend those," here he gestured at Kyueed who still looked confused at the situation "those things." The Anbu replied even as the women's eyes bored into the pair.

"Oh and who gave you this order, because it sure as hell wasn't the Hokage as I just spent the last hour keeping him alive!" fired off Tsunade her grip tightening slightly as the anger in her voice translated to physical strength. The pair of Anbu now looked slightly uneasy but responded in turn.

"It was Jiraiya-sama who gave the order he is already with the other captured targets, trying to find out how they relate to the events at the stadium and the invasion." replied the pair. The air in the room seemed to drop ten degrees as the pair finished, as the two women along with the pair of genin realized what this might mean. For a second no one spoke, but finally the silence was broken by Mito.

"B-but Anbu-san what does that mean about Aniki?" the small girl asked as the two Anbu stiffened slightly as they felt the growing killing intent coming off almost everyone in the room with them. After a moment Monkey spoke up, his voice forcibly level despite his situation.

"Naruto-Uzumaki has already been detained." The man replied, just before there was a growl from behind the two and they turned to see both Naruko and Minami glaring at them their eyes already slitted.

"WHAT!" they both called in unison before with a heave both Anbu were thrown off of their feet by Tsunade and Kushina respectively and into a wall knocking the pair unconscious as they impacted with a small crash. In the meantime Kushina turned to face the girls her face set in one of barley contained rage.

"Girls we are going, see if you can find Hinata, and meet me at the gate." Called Kushina, as the two girls nodded darting out of the room as she finished. Tsunade gave the two unconscious Anbu's a look before summoning a small slug beside her.

"Inform Shizune to get up here now, I'm leaving with Kushina and the girls for something, also tell her to grab a few trustworthy Jonin to watch this room." The blond finished as the slug vanished to find Shizune.

In the meantime Mito was looking around confused at what was occurring before Kushina bent down to catch the girl's eyes.

"It's ok Mito we're just going to go get your Aniki, I need you and Kyueed to stay here and look after your tousan ok." Kushina said causing the girl to nod still a little dazed before Kyueed let out a yip of understanding before moving so that he had his back to Minato while having Mito on one side, two tails wrapped around her protectively. Kushina nodded at the scene before turning and exiting the room along with Tsunade in tow.

* * *

Meanwhile outside in the hospital several groups sat around in waiting rooms either waiting to see injured comrades, or simply resting after the recent battle. In one area Asuma along with Kurenai were standing with their Genin looking over the group as they examined a few of their injuries. Over all the group had gotten off rather light with only minor injuries all around. Once the fighting had moved out of the stadium and the element of surprise was lost Konoha's forces had been able to push back the invasion with minimal casualties. Still the group was happy that at least for the moment the conflict seemed to have died out. As they stood Shizune came walking by with a slug on her shoulder before pausing and looking at the group before marching forwards.

"Asuma, Kurenai I need you two to follow me." called the medic as the two looked at one another eyebrows raised in apparent confusion.

"Sure Shizune-chan but why what's going on?" asked Kurenai as she pushed herself up from where she had been sitting as the genin turned to look up as well. Shizune seemed to pause for a moment as if wondering how to phrase her next statement.

"I need you two to come with me up to guard a room on the third floor bring your students if you want, but I need you to come with me now." she replied turning and walking towards the stairs the group standing up and following her.

A few moments later the members of team ten and eight found themselves outside of the same room that Minato was still resting in. Shizune lead them inside to find Mito and Kyueed both facing the door, Kyueed had his tails waving back and forth as he looked on in mild interest, as Mito stood like a solider at attention her face screwed up into a forced look of determination as she faced the group that entered. Before the group could do anything Mito spoke up in a tone of forced authority.

"Halt who goes there." She piped up as Shizune and the Jonin entered the room the rest of the team's filing in their eyes drawn immediately to the figure in the bed, and then to Kyueed. For a moment none of them could do more than look open mouthed before Shizune stepped forward petting Kyueed on the head and smiling down at Mito.

"At ease Mito-chan these are just some more guards for your tousan." Shizune said as Mito looked around at the group as if inspecting them. After a second she gave a nod and smiled back up at Shizune.

"OK but Kyueed and I had it under control, right." The little redhead declared proudly as Kyueed let out an affirmative yip. In the meantime Yakumo and Shino moved forwards just taking seats on one side of the room giving Mito a small wave and both looking at Kyueed with slight interest, but just letting it lie for now. The members of team ten were just lost at what to do next, and decided to simply watch their sensei and take cues from him. Kurenai followed her student's example and simply moved over to the window looking out at it while being in position to watch the door in case she was needed at any time. So Asuma was left looking between the Hokage, and Kyueed his mind trying and failing to figure out what was going on. Finally the man had enough and decided to throw caution to the wind stretching out a hand to Kyueed's head.

Kyueed in turn looked at the hand for a moment before sniffing it and finally nuzzling his head under the hand letting out a humming purr as he did so. Asuma in turn just gave the fox creature a few scratches as Mito nodded in apparent approval.

"Ok their good, Kyueed thinks so and he can tell." The little redhead proclaimed sitting down beside Kyueed facing the door once more. Asuma in turn gave a small chuckle at the girl and headed over to the other side of the window as his team filed into the room.

* * *

At this same time in the Anbu detention facility Naruto was leaned back on a cot in a cell while the seedlings were placed in similar rooms all along the walls. He had been here for no more than a few minutes when a pair of familiar figures made themselves know outside his door. Naruto sat up to see Ibiki and Anko standing at the door both looking at the blonde with slightly puzzled expressions.

"Really the gaki's here, what is that old toad thinking?" Anko stated looking over to see one of the seedlings eyeing her from a cell opposite them.

"Hey watch where your looking there flashlight face." called Anko causing the creature to hum in apparent interest not understanding the woman's comment before continuing to stare at her. In the meantime Ibiki was looking into Naruto's eyes for the first time since the exams, and what he was seeing concerned him slightly. The eyes weren't dead or even afraid no they still held that same confidence as back in the exam. But there had been something else there as well. He hadn't been able to place it that day but looking at the boy now he finally realized what it was. This boy was not all there, or at least he didn't seem so, something about him reminded him of a solider he had once seen who had seemed to change his view at the drop of a kunai, and now this boy was giving him the same feeling.

"Genin Naruto Uzumaki I am here to question you, rest assured that we will not be going any further than some questions, but I would suggest you cooperating all the same am I understood?" finished the man as Naruto simply blinked a few times pausing before he answered. And there it was, just like the man he had seen, in the boy's eyes there was a flicker like there was a conversation going on, but the next moment it was gone.

"Hai Ibiki-san, but I feel I should warn you up front I won't be answering any of your questions." Replied the blond leaning back down on his cot and looking up at the celling. Anko hearing this let out a snort, turning back to face Ibiki.

"Little gaki has some spunk, maybe you should look into hiring him after this is all done, after his exam and this is all done I'd say he'll make chunnin no problem." Finish the woman as the crossed her arms over her chest and gave Naruto a small smile.

"Thank you Anko-sama but I feel like keeping what little mind I have left intact thank you!" called Naruto as Anko let out a small bark of laughter. She had heard the reports about what the black creatures and Naruto had done to Orochimaru and Kabuto during the second exam, and as far as she was concerned the boy deserved a parade. Ibiki in turn just looked at the boy for a moment before turning to look at the seedling that was watching the pair humming slightly.

"Well if that is how you feel I suppose I can ask one of your comrades here, after all they don't have any protection." Ibiki said almost to himself but loud enough for Naruto to hear him. It was a common tactic that none the less unusually proved effective, after all it was one thing to stand personal pain, quite another to allow another to suffer because of you. Naruto took notice of this leaning up at looking at the man's back for a second, Ibiki sensing the movement and gaining a small smile on his lips thinking his plan was working. However, that thought died a moment later.

"Wait you can talk to them, that's awesome I've been trying to figure that out for months now how'd you manage it?" Naruto asked in a tone of mocking curiosity. Anko at this let out a snort before bending over holding her sides trying to keep on her feet. Ibiki in turn turned to see Naruto giving him a wide grin.

_Damn the kid isn't bending on this point, but something still doesn't add up about all of this, from what I've been told he fought off the invasion just like everyone else, and the only reason he's here is because someone claimed that one of his creatures was the last thing seen with the Hokage, something else is happening here and I don't like it. _Thought the scarred man as he closed his eyes thinking of what to say next. After a moment he spoke again.

"Then I suppose I am limited to you, but before we call this quits and start with your pals here, I have one simply question for you." Finished Ibiki Naruto just giving a shrug as if to say "if you must."

"Do you know why you are here?" Ibiki asked his tone direct without a hint of emotion behind it. Naruto seemed to do his hesitate movement again before shaking his head and replying.

"Honestly not really, I get people wanting to know what's up with my abilities but really I didn't see being thrown in prison for fighting to defend my home, how about you do you know why I'm here?" asked Naruto his tone and movements telling Ibiki that whatever else was going on this boy truly was missing at least as much as he was. After a moment Ibiki spoke back up.

"You are here because the Hokage, your tousan is missing and he was last seen with one of you creations,"

"Seedlings." Naruto interjected, causing Ibiki to pause along with Anko and look at him.

"They are called seedlings if that helps." The blond said pointing across from him at the seedling that was giving off a small hum.

"Anyway one of your seedlings was seen with the Hokage right before he went missing, and apparently you summoned something that was able to go toe to toe with the one tailed raccoon."

"Shukaku." Naruto interrupted again causing Ibiki and Anko to blink at one another and then back to the boy.

"The one tail big sand raccoon, likes to yell a lot his name's Shukaku, just thought you'd like to know." He finished as Ibiki thought about that for a moment before continuing.

"Whatever you summoned fought Shukaku, and also apparently fought off a number of our shinobi and then there is the matter of the tree in the arena, all of this during a surprise invasion does not make us keen to not examine the situation, and that includes you." Finished the man as Naruto leaned back on his cot letting out a sigh.

"Well I guess that makes some sense, but still the prison thing seems a bit much…can you at least tell me if the rest of my family is alright?" he asked as Anko looked over at Ibiki before shrugging and speaking up.

"Hai Gaki they are all fine, had a bit of a trek to the hospital but they made it, darnedest thing to keep getting reports on a bunch of summoned rabbits, suppose your girlfriend would have something to do with that huh." Finished Anko giving the boy a small knowing smile that Naruto mirrored

"Ha way to go bunny-chan." Naruto said finally relaxing for the first time since the battle at the arena.

"_Still be nice to be…what is the word I'm looking for? Oh ya! OUT OF THIS CELL!" _shouted the other Naruto briefly before fading away again. In the meantime Ibiki was getting sick of this whatever else was going on this kid wasn't a threat, he would stake his career on it…but he had to do his job.

"Damn it, Anko grab that seedling we have some work to do." Spoke the scarred man turning and walking out towards an interrogation room. Anko gave Naruto a small look before she walked over and pulled out a pair of chakra cuffs before heading to the door.

"You know those really are a waste." Called Naruto as Anko unlocked the door, causing her to look back over her shoulder.

"Oh ya and why is that Gaki, as she settled the cuffs onto the seedling before stepping back the seedling following along with her humming in apparent confusion at the things on its wrists.

"You'll see, hey buddy just use this to learn some new things kay, and no getting carried away." Called Naruto to which the Seedling hum in apparent acceptance before looking up at Anko as if asking what she was waiting for. Anko in the meantime looked between the two not liking what she was hearing, but shrugging it off, after all with those cuffs on even a Kage would be hard pressed to manage much.

A moment later found her along with the seedling in an interrogation room the seedling sitting in a chair in the center as seals glowed all around him and Ibiki stood facing the seated seedling not knowing exactly where to start with this thing. Despite what he had said he truly didn't have a clue how to even go about starting to examine this thing in front of him, it seemed like some kind of clone, but from what he had heard it had functioned as an independent, really bringing the seedling in was more of a stalling tactic than anything, waiting for the Hokage to be found and this farce to end. Still he had a job, and the thing about experts like Ibiki was that they enjoyed their jobs.

"Ok Anko go ahead and make sure that it's secure." Called Ibiki as he walked over to a table turning his back to the seedling. Anko gave a small shrug before walking around the chair inspecting the seals and the creature's hands that were now strapped behind it. The seedling watching her humming in apparent interest. As she reached the back of the chair the seedling lost sight of her, and so hopped up from the chair turning to follow behind her. As he did his feet landed on the seals.

Anko let out a small start as Ibiki turned round to see the seedling standing beside Anko looking at her in apparent interest as the seals on the floor seemed to do nothing to impede its movement.

"W-what the heck those seals shouldn't let if move, Ibiki who made these pieces of junk." Called Anko throwing her hands up in the air. Beside her the Seedling mimicking her did the same unknowingly causing the chakra cuffs to fall off, the chakra holding them together through the seals having been drained almost as soon as they were put on its arms. The pair looked from the seals to the cuffs and then back to the seedling whom was humming in apparent amusement, while Ibiki let out sigh, and turned to face the creature.

"So it would seem we have a bit of an issue with holding you…you could leave any time you wanted, and something tells me there isn't much we could do to stop you am I right?" asked Ibiki pulling up a chair and leaning back on it as he spoke. The seedling in turn walked over to the chair it had occupied and pulled it around to mimic the man's posture while watching him. Anko in turn just let out a breath before moving over to sit on the nearby table.

"You get the feeling we're wasting our time." She muttered as she looked over at the seedling whom had not broken eye contact with Ibiki.

"I wouldn't say that, if nothing else we can be some of the first to learn about this new technique." Replied Ibiki as he raised a hand up fingers outstretched the seedling mimicking his movements causing the man to smirk as he put the hand back down.

As this was occurring Naruto was back inside his mindscape seated on the grass covered field and talking to…well himself.

"You know I really think something may be wrong with us, I mean I don't think we are supposed to be like this." the blonde said looking over at the red headband on his left arm as he spoke.

"_Really I never would have guessed I thought everyone had two voices in there head, you know for fun, come on we both know why this is going on." _replied the blonde's other half as his face turned to face the yellow headband on his right arm.

"Come on I'm being serious, we keep popping out instead of the original, heck you can't tell me that normal, it's been happening ever since the bridge back in wave, we just keep coming forwards, like when you went off on Naruko." Responded the red headband boy.

"_Or that time you went and decided to tell Minami everything even though we just started to trust her again, seriously what was up with that?" _replied the yellow headband boy.

"But see that's what I mean we shouldn't be able to be doing that, I mean we were supposed to merge again…weren't we." Asked red.

"_I guess but I'm not so sure that's a good idea, I mean the original and you would probably just run off and forgive everyone….seriously what's up with that I mean I want a family too , but you don't see me just ignoring what they did." _fired back yellow as red seemed to pause at this for a moment.

"Maybe that's why." Red whispered causing Yellow to raise one eyebrow in confusion.

"_Huh why what?" _yellow asked waiting for red to reply. After a moment he did.

"Well get this we were supposed to become one again, but we disagree on so much that maybe we can't, maybe we need to fix this whole family thing before the fix happens you know?" finished red as yellow seemed to consider the words for a moment.

"_Hai that may work but there's only one way that's going to work you know, we have to get it all out, no more half ass stuff like you've been doing, no more dancing around the problem if you and I want to get this behind us everything comes out….and I mean everything." _Yellow finished as red nodded in agreement and the two faded. However, just as the two faded out and Naruto came back into his mind he suddenly became aware of another presence in his mind. He spun around to see a tall orange haired man with yellow eyes turned to him and dove forwards his arm outstretched at the teen.

* * *

As this was occurring Kushina, Minami, Naruko, Tsunade, Hinata, and a few of the rabbits had arrived at the gates of the Anbu detention facility. The group looked up at the location before Tsunade spoke up.

"Ok we need a plan how were are going to do this." spoke the blonde sage, however before the words were even finished there was a sound of Impact as a few of the rabbits hammers, two sets of rasengans and Kushina's chains smashed into the huge metal doors of the building blowing them off of their hinges and opening the way.

"I have a plan it's called get in and get Naruto out, any questions." Called Kushina as the other three shook their heads and Tsunade fought to suppress a small smirk.

"And here I thought I was the hot blooded one." she chuckled as the group made their way into the courtyard of the building several Anbu and chunnin rushing out thinking that a counterattack was underway but stopping dead as they saw who was there.

"Tsunade-sama, Kushina-sama! What, what is this?" called a chunnin before the redhead shot out a chain crashing it into the ground in a line before the gathered forces. Behind the women a group of four rabbit summons took up position looking around as they tested their grips on their massive hammers.

"We're here to find out where my godson is and which one of you morons decided to imprison him and on who's orders!" called Tsunade cracking her knuckles in a menacing fashion. More than one Shinobi took a few steps back from the women as the blonde spoke not wanting to die just yet. One of the more survival savvy shinobi finally found their voice and decided to respond.

"I-it was Master Jiraiya…. he-he said the Hokage was missing and Naruto and those things with him might know where….please don't kill me." called the shinobi as he moved as close to a nearby wall as he could trying to get as far from the angry women as possible. Everything went quiet for a moment before Kushina and the rest turned slowly to face the entrance, most looking like they were about to murder someone.

"OK Listen up were are here to get my Sochi if you don't want to get hurt get out of our way!" called Kushina glaring around at the group of shinobi, most looking around concerned at the prospect of fighting any of the figures before them, and wondering if they would have better luck just running for their lives. Most simply backed away as the group headed up the steps and into the reception area of the headquarters without incident. As they entered into the building a few Anbu stepped up to question the group, but were soon discouraged as Tsunade grabbed a nearby desk and threw it though a nearby wall, giving the advancing troops a look that told them that any further action was unwise. However as they reached the end of the room someone did finally call out to them.

"Tsunade, Kushina what the hell are you doing here!?" shouted a concerned man a few feet away from the group. The five female turned to see Jiraiya marching towards them his expression showing blank shock at the group's presence. As he reached them he noticed the other three girls looking around completely lost as what was happening. Before he could do more than approach the group he found himself bound in golden chains pulled right before the girls all glaring at him in turn.

"You !" Kushina breathed out her chains lifting the man off of his feet as she spat the words out.

"Fucking!" at this she slung the bound man into the ceiling with a crack that sent stone and plaster falling from it and onto the office floor.

"Useless!" she continued slamming the man into the ground sending cracks throughout the tiled floor as she did so.

"SORRRY, EXCUSE, FOR, A, GODFATHER, WHERE, IS, MY SOCHI!" Kushina screamed punctuating each word with slamming the man between the ceiling and floor finally just flinging him down into the hole she had made with his body, and letting out a huff of satisfaction. From the hole Jiraiya managed a small pained moan that was interrupted as Kushina stepped on his chest and over the indent in the floor headed to the back where she thought her Sochi may be held.

Through the pain in his body, and the blood now covering one eye he saw as Tsunade stepped over him without so much as giving him a second look, followed by Minami and Hinata also without comment. As Naruko passed Jiraiya allowed himself to hope for a moment that he was about to get help as the smaller blonde seemed to pause to look down at him. However, all she did was give him a kick to the side of his head causing his world to go dark as he slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

At the same time as this was occurring Minato was slowly stirring back to consciousness blinking the bright lights out of his eyes as the aches and pains of his body surged up into him causing him to let out a small groan. The noise caused Mito as well as Shizune to turn round and move over to the man.

"Tousan!?" Mito called out reaching over to grab onto one of the Hokage's hands smiling at her Tousan's face in excitement. On her other side Shizune was checking a few medical devices and nodding at the figures before turning back to Minato.

"Well Hokage-sama it looks like you're back in the land of the living." spoke the black haired woman as she gave the man a small smile, before looking back over at the machines in the meantime the other occupants of the room looking around giving each other satisfied looks at seeing the Hokage back awake.

Meanwhile Minato was blinking around his addled mind still trying to remember what had happened to him. He was fighting with Orochimaru…and then that thing…foxy and he were falling… Minato let out a small groan as he looked over to see Mito smiling at him, his other thoughts disappearing for a second as he saw her.

"H-hey Mito-chan." The blonde hokage spoke out his voice a little rough. Mito didn't seem to mind however as she smiled up at Minato.

"Hi Tousan you're back, Kaasan said you would after Kyueed brought you in." the small girl said in an excited voice as she turned her head to face the front of the room. Minato also looked and saw that at the foot of his bed was…well the fox creature he had been with looking at him and Mito letting out a happy little hum as its ears twitched back and forth. Minato just stared at the creature for a moment before Mito called attention back to here.

"Kaasan and neesans went to go get Aniki, but they will be back soon!" called Mito causing Minato's mind to kick start again showing him small flashes of his thoughts through the battle. Suddenly he tried to sit up his body trying to protest as Shizune stepped forwards to keep him still.

"Hokage-sama you need to." Was all she got out before Minato looked round at her.

"Shizune where are they, Kushina, the girls, Naruto where are they, are they safe?" the man asked in an almost panicked state. Shizune looked for a moment as thought she was about to insist that he lay back down but seemed to conclude that answering the man was a better strategy.

"Hai Hokage-sama Kushina, and the girls are just fine, a bit banged up but they will all recover just fine." Shizune replied, but again Minato cut her off.

"And Naruto…?" the blonde said his voice almost pleading. Shizune paused for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"It would seem that someone thought it was a good idea to put Naruto under custody, Tsunade, Kushina, Hinata, and the girls went to get him out, after that they should be back here." she continued as Minato forced his body further up even against Shizune's attempts to keep him in bed.

"WH-what…w-who?" Minato began, before his mind showed him the conversation that had occurred in the kage box and his eyes narrowed slightly before with a grunt of pain he forced his legs around and to the side of the bed before trying and failing to stand. Shizune along with Asuma and Kurenai moved forwards at this trying to keep the man in bed, but the look that the blonde gave them brought them up short.

Minato tried to stand yet again, but found himself falling back when a soft something slipped behind him supporting his weight. Turning he saw that Kyueed had moved two of his tails behind the man and was looking up at him as if pondering what he was doing. Mito in turn had run around to the front of the bed to the side of Kyueed to smile as she grabbed one of Minato's hands. Between the two Minato was pulled to his feet, one hand held by Mito carefully, as four of Kyueed's tails helped to balance the man, and keep him from falling over. Minato gave Mito's head a small pat at this before Kyueed put his own head under Minato's other hand, causing the man to give the creature the same action.

"Thanks Mito…and you to Kyueed." Minato said as the three made their way to the door intent on finding just what was going on, even as Minato's mind turned back to the man he suspected was responsible for what was occurring.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the holding facility the five females passed into the end of a wide room just as they heard another door open on the other side of the room and voices coming out.

"No I'm telling you I heard something so stop playing with that thing and come on." called Anko's voice as she walked out of a room her back to the women, speaking to someone they couldn't see. There was a response of some kind before Anko let out a small bark of laughter.

"Ya whatever, you can't scare that think, heck it blinks less than you do boss." She called as she turned her expression faltering as she took in the group before her. For a second she just stood there staring as the females continued to approach before she let out a small nervous laugh and turned to face the room once again.

"Hey Ibiki you were right, we are going to die." She called as the women walked past her and into the room that acted as the only way into the holding cells. As they entered they saw Ibiki looking slightly frustrated at a seedling that had turned into his exact replica and was standing hands folded behind it in a perfect mimic of the man before it. Without slowing the group passed by the seedling finally dropping its shape as it turned to follow them with a happy hum of recognition Ibiki giving a faint smile as he allowed his sore eyes to finally blink after so long. The group soon tore the door before them off of its hinges and marched into the holding room.

As lights flickered to life something immediately caught their eyes. A figure stretched out before a cell sprawled out in a contorted angle. Kushina was the fastest as she raced forwards towards the cell seeing that the unknown Anbu was not moving. As she reached the cell she turned to see Naruto also laying sprawled his body stiff, except for the small movement of breathing. Kushina's mind showed her a horrible memory of a pale faced boy in her arms, as life drained out of him and she froze for half a heartbeat.

Naruko did as well her own memory showing her the scene she had witnessed not a few hours before, as Minami let out a small cry of rage as she raced forwards a spinning blade appearing in her hand glowing white as it sliced the cell door to pieces allowing the women to flood into the cell and to the boys form. Kushina and Naruko broke from their momentary pause to join the others that crowded around the boy, Hinata and Tsunade already checking over him as Naruko and Minami just cried out over and over again that this couldn't be happening.

"It's ok he's alive but he is in shock we need to get him to the hospital now!" called Tsunade as she looked around at the group. No sooner had she spoken then Naruko and Minami threw caution to the wind and formed a set of Rasengan's blasting a hole in the cell wall leading to the outside as Tsunade hefted the boy up into her arms leaping out of the hole quickly followed by the others leaving Anko and Ibiki blinking around in the dust having rushed in as the sound of cutting steel had rung out. They only had a moment to look confused at the body lying in the room, and the newly made hole before all around them there was a loud humming followed by several crashes as the other seedlings following the two girls lead smashing their way out of their cells scattering rock and dust everywhere as they rushed past the pair and out after the group and their creator.

* * *

A few minutes later Minato had just managed to make his way into the lobby of the Hospital with help from Mito and Kyueed, getting many odd looks and questions as he walked, but halting to answer none of them. One foolish Jonin had run up to him at one point to try and talk to him about the invasion as well as gesturing towards the Kyueed, but had gotten more than he bargained for in the hall.

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE DAMAGE TO THE STADIUM, NOW GET OUT OF MY WAY!" he shouted slamming the man into a nearby wall with a crash. Then remembering Mito looked down to see that Kyueed had wrapped a tail around the girls head causing her to giggle as the fur brushed up against her deadening any noise outside of it, a trick he had learned when he heard those sounds coming from the blonde woman's mouth when she lost games. Minato gave the Kyueed a small grateful smile as he moved forwards.

It was in the lobby that he found his family. Just as he reached the open area there was a crash as the group of five women burst into the lobby Tsunade calling for medical personnel. And there they were Kushina looking in a state between rage and fear, with the girls behind her carrying open concern on their faces and Hinata beside them openly crying…however, it was to his Sochi that he looked, and his heart stopped as she saw Naruto's limp form in Tsunade's arms. Everything seemed to go quiet for the man for a moment as he looked at the still form of Naruto….his naruto…his little maelstrom.

_Ok kami no! _Minato thought as a table arrived as the group turned to rush the boy out of the lobby and to a nearby room. For a second Minato couldn't move, he couldn't think…then there was a tugging and he looked to see Mito and Kyueed pulling him forwards after the group.

So Minato allowed them to pull him forwards fear flowing off of him in waves as he stumbled to put one foot in front of the other, carrying him towards his worst nightmare come to horrifying reality.

…**..Ya I know I know "fucking cliffhanger" and all that go ahead hit me with your best shot, but that's all she wrote lol. Sorry really this is not planned out or anything it just kind of keeps happening, and really it feels like a good spot to end so ya sorry but that's just how the chips fall with this one. **

**Ok preemptive strike here, Yes I have established that seedlings are immune to seals, however Kyueed isn't a normal seedling anymore, he is now half that and half Kyuubi so ya he has a different set of skills than the others. Ok besides that I think everything else here is pretty straight forwards so I'll just leave it at that. Thanks again for all of the support and hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Omaku special staring Dany le fou**

**()()()()**

"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!" Hinata shouted as she slammed her hand down, causing a massive plume of smoke to explode as she called her reinforcements. As the smoke cleared...  
"Ichi!"  
"Ni!"  
"San!"  
"Yon!"  
"Go!"  
"Roku!"  
"Nana!"  
"Hachi!"  
"Kyu!"  
"Juu!"  
"Juuichi!"  
"Juuni!"  
"Juusan!"  
"Juuyon!"  
"Juugo!"  
"Juuroku!"  
"Juunana!"  
"Juuhachi!"  
"Juukyu!"  
"Nijuu!"  
"AND WE ARE... THE RABBIT RANGERS!" the rabbits chorused as new explosions of multicolored smoke appeared behind them.

**()()()()**

**Orochimaru's thoughts during the first few fights.**

**As Naruto and Naruko squared off.**

_**Darn this robe is itchy…**_

_**first thing I do when I take over this village is ditch the robe…..**_

_**aw heck it smells to I told them to clean this thing, for kami's sake I killed the guy in it the least they could do was dry clean it….**_

_**i miss dry cleaning….**_

_**ok new plan I burn konoha to the ground except the drycleaning store run by that one guy…**_

…_**.what was his name….rhymed with tart.**_

…_**bart….mart…..kuart…poptart…darn it now I'm hungry…**_

…_**and of course the great Minato wouldn't have catering…..worst invasion ever…..**_

…_**.wait was jiraiya in that shadow the whole time…like even when Minato when to the bathroom before we got here…ewwwwwww that's just nasty…..**_

…_**note to self after invasion take shower…..ok so have to spare the bathhouse to…..at this rate I'll have the whole freaking town saved….ok what can I destroy…..**_

…_**well I never liked that pet store….weird guy kept trying to sell me mice….freak.**_

…_**ok operation pet story destruction is a go…. **_**Orochimaru thought as Gaara let out his roar and the invasion began.**

**Songbird out. **


	23. Chapter 21

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Well here comes the news, school is now officially underway for me, and on top of that I have a job to balance, and that means my free time is stretched at best. So the next few chapters will be coming out slower, sorry but priorities dictate that this is pretty low on things I have to do. I won't stop or go months without updating but just be prepared for longer stretches between weeks now that school is underway.

So there have been a few PM's and Reviews that have been requesting that I give Naruto some kind of weapon ranging from the lightening sword from the second hokage, to weapons from the games, or even other shows all together, and I decided to put my answer here so that I can hopefully avoid having to tell different people the same response over and over again. No Naruto won't be getting a weapon like that from the show it just doesn't fit with what I'm doing as his own abilities will not be based on a weapon as it just doesn't fit with my view of Naruto. Now I want to make it clear I really like every one of you who PM or review for me and this is not a complaint this is just me trying to answer questions before they keep getting sent out to me. I hope it manages this.

Ok small point before I go any further many people seem to want Jiraiya to be put on trial, or punished via the law…sorry I just don't see that as a possibility given the action at play. Remember that while really a dick move, an invasion had just happened, heck was still happening, and the Hokage was apparently taken right out from under their noses, by Kyueed, who looked just like the creatures that Naruto had summoned. On top of that Juubi while not attacking did actively protect Shukaku from Konoha forces, so ya not too much of a stretch to see the forces being suspicious of what was going on with Naruto. Originally I had a scene where he confronted Naruto, but it really didn't come off well, and so I got rid of it. Look Jiraiya is the equivalent rank of a general in Konoha, if something happens and a private is suspected of being involved based on what he has been told then ya he had a motive and reason to do what he does in bringing Naruto in for questioning. True it was kind of a dick move, but it wasn't under the circumstances completely unreasonable. You are free to disagree with me on this point but really it isn't too unreasonable to see Jiraiya's actions in play.

**Chapter 21**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-Who we were and what we knew-**

It was in the lobby that he found his family. Just as he reached the open area there was a crash as the group of five women burst into the lobby Tsunade calling for medical personnel. And there they were Kushina looking in a state between rage and fear, with the girls behind her carrying open concern on their faces and Hinata beside them openly crying…however, it was to his Sochi that he looked, and his heart stopped as she saw Naruto's limp form in Tsunade's arms. Everything seemed to go quiet for the man for a moment as he looked at the still form of Naruto….his naruto…his little maelstrom.

_Ok kami no! _Minato thought as a table arrived as the group turned to rush the boy out of the lobby and to a nearby room. For a second Minato couldn't move, he couldn't think…then there was a tugging and he looked to see Mito and Kyueed pulling him forwards after the group.

So Minato allowed them to pull him forwards fear flowing off of him in waves as he stumbled to put one foot in front of the other, carrying him towards his worst nightmare come to horrifying reality.

As Minato was dragged across the lobby by Mito and Kyueed Naruto was being placed onto a bed, while Tsunade kept running diagnostic after diagnostic over his body sweat pouring from her brow as her eyes continued to grow in size and her expression became more worried.

"Tsunade what's wrong with him!?" called Kushina as the blondes arms finally dropped a moment later as her eyes closed in frustration. For an answer Tsunade swung a fist around and into a nearby wall breaking a hole right through the reinforced steel that acted as the hospitals support, yelling as she did.

"DAMN IT!" She huffed out as the group around her looked worriedly from her to the blonde boy lying in the bed slowly breathing, apparently asleep.

"Tsu-tsunade what is it?" asked Kushina again her voice breaking with fear. The sage didn't answer for a moment before the fight seemed to leave her and she slumped turning to fall into a chair beside the bed.

"I don't know Kushina….damn it I don't know there's nothing wrong with him physically, a few cuts and bruises, but those are from the fight…..I don't have any idea what is wrong with him." replied the blond looking around the group Kushina looking horrified as she looked over at Naruto not believing what was happening….again. Naruko and Minami were all but catatonic themselves, the pair had moved over with Hinata helping to support one another has they all took a position on the side of Naruto's bed looking down at him, small pools of water forming in their eyes. Hinata for her part just kept repeating over and over in her mind that this wasn't happening that it couldn't be happening not here, not now after everything they had gone through.

The group stood in silence for a moment before Kushina spoke up her voice tight with emotion coming out oddly distorted as if she was speaking through a sob.

"N-no this isn't how it's going to be, Tsunade you said there isn't anything physically wrong with him right!" Kushina said her voice strengthening as it continued. From her seat Tsunade looked up for a moment before giving the redhead a nod. Kushina forced herself to think before looking over at Naruto her mind showing her the cell once again….and the Anbu….lying motionless before it…like he was asleep…his body limp. The thought came like a bolt of electricity as Kushina whirled just as Shizune entered to room.

"Shizune get a Yamanaka in here now!" she called out stopping the black haired women in mid step as she turned to see Tsunade sitting up from her seat looking between Naruto, Kushina and Shizune her eyes wide with sudden understanding.

"H-hai!" called Shizune turning to sprint off into the hospital to find a suitable candidate pushing past a group of three in the hall as she did not giving them a second glance. Back in the exam room the three girls at Naruto's bedside were looking between Kushina and Tsunade obvious concern and confusion present on their brows. Finally Hinata spoke up.

"Kushina-san wh-what is it, what's wrong with Naruto-kun?" she asked the sadness in her voice almost a physical presence all its own. Kushina turned from the door to look at the three before answering.

"Someone attack Naruto's mind, that's why he's like this, that Anbu must have done it that's why he was lying there when we got there." Explained Kushina as she moved over pulling up a chair to sit beside Naruto's bedside. The three girls looked between each other for a moment before mirroring her, looking between Naruto and Kushina. This time it was Naruko who spoke first.

"Kaasan what does that mean for Naruto-niisan, and who would do that?" she asked forcing herself to remain calm as she looked across at the redhead. Kushina in the meantime had laid one hand upon Naruto's head running her fingers through his hair her eyes focused on him and her expression worried. At Naruko's question she looked up at Naruko and the others.

"I don't know who Naruko…but it means that whatever is going on with Naruto we need to get into his mind to find out what it is….damn it where is that Yamanaka!" Kushina finished turning to look back at the door that had just been pushed open, with a familiar set of voices coming out of the doorway.

"Come on Tousan they went in here!" called Mito impatiently, along with a happy little humming accompanying her words. There was a moment of silence before another voice rang out in reply.

"Mito-chan you've said that about the last four rooms." Spoke up Minato his voice somehow haunted as though it was somehow detached from what was occurring around him. The door then opened and the three stood looking in at the group crowded around Naruto's bed. For a moment the two groups just looked at one another before Mito pulled Minato into the room along with Kyueed until they stood next to Naruto's bedside Mito looking down at Naruto and then around at the group in apparent confusion. Slowly she rose her hand up to slightly jostle Naruto, as if trying to wake the boy up. After a moment trying to wake him up Mito looked up and around small water gathering in her eyes.

"W-why isn't Aniki waking up?...Kassan….Tousan…..Naaruko-neesan….Minami-neesan…Baa-chan?" spoke Mito gaining an obvious fear in her voice the longer she continued her questioning. The rest of the group looked at her worried eyes before looking down not bearing to see her look of absolute sadness. Mito saw them look away from her for a moment before she moved over to grab onto Tsunade's leg tears falling from her eyes as she tried to shake the blonde woman.

"Aniki…Aniki won't wake up….Baa-chan…fix Aniki, he isn't waking up…..", continued the small redhead as she turned to look back at Naruto again. Naruko and Minami finally couldn't take the girls tears anymore and both moved over to pull her gently from Tsunade's leg holding the small girl against them as she tried to struggle slightly in their grip, repeating the question of why no one was helping her Aniki over and over. Naruko and Minami just held their imoto, keeping their own sadness held in check so as to comfort the small form held between them.

Minato in turn was still frozen looking down at Naruto's still form looking broken at what he was seeing. His mind seemed to be shutting down again on him when the door swung open again and Shizune moved into the room with a blond haired man that Minato recognized as Inoichi before the man was past him and standing over Naruto looking over at Shizune who gave him a small nod before he laid his hand upon Naruto's brow and closed his eyes in apparent concentration.

For a few moments nothing happened besides Mito's concerned sobs, and the watchful stares of those in the room. Seconds ticked by into minutes as the group watched, Minato slowly shifting with the aid of Kyueed into a free chair unable to do anything but watch the man dive into his Sochi's mind. Kushina was still sitting watching keeping herself from falling apart, for the sake of everyone else there… inside she was tearing herself apart, but she held firm keeping her eyes focused on the still form of Naruto.

After a time Inoichi pulled his hand back with a sigh of frustration as he looked around at everyone else. This time Kushina was the first to speak her voice one of forced calm.

"Well, what is wrong with my Sochi?" she asked her voice one of forced calm as the blond man looked over at her with a pained look.

"I'm sorry Kushina-san but I don't know what is happening with him, it's like his mind has set up a defense, and nothing is getting in, the walls are somehow shut to me… I've never seen anything like this, something inside the mind has shut it down to keep anyone from getting in, heck it's a miracle that he is even functioning…I'm sorry Kushina-san but unless you have a backdoor into his mind I'm afraid I don't have a way to help." Finished the man giving a respectful nod to Tsunade and the Hokage before leaving to allow them time with their Sochi being no further use himself. The assembled group watched him go before turning back to Naruto, Kushina slowly moving over to grip onto her Sochi's hand silent tears trailing down her cheeks as her body shook from holding back sobs. As she did this, Kyueed from beside her let out a small humming that drew the groups attention round to see the remaining seedlings filing into the room in a hurry followed after by a pair of alarmed looking Jonin that froze as they saw Kyueed, and the rooms occupants. Before they could do more than look around in apparent confusion Tsunade and Shizune moved forwards hauling the two out of the room and shutting the door behind them, leaving the family some time with Naruto.

Without any instruction the Seedlings looked around apparently confused as to what was occurring one even walking over to lightly shove at Naruto's form letting out a hum of incomprehension. Minami was about to shout at the seedling, her own sadness overcoming her mental barriers, hating seeing the same action repeated again as Naruto continued to remain unresponsive. However, even as the words began they died as her eyes went wide with sudden comprehension.

"That's it!" she called standing up haling Naruko and Mito with her, and causing those still present to look round at her startled by her sudden outburst.

"What's it?" asked Naruko looking over at her Neesan confusion apparent on her face as Mito looked up at Minami with equal confusion. Kushina and Minato seemed to be in similar frames of mind but Hinata looking round at the gathered seedlings seemed to have realized what Minami had only moments ago.

"The back door….We can get in with the Seedlings!" called Hinata looking over at Minami who gave her a swift nod. Naruko and Kushina seemed to stop for a moment before they too looked around at the seedlings a small trace of hope lighting up their faces as they did. Mito for her part grabbed one of Kyueed's tails using it to wipe away at her tears as she looked around not understanding what was going on, but recognizing that apparently there was something to fix her Aniki. The last member of the group seemed to come out of his comatose state looking around his face still one of complete confusion. However, before he could speak up Kushina had stood making her way past him and to the door sticking her head out for a moment to converse with someone.

A moment later Tsunade walked in followed by Shizune both looking around at the seedlings before nodding. As they entered Kushina began drawing an intricate seal upon the door, golden lightly filling the cracks of it as she finished.

"Right so how many seedlings do we have, and how does this work?" the blonde asked as she turned to see Kushina finishing sealing the door behind her. Minami spoke up at this her tone a little distant as though remembering something.

"When it happened with me one just touched me on the head and I was in." she spoke up looking around at the rest.

"With Hinata and me it was a seed that touched our head and then we were there." Kushina said looking over at the pale eyed girl who gave her a nod of confirmation. Naruko then seemed to understand at last and broke into a small grin.

"That's right! I got in through a head-butt!" she exclaimed excitedly getting a few looks from everyone, as she felt a small blush upon her cheeks and looked away. Mito in the meantime had been looking around at each of the speakers in turn confused but excited at what was occurring around her.

"Ok well how do you steer one of these things?" asked Tsunade moving over to pull one of seedling over to her and picking it up and giving it a shake as if trying to figures out how to work a toaster. Mito at this developed a slightly cross look directed at Tsunade before moving over and grabbing onto one of her hands and tugging at it slightly.

"Baa-chan don't pick on Seed-kun, he's going to help Aniki!" Mito said in a now confident tone that only a child could possess causing Tsunade to let out a sigh and setting the Seedling down which let out a hum of apparent appreciation before Mito took its hand and marched over to Naruto's bedside laying her and the Seedlings hand on Naruto's before looking up at the Seedling with a hopeful smile.

"Come on Seed-kun help Aniki." Called Mito as the seedling looked around confused for a moment before letting out a small hum at Mito and it seemed to slowly slip forwards until the pair were resting on Naruto's arm letting out small breath like going to sleep. Everyone watched this for a moment in apparent confusion as they looked around at one another before Kushina stepped up to grab hold of a seedling and marching over; Naruko, Minami, and Hinata following her lead, and moving over to sink into apparent sleep beside Mito, Minami and Naruko grabbing hold of the same seedling.

Now the only three remaining were Tsunade, Shizune and Minato the two women moving towards the remaining seedling at the same time grabbing hold of both of the seedlings arms and leading it over to Naruto's side. Before they too sunk down onto it, Tsunade turned with a sharp look at Kyueed and Minato.

"Hey Kyueed bring him along to, he may be an idiot but he is part of this and he doesn't get to skip out when his Sochi needs him!" called the woman before she turned sinking down with Shizune and the seedling. Minato looked around in compete confusion not being able to understand what was happening or even how it had occurred. He looked around confused for a moment longer before beside him there was a humming purr that caused him to look down as Kyueed stretched out on tail onto Naruto's arm, before stretching out its head for Minato to pet once again. For a moment Minato looked hesitant before he reached out. Tsunade was right if he was needed to help Naruto it was no time to hesitate. As his fingers traced lightly through the black fur of the Kyueed he felt himself sinking into a blackness he had never felt before.

Minato awoke a moment later in a grassy field to the sound of voices carrying over from a short distance away. With a small groan he pushed himself into a sitting position, noting as he did that the pain from his battered body seemed to have left him. Before he could start to take stock of himself a voice a few feet away rang out, and with a jolt Minato turned to see something he could hardly comprehend. There a few yards away were two massive red foxes, rising up, beside a woman he didn't recognize, and before that woman was his family apparently conversing with the three all in the shade of a large white tree, that seemed to have something wrapped to it by several branches. As he moved to his feet the conversation came up again.

"**Hai I was resting, then I heard a shout and cry of pain, I woke up in time to see Naruto running off apparently in pain, and this trash chasing after him." **finished Juubi jabbing a thumb back over her shoulder to the figure wrapped to the tree in branches. The man had long orange hair, and although you couldn't see them, brilliant yellow eyes… however, the rest of his body had turned a horrible color somewhere between the black and purple that accompanies a horrible bruise. The whole man's form seemed to have been transformed into one large injury, and what sounded like a pathetic whimpering was escaping his lips from time to time prompting the branches around him to tighten slightly until he quieted again. Kushina looked up at the man her eyes narrowed for a moment before turning back to Juubi.

"Hai, and Naruto where is he." She asked the concern and fear evident in her voice. From around her a silent agreement seemed to emanate from the others. Juubi took a moment to look around at them before letting out a small breath.

"**I don't know….he ran into his memories and hasn't come out…I can't go into that part of his mind, and he locked himself in there. I strung this one up, but so far I haven't been able to do more than hold his mind here away from his body…by the look of things he won't last much longer." **Answered the woman as she looked around at the group. A few gave the man looks as though they couldn't care less if he survived…in fact a few were contemplating his demise if they weren't able to help Naruto.

"Well our first priority is to find Naruto, can you hold this guy till then?" asked Shizune looking over at Juubi who gave her a nod.

"**Hai he is skilled at mental battle, but nothing that I can't handle, we can take time picking his mind apart later, but for now you are right, Naruto is our primary concern." **Agreed the woman looking over at where Naruko and Minami were standing beside Kushina.

"Ju-juubi you said Naruto was hurt what does that mean?" asked Naruko looking from the figure on the tree to Juubi her hands clenched in to fists. From beside Juubi where the massive cage of Kurama seemed to have materialized on the hill she felt a small pulse of her Sochi's chakra recognizing the rage building in the girl's body. From around her the others seemed to be giving off the same feeling.

"**I'm sorry Naruko but I don't know, he retreated into his mind before I could get to him….but it looked like he was carrying something." **replied Juubi the group tensing at these words. This time it was Hinata to spoke first.

"What was he carrying Juubi?" questioned the girl her voice betraying the fear that was pounding through her body. For a second Juubi looked around at them before letting out a small sigh.

"**I can't be sure but it looked like Naruto as a child."** Replied Juubi causing Naruko to take a step back in fear, her mind showing her a flash from when she had been in Naruto's mind…a-and the child part of him that had comforted her. Minami at the same time remembered back to Naruto's comment, about a piece of him needing his help, and with a spark of insight put the two together. For a moment no one spoke before Naruko's mouth opened.

"I-it was Niisan…wasn't it Juubi….it was half of him wasn't it." The blonde half stated turning to look up at Juubi who nodded. Kushina gave a small start as she realized what the two meant remembering what Naruko had told them about her experiences within Naruto's mind. The rest of the group gave each other small grave looks before turning back to Juubi.

Juubi in turn looked from face to face of the group seeing their fear and resolve as they recognized that Naruto's mind may have been damaged more than they knew. Before she could speak to confirm Naruko's statement she felt a small tug on the end of her kimono prompting her to look down to find Mito blinking up at her one hand grabbing hold of her kimono and a worried look on her face.

"You're Juubi-chan aren't you? Aniki said you could do anything so you can help Aniki right!?" asked the little girl looking up into Juubi's wide black eyes that just stared back into the violent ones of the child without comment. Juubi slowly knelt down till she was level with Mito placing one hand gently upon the girls head and running her figures through her hair softly.

"**Hai Mito-chan I'm your Aniki's Juubi, but I can't do anything that I want… I'm sorry." **She said trying to help the little girl to understand. Mito however just shook her head a small look of sadness upon her brow as she did as if trying to will the woman's words not to be true. Before she could speak up another voice rang out.

"**If Kaasan can't help, then maybe Minami-chan can she's smart!" **called Kyu from a few feet away causing Mito to vibrate slightly with the sheer scale of the fox's voice. The little girl turned wide eyes up to the fox on her right in a cage that seemed to be covered in wild flowers, blinking before another voice rang out causing her to look over at the other great fox.

"**Moron… Kyu if they could fix it then they wouldn't be asking for help from Kaasan…think before you speak next time." **Chided Kurama causing Kyu's tails to flatten slightly before turning his nose up and away from Kurama in a look of importance.

"**Kaasan said not to fight with you anymore, so I won't call you an un-fluffy idiot….cause that would get me in trouble…even though you are." **Replied Kyu seemingly not even noticing its own words as it spoke. Kurama for his part just let out a huff of annoyance before turning to look the other way mirroring its other half. From below Mito let out a chocked giggle at the two's antics and Juubi brushed a stray tear away from the girls eyes, and spoke.

"**Actually Kurama-kun, Kyu-kun has a point, we can't go any further but Naruko managed to go into the memories last time she was here, if anything they would be the only ones to be able to go in there and find Naruto." **spoke Juubi looking around at the group before her as Kushina looked over at Naruko who gave a small nod agreeing with Juubi's statement.

"Hai when I first got pulled in Naruto and I fell through memories I think they were… does that mean we can go find him?" she asked looking around. Kushina was the one to speak up this time.

"Then we are going to find him now, Mito I need you to stay here, Tsunade Shizune I need you to stay here with Mito incase Naruto comes back, the rest of us will go looking for him." Kushina finished looking around at the group as Juubi nodded in agreement. Tsunade seemed ready to protest but Shizune gave her a small squeeze on one shoulder and a look that told her that this was a matter where Kushina outranked her. With a heavy sigh Tsunade moved over to stand by Mito keeping a wary eye on Kurama who gave her an equally scrutinize look. Mito however, seemed unwilling to simply stay behind and started forwards only for one of Kurama's massive tails to reach out catching her before she could proceed farther causing her to let out a small cry of shock. Minato was about to spring forward his mind showing him flashes of that night twelve years ago when Kurama's voice boomed out.

"**Not so fast kit the Kaasan's have made up their mind, you stay here for now."** he said in a voice of authority, but without his usual malice as though trying to adopt a wise mentor persona. Kyu at that looked around for a moment before letting out a small huff.

"**Hey no fair you don't get to act like the uncle, Kyueed's my kid!" **called the great fox causing Minato to stare at if trying and failing to grasp what was happening. Kurama in the meantime turned to face Kyu his face one of disbelief.

"**This coming from the most childish thing here…I don't, HEY DON'T BITE THAT YOU LITTLE DEVIL!" **Kurama called causing everyone to look down from the two Kitsunes to Kurama's tail where Mito had bitten down in an attempt to bypass the furry appendage. Juubi and Kushina gave each other a small sideways look before sighing in stereo and moving forwards to separate their children. A moment later Kurama and Kyu along with Mito were sitting down all facing away from the group in a pout, grumbling back and forth about how unfair this was. Juubi and Tsunade, along with Shizune had moved over to stay with them as Kushina, Naruko, Minami, and Hinata turned to start marching off towards the black edges of the mindscape. As they moved forwards they closed in on where Minato had arrived, still looking around in complete confusion, having no idea what was happening around him.

_Th-that's the Kyuubi…both of them..and they called that woman Kaasan, wait the tailed beasts have a mother, wait what's it doing here, I thought we were in Naruto…un-unless wait is that how he did what he did…how long has she been here, and why does everyone seem to know her…what's going on? _Thought the man fighting to understand what was happening. As they neared him he finally found his voice again.

"Ku-Kushina..Naruko….Minami wh-what is all of this, wh-who is that?" the man started to ask, but before he could form another word Kushina had reached him pulling back a hand to slap the man in the face hard enough to bear him to the ground. As Minato sprawled out on the ground he blinked up to see Kushina above him looking down at him, her eyes focused, but not on him he realized.

"Minato right now you don't need to know anything but that our sochi is out there and we have to find and help him so I'm going to make this simple for you, either get up and help this family, or say goodbye to it!" she said looking down at the man. Minato for his part just gaped at her for a few moments his mind processing what she had just said to him a few times before finally starting up enough to scream at him to answer.

"H-hai!" he said pushing himself up with help from Kushina who just gave him a small grateful smile as the group turned back towards what looked like a great expanse of blackness. The darkness there was so absolute it looked as though it was the place that darkness itself went to die, but without hesitation Kushina moved forward with Minato's hand still clutched in her own, Naruko, Minami, and Hinata bring up the rear. As the group continued forwards the grass slowly fading to black as they reached the edge of Juubi's section of the mind. From behind they could hear the sound of the wind, as it rustled the grass, and what sounded like Juubi's voice calling out to one of those still behind, but with every step those sounds seemed to become more muted. Then as if a switch had been flipped they found themselves in total darkness as if it had come alive and swallowed them somehow. From her right Kushina felt Minato tense slightly, but she ignored it. She was beyond fear for herself at this point, all that mattered was getting to Naruto and helping him, she cast a small look over to find Minami, Naruko and Hinata giving similar looks and couldn't help but give a pride filled smile at their attitude.

"So how does this work?" asked Minami looking over at her Neesan who soon became the center of attention. Naruko seemed to pause for a moment before giving a shrug, and looking around.

"I really don't know last time we just kind of crashed into it, I was really angry and memories just kind of showed up about what I was thinking about…I guess that it was the same for Niisan, but I don't know." Reasoned the blonde getting a few nods.

"Then that means that wherever Naruto-kun is it's likely the memories are related to what he is feeling." Continued Hinata causing the rest to turn and nod in agreement with her. The group seemed to think for a moment before Kushina spoke up her tone somber but solid none the less.

"Naruto was just attacked where he felt the safest…so we go where that happened to him last." She finished turning ahead to see a familiar white door a few feet ahead of them that had not been there a moment before. The group as one turned to see it, in time to see it separate into two before them both looking all too familiar to the group, and why should they not; the two doors were from the Namikaze home. Kushina felt a small pang of sadness hit her as she looked at them her mind already telling her what was beyond them despite her lack of a question…the place where Naruto had thought he was safe…the place he had been attacked. Hurt…his home.

Before the group could react the two doors suddenly opened shooting forwards towards them. They had only a moment to notice and look round before the two doors few into them separating the group into two, plunging Kushina and Minato into the one that looked like Naruto's bedroom door, while the other swallowed up the three teens.

* * *

As the Namikaze family and friends plunged into Naruto's mind outside the hospital room a pair of confused and utterly terrified Anbu were currently informing a group of three rather angry looking men.

"What do you mean we can't go in!?" called Kakashi having just come from checking Sasuke into the hospital, and learning that Minato was apparently injured along with the rest of his team. Beside him Guy was also standing beside his rival his eyes narrowed at the news that apparently the Hokage had been sealed in the room before him, and now they were being barred from entering after a group of those black creatures, the same that had attacked his team had entered. However, the most frustrated was the man between the two, currently nursing a set of cracked ribs, along with a dislocated shoulder, and a broken hip.

"What me mean Kakashi-san is that this room is bared by order of Lady Tsunade, and Lady Kushina….and we aren't crossing them." Replied the Anbu who had recently been thrown through a hospital wall after questioning the women earlier in the hokage's' room. Jiraiya let out frustrated sound stepping forwards.

"I am ordering you two to stand down, and open that door, the Hokage is in there!" he said trying to force authority with his form. However, all this got was a small little fidget from one of the Anbu who looked like he was considering actually fighting the sage rather than get on the bad side of the two women in the room behind him.

"I'm sorry Jiraiya-sama but our orders are to let no one through…Orders well will follow." Finished the Anbu fixing the three with a hard look. For a moment Jiraiya seemed tempted to try and force his way through, but decided better of it, turning to look back at Kakashi and Guy.

"You two stay here, I'll be back in a minute." Spoke the sage before dragging his aching body a small distance away into a nearby nurse station that was currently abandoned. With a small grunt the old man dipped a finger into a still open cut on his arm before going through a few quick handsign, and performing a small scale summoning. From the cloud came a green toad with wide orange eyes that blinked up at Jiraiya. Jiraiya in turn looked up to a nearby ventilation duck placing the toad inside along with a fresh seal drawn with his own blood onto the creatures tongue. With a grunt he turned himself back around before moving back to the group outside of the room, Kakashi again trying to gain access.

"Your orders are putting the Hokage in danger of more injury, now stand down!" called the grey haired man even as the Anbu exchanged a small look before turning back to Kakashi.

"With all due respect Kakashi-san Lady Tsunade and Lady Shizune are inside the room as well, it is unlikely there is another room in this hospital that has access to better care than is currently in that room, we will not stand down." the two finished setting themselves solidly at their post. Unlike with their previous orders to detain the hokage's son, these orders were clear to them, simple, and somehow felt right…they would not be backing down on this point. Jiraiya had just managed to hobble back to the spot when another pair of Jonin arrived.

Kurenai and Asuma walked down the hall both looking at the scene with some interest, just as the Anbu finished explaining his position yet again. Kakashi at this seemed to start to lose his patience and took a step forwards only to have a strong arm reach before him, halting his path.

"Whoa there Kakashi, didn't you get enough fighting for one day." called Asuma his tone light, but with the ghost of a glare accompanying it. Kakashi turned his eyes over to face the two for a second before letting out a sigh and stepping back.

"Hai Asuma, your right, but that doesn't change the fact that these two are not listening to reason." Kakashi replied looking over at the two Anbu who remained motionless. Kurenai quirked an eyebrow at this before looking over at the door to the room and then around to those gathered obvious curiosity on her face as she looked at the gathered group. Asuma picked up on it as well decide ding for the direct approach.

"Well care to tell me what reason you're talking about?" asked the bearded man stepping back and looking around at the gathered group. Not surprisingly it was Jiraiya who spoke up first.

"Simply Asuma, the Hokage is in the room and has been sealed inside, along with the majority of his family, these two insist that he is not to be disturbed by order of Kushina and Tsunade, who both just broke into Anbu headquarters a short time ago, and we don't know what is going on, and the answers are through that door." Finished the sage hoping to have gained another two allies to help push into the room. Asuma looked over at Kurenai for a moment before giving his head a little nod, which Kurenai reacted to with a small nod and accompanying smile. Jiraiya, Kakashi and Guy then watched as the pair walked over to the two Anbu stepping in beside them and turning to face the three with almost bored looks. Kakashi was the first to speak this time, his tone expressing the confusion he was currently undergoing.

"Kurenai, Asuma what are you doing?" he asked as his fellow Jonin sensei allied themselves against him and his fellows. For answer Asuma went digging for a cigarette, while Kurenai fixed the grey haired man with a stare before moving it over to Jiraiya before speaking.

"We are following orders Kakashi, orders given with a clear head I might add, Jiraiya you seem to have forgotten to mention that Tsunade and Kushina went to headquarters to retrieve Naruto, who was taken under your orders, and was attacked while being held there…while your actions were not illegal, they were incompetent and may have damaged a young shinobi's career, a shinobi I might add that helped us to just fend off an invasion that could have cost countless lives if their sneak attack had gone off as planned, so Kakashi what we are doing is making sure that another order from Jiraiya does not cost this village more than it may already have." Finished the red eyed women. It was possible at that moment to hear a pin drop in the hallway as Kakashi and Guy turned to look at Jiraiya their eyes wide, they had not been informed about the details of what had gone on only that Minato was in some kind of danger, and that the black creatures were involved. To find that Jiraiya had taken action against a genin with only a sliver of proof was unthinkable…true he had the right to undertake such an action, but it went against everything that Konoha stood for. Kakashi felt himself grow slightly sick at the thought before with a shake of his head he moved forwards to one side of Asuma turning as he reached the fall to face back at Jiraiya his eye narrowed.

Kakashi was many things, a pervert, lazy and late, but he was first and always a loyal shinobi of the leaf, loyal to what Konoha stood for, and the ideals of the village first, so he stood where those morals did, between Jiraiya and the door, with his fellow Jonin. Guy came along a moment later taking a position beside Kurenai, the usual vibrancies in him gone, as he looked at Jiraiya as if pitying the man, like he was once a great artist that had fallen by his own hand into obscurity.

The toad sage stood alone before the door, his eyes tracing back and forth as his mind fought to remain calm, even as his body called to him in pain. However, for Jiraiya this was not a matter that pain or obstacles could stand against, no this was like every other struggle he had found himself in, and he had an ace, even as the scene had played out the toad he had placed in the ventilation had moved through the ceiling and was approaching the room.

So with a sigh he relaxed moving to allow his body to slip into a chair facing the room, his mind telling him that his gambit had paid off. He didn't know what was happening in that room, but he needed to know, there was blood in the water…Konoha's blood, and whatever anyone else said Jiraiya was not going to risk allowing an unknown to linger when the village was in such a vulnerable state.

* * *

As Jiraiya watched the door before him in another part of Konoha a tall figure who stood with the aid of a cane paced a long concrete corridor his cane making a sharp tap with every pace he took, as his uncovered eye remained closed. When he stood about half way down the corridor and onto a catwalk deep below Konoha he suddenly halted turning slightly to face the apparent empty space behind him.

"Show yourself now boy, I am in no mood for you or your master's games." called the man his face turning to a particular spot behind him that was covered in shadow. Slowly a figure stepped out of the darkness his silver hair shining in the dim light, making one wonder how he could have ever hid himself to begin with. Kabuto stepped out smiling as he did facing Danzo.

"So it would seem that lord Orochimaru was correct, your age has done may things, but weaken your mind is not one of them, I suppose it is best I was sent to deal with you." Chuckled the spectacled man as he faced the crippled form of Danzo before him. Danzo seemed to take no notice of the medic's words simply turning to face him his body apparently lax, but some kind of power still seemed to emanate from the man none the less.

"So the traitor sends his pawn to deal with me….interesting is this because I refused to dance with the snake, or is this simple pettiness?" asked the man as Kabuto let out a small scoff, his body tensing slightly.

"Lord Orochimaru, gave you a chance to join him and take the village, instead you stay silent on the sidelines, and if you are not an ally it is my lords view that you are an enemy." Kabuto continued his arms tensing slightly. Danzo quirked on eyebrow up at the boy's actions with no apparent concern for his own safety, but Kabuto continued on.

"You and Lord Orochimaru, were allies, you plotted against the third all of your life, now in your old age you go weak, a wasted sack of skin still clinging to life, not that this will be an issue much longer." The spectacled figure called as two chakra blades sprang into life.

"Boy run back to your lord, I am not to be bought like some common thug for a price, I stand with Konoha first, and will do what is necessary to protect it…from any possible threat." The old man finished as Kabuto gave a small wicked smile and sprung forwards at the man. However, before he could reach his target an Anbu sprung up from Danzo's shadow his masked face blank as he swung two purple colored arms towards the oncoming shinobi in a simple one two blow. Kabuto was too far into his charge to halt himself and was only able to dodge on of the blows, the other crashing into his chest, drawing a ragged cry of pain as nano sized insects swarmed forwards over the boys chest biting into his flesh as it went.

Kabuto's world went white with pain as the insects continued forwards biting, gnawing, and clawing their way into his body, even as his healing factor tried to match their pace. With a cry of rage Kabuto leapt back cradling his wounded body as though his form had become a single massive burn that he dare not touch. Through all of this he continued to shriek in pain and rage, even as the figure moved to stand before Danzo the wide white eyes of his mask watching the medic being eaten away with a look of interference.

Finally Kabuto could take no more, pulling a pair of explosive tags from his pouch and slapping them onto his body sending pondered sparks up from his form. Danzo and his guard leapt back from Kabuto just as the tags detonated into a fiery blast that deadened the cries of pain in a deafening blast.

As the pair looked round they saw a smoking hole scarred black from the blast, with small trails of smoke issuing up carrying the pungent smell of burnt flesh. Then there was a movement in the smoke and stench, as a blackened looking figure staggered slightly his burnt form glaring at them through the blood splattered lens that lay broken upon the mans brow. From a blackened cracked throat a harsh bark of a voice came wheezing out.

"Ba-bastard you'll pay for this." the burnt form of Kabuto managed to spit out before he disappeared over the edge of the catwalk. The masked man made a move to follow, but Danzo raised a hand up halting the figure.

"Leave him, he is more a hindrance to Orochimaru than to us at this point, let him go and take his masters attention, now where is Fu?" asked Danzo calm enough that one would never know that someone had just launched an attack on his life. The masked man before him dropped to one knee turning to face Danzo his head bowed in respect.

"Hai Danzo-sama, Fu has not reported back since he infiltrated Anbu headquarters to investigate the Hokage's son." replied the masked man without raising his head from the ground. Danzo seemed to consider this for a moment before letting out a frustrated sigh.

"Torune, go and find what has become of Fu, I will locate the Hokage, and see to assembling the council, this business with Suna needs to be taken care of at once…and the jinchuuriki." Danzo said more to himself than to anyone else. Torune gave a nod before standing and turning to go halting for a moment as he turned back to look back at Danzo.

"Danzo-sama, should we move on the hokage?" asked Torune looking back at Danzo who seemed to consider the words for a moment before give a small shake of his head.

"No, those times are over, whether I like the blonde idealist or not his power is enough to secure safety for this village…I will not risk losing him for this village, we stay in the shadows." Finished Danzo with a wave of his hand that caused Torune to disappear in a gust of wind. Idly Danzo moved to exit the cat walk and into a passage that found him standing above the Hokage monument, looking out over the village, and then over to the thirds head with a small frown, before looking out again over the village, a few trails of smoke still billowing out from damaged section. Danzo gave a small shake of his head as he looked out at the scene moving over to the stairs that would bring him down into the village. When he was level with the hokage heads he paused looking over at his sensei's and rivals stone vestiges, his eyes tracing their stone faces.

"Sarutobi…Tobimaru-sensei…your Konoha is still too weak to survive in the sun alone…but I will do my part to keep it safe…even if I do it from the shadows." The crippled man said to the stone faces moving forwards down the stairs and towards the village.

* * *

As the village outside was busy with activity inside of Naruto's mind Mito with the help of Kyu were currently driving Kurama absolutely out of his mind….causing Juubi to almost forget about the situation around her. She, Tsunade, and Shizune had been attempting to keep Mito occupied as they tried to keep their own minds from focusing on Naruto's condistion….it was only semi effective.

"**For the love of Kami please will you to stop them! Kaasan this is ridiculous!" **shouted Kurama as he looked round at the women who were currently fighting to keep from laughing at the episode before them. Mito in the meantime was busy directing Kyu in their efforts.

"Ok Kyu now number five over number three!" called Mito as the great fox moved one tail over to lay over another one of his forming the next braid in some kind of giant braided line. For the past few minutes Mito had somehow convinced Kyu that he would look great with a braid, so enthusiastically Kyu had jumped at the idea offering his tails as a starting spot for the project.

"**Kaasan how does it look?" **called Kyu excited as Juubi fought to keep from laughing at the sheer absurdity of what she was watching. Luckily for her Kurama was plenty vocal for the both of them.

"**Kyu for your own sake just stop now, you look ridiculous, you're a tailed beast for Kami's sake stop acting like a darn plushy!" **called Kurama his tone half begging, and half exasperated, as he looked over at Kyu who simply gave his fellow a large smile.

"**Nice try Kurama but no luck you're just jealous, I'm sure if you asked Mito she would do yours next!" **Replied Kyu happily causing Mito to look over at Kurama grinning at him in turn. Kurama just gave his fellow an exasperated look before looking at Mito his tails curling behind him defensively as she moved slightly so that he could keep the little girl within his vision at all times. Mito for her part just smiled before going back to work with Kyu's tails.

Over with Tsunade, Juubi and Shizune had taken a break from their observation of the world's most…well interesting hairstyling to discuss the situation they were in currently.

"So Juubi from what Naruko told us Naruto is having trouble holding himself together after the events in wave, so what do you suppose this piece of trash did to play into that?" asked the blonde her companion looking over in silent agreement with the question.

"**Like I told you I don't know what might have happened I only saw a glimpse before he was off into his memories…I don't know what exactly is going on with him." **Juubi replied her tone showing the frustration she was having being so helpless in this situation. Shizune picked up the feeling from Juubi and Tsunade, letting out a small sight before speaking up.

"Tsunade, Juubi is just as frustrated as you are but we won't help Naruto by getting angry at one another." Reasoned the woman causing Tsunade and Juubi to nod in agreement, before the woman continued. "Juubi we know you don't know what happened exactly but you are the only one who was here, you said you saw Naruto carrying his other half…or what looked like it how does that work it's not easy to pick up a body that is your own size even for a shinobi and keep them out of sight." Reasoned Shizune causing Juubi to nod in agreement.

"**Well the other half was much smaller." **Replied Juubi as if it was obvious to everyone causing the two to look confused for a moment before Tsunade spoke up.

"Wait, what do you mean smaller?" she asked causing Jubi to look at the two for a moment before speaking up.

"**You two know don't you, Naruto told you about wave, about how one of him was wounded, when they merged themselves it was the save what was left of his other part….it's not the same as if he had merged like he was supposed to, they aren't even."** Finished Juubi as if only now recognizing that what she was telling them as something they didn't already know. Before Juubi could say more Shizune spoke up her tone that she was putting something together slowly.

"Wait didn't Naruko say she ran into a younger Naruto when she was in here during the match….does that mean that the older one will be the aggressive one." she finished turning to look out into the blackness that represented the border of their Juubi's area of the mindscape. The other two turned to look out with equal looks of concern before Tsunade summed up their groups thoughts on the subject.

"I'm suddenly very glad they convinced me to stay behind." spoke the blonde even as behind them a set of giggles rang out announcing the end of Kyu and Mito's endeavors.

* * *

Meanwhile inside of Naruto's memories the girls after being separated from Minato and Kushina were looking around in shock at where they now stood. It was a perfect replica of the Konoha academy, including figures running back and forth in and around the building. As the three watched they saw a young Ino no older than eight or so walking out of the building alongside an equally young Sakura both lost in chat as they walked up and through the girls like they weren't there. Naruko was the first to pull herself back and away from the scene in front of her.

"Hey wait why are we here, I thought we would pop up at home, that's what the door was to?" she said looking over at Minami and Hinata and noting the absence of Minato and Kushina for the first time.

"Hey where are Tousan and Kaasan?" she continued looking round causing the other two to snap out of their trance and look around with her mirroring her confusion. Minami looked a little concerned as she turned, but seem to relax as she pointed.

"There they are!" she called as she set off across the school yard towards the forms of Minato and Kushina who stood facing the girls both smiling as they approached.

"Hey we thought we had lost you two." Called Naruko walking up, but even as she was about to speak up again she hear her own voice, younger than it was now call out behind her. Before she could turn a younger version of her came running through her body to be scooped up by Minato the pair laughing as a younger version of Minami rushed by as well running to Kushina who smiled down at her while holding a bundle that she now registered as the small form of two year old Mito. The older three halted as they watched the happy scene play out before them as the parents greeted the younger pair with questions about the day, the two chatting away in excitement in answer.

The two Namikaze siblings looked at their younger selves with small smile remembering the happy times that they had run out of the academy to find their parents waiting for them… however, soon their happiness died in their eyes as they recognized the absence of someone in the family picture before them. Turning left and right they scanned the school yard for any sign of Naruto, wondering where he was. With a pang they realized that he was nowhere to be seen. From beside them Hinata watch a sad look of pity on her face as she did.

"You won't find him here, he stopped walking home with you after your first year….or I guess you started leaving him…he use to wait at that tree remember." The pale eyed girl said looking over to a large oak tree that the two recognized as their old meeting spot after school. With another pang they remembered deciding to start meeting at the gate where Kushina and Minato were waiting…but they had never told Naruto. Hinata remembered seeing Naruto there for the first few days, standing alone until everyone else had gone before finally walking away, she had waited back then at the gate for him, to greet him with a smile, and to walk home with him…it had been then that they had started to get closer as a pair, but the memory wasn't a happy one for Hinata, it only reminded her of the pain she had seen in the boys eyes all those years ago.

Idly they heard the group behind them moving away excited voices chattering as they did, heading back towards their home, but still there was no sign of the young Naruto. The two were slowly becoming scared at what they were seeing.

"Wh-where Niisan?" asked Minami turning around as if hoping that Naruto was just out of her sight somehow. Naruko was looking just as distressed, when she saw her younger form moving away with the rest of the family in tow. With an angry little growl she sped off to stand in front of the slowly moving group and yelling out to them.

"STOP YOU CAN'T LEAVE NIISAN ISNT' WITH YOU! STOP LAUGHING! AND LOOK FOR HIM!" she screamed at her own younger self who was laughing happily as the family moved forwards unaware of her presence.

"STOP IT!" she cried out again small tears forming in her eyes as she saw them marching away without the boy, ignorant of what they were doing content in their own happiness. As they neared her Naruko actually threw a punch at her own younger selves' face trying to wipe the smile off of it, but only stumbling forwards onto the ground without any resistance and falling to her knees and hands small tears beading out from her eyes as she continued to whisper softly to herself for them to stop…for her to stop. But they didn't, and soon the three were the only ones in the front of the academy. That was until three figures exited the front doors drawing the three's attention.

"Ok you two, now get on home, I'll see you later at the party, and don't tell the girls you got you present early or I'll never hear the end of it." Chuckled a younger Shizune, to a smiling Naruto and Hinata only eight years old. The trio moved by the group as Minami helped Naruko up and they turned to follow the three to the gate where Shizune took one way, and the two children set off another. Hinata, Naruko, and Minami quickly ran after Naruto following him as he said goodbye to Hinata at the Hyuuga compound and moved towards the Namikaze residence his smile slowly fading as he continued on.

The three had closed with the young boy at this point, so when he spoke they all jumped slightly in surprise.

"I-I always hated walking home alone you know…not seeing you two anymore… why did you leave me." the boy said stopping suddenly as his words fell upon the three. The girls looked around surprised for a moment wondering who he was talking to for a moment before the small form turned to them a small sad frown on his face. The three froze for a moment.

"Na-naruto-kun?" Hinata whispered after a moment as the little boys eyes turned to her, a small smile covering the frown for a moment in recognition.

"Sorry Hinata-chan…I didn't mean you, but they need to understand I can't keep it inside anymore…it broke me to try." He said his eyes saddened as he spoke. Minami and Naruto were about to speak up when the small Naruto turned to them a frown on his face, and a haunted look they had never seen on the childes face before.

"You two have someone to follow now…Hinata-chan's come to pick me up again." He said his tone almost devoid of emotion as he stepped forwards reaching out for Hinata's hand. Without pause Hinata took the boys hand. There was a soft glow then as the two began to become swallowed up in some kind of light, as Hinata looked around worried. The boy Naruto however, just gave her a smile.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, we'll be ok…and maybe Naruko-neesan and Minami-neesan will to…if they can find me." he whispered as the two disappeared into the glowing light leaving Minami and Naruko standing in in the street alone. For a moment they looked at one another scared at what they had seen, but Minami suddenly turned to see that the Naruto they had been following was still there walking on ahead.

"Naruko look." She called pointing him out, causing Naruko to turn and reach forwards to grab the boy only to have her hand pass through him once again, like it had before. The blonde looked round at the redhead a small panic in her eyes as she did so, but Minami managed to hold herself together reaching out to grab Naruko's hand.

"I think we need to follow him…If we do we may find Niisan like Hinata did" she said sadly as Naruko looked over at the retreating child, and then back to her Neesan her eyes a little wide, and carrying a fear that Minami had never seen in them before.

"I-I don't want to…I don't want to see these things." She replied softly looking at the saddened blonde as he marched away back to their home. Minami gave a small grave nod. Before grabbing hold of Naruko and hefting her up beside her.

"Naruko we need to do this...for Naruto." she finished as Naruko gave her a haunted look before nodding in reply.

With a slightly jerking motion the girls took off after the boy, as he made his way home. As they closed they realized that they were again following a memory and so just fell in step beside the downcast looking boy as he marched towards home.

* * *

As the girls headed off following the memory Minato and Kushina found themselves in a familiar spot looking around in confusion. They now stood in their own home or most specifically the hallway that lead to their room. Before they could gain their bearing they saw a younger Naruto rushing by them hugging the wall and apparently attempting not to be seen or noticed by anyone. As he neared them, they heard the sound of their own voices coming from the room beyond.

The two watched as Naruto's little excited face turned from hurt to sadness, as he listened to them. With a pang both recognized the discussion, it was the day they had decided to hold off the boys training for another year…the day that they had broken the promise to their sochi.

From the room their younger selves had just finished deciding on holding off the boys training, and they could see the devastated look on Naruto's face as their words reached out into the hall. Kushina felt the same stab of guilt that had become a companion to her for years, but pushed past it, hurting now would not help Naruto, so she mustered herself and waited fighting the urge to jump forwards and embrace the memory before her.

Minato on her side was looking on seeing the devastated look on Naruto's face…the look he had put there, and hated himself for it.

_H-he knew….all this time no...please no. _the blond man said to himself his mind trying to fight what his eyes were showing him, but the image stayed. All the arguments, all the facts he had put up to keep himself on his course were now washing away as the tears gathered in his Sochi's face. How could he have been so blind…how could he have done this to the boy…how.

As the two watched the boy turned from the doorway moisture in his small eyes pushing himself back heading down the hall and out past his family heading to the academy early so as not to see the happy looks on all of their faces. Kushina made a move to go after him, but found that she was unable to move. Minato suddenly found his own movement impaired and turned to see his distress mirrored on Kushina's brow. However, before their pair could give voice to their situation another colder voice rang out.

"That was the moment you know…the moment I knew you two would destroy him… he always told be otherwise, defended you two… and what did you give him, nothing." called out a voice from behind the two. With an almost painful slowness the two found them pivoted around to face behind them down the hall were a figures was standing. The pair's eyes went wide as they took in the voices appearance.

There standing on one end of the hallway was Naruto…but not the boy they knew…where his purple eyes were there was only blackness, long cracks ran from the dark pools down his cheeks a bit, and his clothing was the same faintly glowing yellow that Kushina had seen back in wave. The figure just looked between the two his face set as he tracked back and forth between the two.

"How does it feel to see what you did to him…to have to watch him suffer… I wonder does it hurt you…because it destroyed me." continued the yellow Naruto as he walked forwards looking between the two. As he reached them Kushina found that she could talk again, her lips parting as the words came flowing out.

"Na-naruto…so-sochi?" she half asked causing the figure to look round at her one eyebrow quirked up at her words.

"Hai Kaasan…well I guess that's not quite right, after all we only meet once in wave…but you could hardly forget that now could you." The boy replied the scenery around them twisting until falling back into that horrible scene of what had occurred that day. Kushina closed her eyes small tears flowing out as her own mind showed her the scene that she could no longer see. The smell of iron in the air, the horrible sticky heat of the blood on her hands and face…the cooling form of her Sochi in her arms…all of it came rushing back, as she fought to keep from collapsing under the physical memory of that horrible day.

The yellow Naruto seemed to consider her for a moment before the images faded leaving them in the sitting room of the Namikaze home again, absent except for a set of three children no more than four all sleeping in a pile on the couch. Kushina found she could move again, and almost collapsed to her knees, but a set of strong arms steadied her. Blinking tears from her eye she looked up to see the black eyes Naruto frowning at her looking sad, and a little disgusted with himself.

"I'm sorry Kaasan, I shouldn't have shown you that….yo-you came back for him…for me…but the pain's still there, if you stay there will be more of it… it has to come out now..i can't stay broken anymore… the attack broke us…we are scattered, but you don't have to suffer…" finished the blonde his voice coming out in small bursts like he was a radio signal that wasn't coming through all the time. Kushina looked up at the boy for a moment her eyes full of concern for the boy before her. With an effort she pushed herself up a bit, raising a hand up to cup the boy's face.

"Naruto wh-whats happened, are you ok…please tell me you're safe." The redhead almost begged causing the boy to shake his head slightly in answer.

"I'm not Naruto Kaasan…..not all of him….when we were attacked by the…intruder he hurt us when we were…separated…..be broke…I-I don't know if we can pull ourselves together again." He finished a sudden angry look coming across his face as he pulled away from her, shooting a glare between her and Minato.

"And why….why is it like this, because you two didn't help him when he need you to…you were his parents he trusted you, he always did, he waited watched, and suffered, but oh he knew his Tousan and Kaasan would be there for him BUT YOU WEREN'T SO WHY ARE YOU HERE NOW HUH, WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO, LEAVE WHEN HE NEEDS YOU!" shouted the boy his voice coming through clear as though his rage had somehow cleared the difficulties he was having speaking. Kushina for her part didn't look away from the angry face, didn't plead, or ask for forgiveness; instead she pushed herself up and moved forwards drawing the boy into her holding him close. The boys form tried to push her off for a moment before going lax in her grip, his angry protests becoming stifled sobs. Kushina for her part just held him close.

"I'm not going anywhere Naruto…I'm never going to leave you…so I'm staying…even if it hurts." Whispered the woman as her Sochi seemed to calm slightly in her grip before looking up at her.

"Ka…..Kaasan….i-if you do …it will hurt you…you don't have to hurt." The boy managed to say the voice sounding like the dying sputters from a radio as it pushed to say the words. Kushina just gave the boy a small comforting smile before holding him close to her for a moment longer and stepping back.

"Hai it will hurt Sochi…but I was part of this…I won't run away from that every again…Minato and I have to face this…and we'll find all of you…I promise my little maelstrom." She finished as the blonde's head bowed in a little nod, before his posture stiffened and he looked back up his body showing no sign of the fit he had just had. It was back to the harsh expression that it had held when it had first arrived.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," spoke the clear harsh voice that had greeted them as those cold eyes scanned over the two again, before he turned and walked off the two compelled to follow after him. For the first time since the beginning of the discussion Minato found himself able to move, but although he now had the ability, he no longer had the will…what he had seen…it-it couldn't have been true…Na-naruto…there just like Zabuza had mockingly said to him not hours ago…the glassy eyes, the pale skin…

_n-no…no, no, no no no no no NO! That wasn't he didn't NO! _the man's mind yelled trying to force the image out even as his legs trembled and he felt a small pressure on his shoulder, and turned to see Kushina her face set looking at him.

"Minato it's time….it's past time that we faced this… we owe our Sochi this much." She finished pulling the still stunned Hokage forwards into the world he had helped to shape.

* * *

As the Namikaze's set off deeper into the memories in the hospital room one of the seedlings was coming to, looking around at its fellows at a bit of a loss as what it was supposed to be doing now that he was left along in the room. He had first needed to help pull little Mito into the mindscape, but after a few moments the mindscape itself seemed to have latched onto the girl somehow leaving the seedling free to move around again. Thanks to its short attention span a few minutes into their waiting the seedling had taken to messing around with the supplies in the room, as well as simply examining the room trying and failing to figure out what it was supposed to do next. Interestingly enough that it even began going through everyone's pockets trying and failing to find anything interesting dumping out Kunai, shuriken, a medical kit, a few roles of ninja bandages, and a handful of sand before it simply moved over to but its back against the door grabbing one of Kyu's tails and petting it the same way it had seen the little red one do from time to time.

At the same time on the other side of the door the Anbu and Jonin sensei were still standing firm as Jiraiya continued to grow more and more impatient with the group.

"Look you need to let me in there now! This is not a matter of simple morals, we have to think of the village here the hokage is in there and we need him out here!" called the toad sage as the group continued to simply stare the man down. Meanwhile at the same time all the sage was thinking about was the toad hopping its way into the ventilation above the room before him. So he kept the focus forwards for just a while longer.

"Darn it this is not a game, you don't want to let me into that room, fine I'm going to go grab some shinobi who still have half a brain for the big picture." Called the white haired man making a show of marching away, and rounding the corner back into the deserted Nurse station.

_He should just about be in position just a little longer and I'll be in there…darn it Minato what are you pulling, this isn't time to have a come apart the village is still burning and you are nowhere to be found. This is not how a Hokage acts…you know that kid…please tell me there isn't anything else to this…first those black things, then a tree coming out of nowhere, now you've locked yourself in a room after your wife and daughters laid siege to our own headquarters. _The sage thought as he finished putting the finishing touches on a seal array that he then waited to pulse signaling his toad was in position.

At that same moment the Seedling looked up from a noise coming from above it a steady bang, bang, that seemed to be traveling around the room. Pushing himself up he proceeded to follow the sound as it moved slowly flowing the air duck concealed in the ceiling his feet brushing aside the contents that it had dumped out on the ground as it did. The seedling finally came to a stop facing the air grate its wide purple eyes open and staring in interest.

A moment later a frog hopped down the shaft its wide eyes meeting the Seeding's as the two just stared at each other for a few moments in apparent interest. Then a voice rang out in the seedlings head, a heavy sigh that it had heard just a few hours previously.

"**I swear Kaasan and Kyuubi are getting sloppy, leaving an opening like this…still I guess it gives me something to do. Besides I suppose I can't let the youngest be the only one giving Kaasan grandbabies." **Chucked a deep voice as the frog opened it mouth, showing a glowing seal and a trail of sand moved up from the floor wrapping slowly up the seedlings leg until it melded slowly into the creature's left eye turning it a bright golden color.

* * *

Back in the mindscape Minami and Naruko had just finished following Naruto into their home seeing the boy open the door looking around with a sad little smile.

"I'm home." He called out, his voice echoing around the house without answer. The boy let out a small sigh as he moved into the living room looking around as he did. Minami and Naruko both felt a small stab of sadness at seeing the lonely look on their Niisan's face as he moved to sit on the couch his face turned up to see the multi colored banner hanging above him.

In bright letters stretched across the room was a sign reading "Happy Birthday! Minami, Naruko, Naruto! in happy looking letters. Along with the words were small handprints in the same colored paint showing that Mito had been helping when the sign was being made, and apparently had wanted to add her own flare to the design. The two girls looked up at the sign for a moment a faint smile spreading across their lips as they recognized it, but fading just as fast as they looked down to see Naruto giving a small smile as well as he saw the handprints.

"That's Mito, alright, probably got paint all over Kaasan and everyone else… maybe I shouldn't have got her playing with my paint for those pranks…. Still looks like she did a great job…bet Naruko will flip when she sees this, she always likes it when Mito looks up to her…Minami will just keep smiling all night like she does when she's happy." Spoke Naruto his voice echoing around the empty house as his eyes dropped to his feet that were kicking back and forth on the end of the couch. From beside him Naruko and Minami remembered the way they had reacted to the banner when they had first seen it surprised at how accurate Naruto's description had been. However before they could think on the matter anymore another voice rang out one they knew all too well.

"**She does have your artistic skills seedling, but I'm guessing your Kaasan wishes she didn't have your energy sometimes." **chuckled the Juubi her thought ringing out as though she was sitting right beside them. Idly Minami realized that the memories let them hear Juubi's voice, but before she could do more than recognize this Naruto was chuckling to himself.

"Hai I guess, but really it's Naruko she's the most like those two are so stubborn I swear if those two spent more time together they would start dressing alike." chuckled the blonde as he shook his head a small sad smile on his face. The two girls noticed this but Juubi beat them to it.

"**Seeding I know it's lonely, but I'm sure that they will be here soon enough…really." **She finished as Naruto hoped off of the couch and moved to look out the back door not seeing anyone out in the back and giving a frustrated little sigh, his hand tensing on the handle as he closed his eyes. Then another voice almost identical to Naruto's rang out harsh.

"_He shouldn't have to wait Juubi, come on it's his birthday just as much as it's there, and where are they NOWHERE! What the heck kind of family is this!?_" called the voice in frustration seemingly from nowhere around them. The words bit into the two girls as they looked over at Naruto's still from before he spoke again.

"Shut up will you… yelling won't fix it… so just stop yelling." finished the blonde turning as he heard a sound of voices coming from the front of the house. The two girls turned as well to see the rest of the Namikaze family making their way in Mito in the lead running back and forth in a mix of excitement and annoyance.

"Mito stop that now young lady you're in trouble now get back here." called Kushina her tone chiding but not unkind. From ahead Mito called back in a child's annoyance, as she reached the end of the hall.

"That's cause you wanted me to watch boring training, and Aniki wasn't there to play with!" called Mito reaching the living room turning to see Naruto and bursting into a sprint tackling into the blonde with enough force to almost ball him over crying out as she did.

"Aniki! Where were you!?" called Mito happily as she smiled down at Naruto her little two year old self surprisingly strong for her size. Naruto in turn smiled back as he hoisted Mito up his smile matching the little one's as the rest of the family entered the room Naruko and Minami in the lead, their faces lighting up as they saw the banner. Behind them came Kushina and Minato, the redheads face looking over to see Mito and Naruto her face freezing for a moment before turning away as if seeing something painful. Minato in the meantime was simply smiling at Minami and Naruko's reaction too busy to notice anything else.

The girls watched as they both went forwards to thank Mito and as the party guests slowly arrived one by one each taking time to greet the girls, sometime noticing Naruto, but more often than not passing him by before moving inside placing piles of gifts upon a steadily growing pile.

Minami and Naruko felt like taking each of the figures in turn and shaking them until they turned around to notice their Neesan, but more than that they looked at their younger selves with clear disgust. The two children were the center of attention, and were having the time of their lives, it wasn't that they wanted to hurt their Niisan…but their interference was enough for the pain to occur. For a time the two sat watching the party play out feeling pangs as the people moved around smiling and laughing as they saw Naruto pushed aside over and over, causing jolts of pain with every action, and making them start to want to attack their younger selves for leaving him the boy alone. By the time that the cake was being passed around and the crowd gathered round to give the girls well wishes Naruko was on her knees again slamming her fist over and over into the ground spitting out a stream of curses at her inability to stop the slow progression around her from playing out its sad dance of neglect. As the crowd pressed in in Minami's and Naruko's hearts froze as they looked up to see Naruto on the outside of the crowd surrounding them trying and failing to push his way in to them. At this Minami finally lost control herself running into the crowd passing effortless through them until she reached the center. There stood Minami and Naruko along with Jiraiya and Tsunade on their sides smiling down at the cake that Kushina was holding as Minato looked over the group with a wide smile. The happiness on all of their faces drove Minami over the edge as she reached forwards her hands clawing at the image before her as she tried to tear the happy smiles apart.

Didn't they know, didn't they care Naruto wasn't there, how could they be so happy, _stop it,_ she thought trying to grab her own younger selves shoulders and shake some since into her.

"STOP IT YOU BAKA'S WHATS WRONG WITH YOU, STOP SMILING LIKE THAT HOW CAN YOU BE SO HAPPY NARUTO'S OUT THERE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL STOP IT PLEASE STOP IT, HELP HIM!" she screamed. But the motions continued as the group moved slowly into the center of the living room where a camera was set up to catch the image. As the crowd passed through her effortlessly she saw Naruto pushing again at the outside both Naruko's and her eyes tracking the boys struggle the pain in their hearts becoming a physical ache to them as they watched it continue.

"Hey let me in!" he called, but with the excited chatter of the party his voice was drowned out against the sound, his small form doing nothing more than lightly bumping against a large man's leg, who didn't seem to notice in the slightest. Just as he was about to try again he felt a small tug on his hand and looked around to see Hinata giving him a sad look. Naruto gave her a sad little smile as the two turned to see the flash of a camera and voices raised in well wishes ringing out around them.

As the two girls watched Hinata pulled Naruto over to a pair of seats holding the boys hand as she did. A few moments later the crowd dispersed and began spreading out again happy with their work in congratulating the girls. A moment later Kushina walked by a little Mito asleep in her arms headed for the stairs seeing the pair sitting there and giving them a small smile stopping for a moment.

"Hello Hinata-chan, are you looking after my little Naruto-kun?" she asked a small happy smile playing across her lips, unaware of the absence of Naruto in the latest family event. For answer Hinata just gave the woman a look of complete interference before looking over at Naruto who was looking up at Kushina a small hopeful smile on his face. However, before he could do more than look up Kushina was walking away her mind set on getting Mito to bed.

The two girls watched in shock as even their Kaasan passed by the boy, as if he wasn't there…how…how could all of them have just ignored him like that…how? But what came next finally pushed the girls to the edge from the crowd came their younger selves happily clutching new set of shinobi gear from Jiraiya and Tsunade. With horror the girls remembered the gifts when they had received them they had spent the rest of the night showing them to everyone…including Naruto.

As the two younger girls reached Naruto and Hinata they stopped both given the pair excited smiles as he held their newest belongings forwards.

"Hey Niisan look what Baa-chan and Jiraiya got us aren't they cool!" called Naruko in excitement not seeing the hurt on Naruto's face as he forced a smile onto it, that her older self could see through at a glance. Beside Naruko, Minami was also excited showing her own gear to Naruto her face holding a small bit of superiority to it, but for all that they were both blind to the pain they were causing the boy.

Naruto managed to give them both a smile before speaking his voice noticeably chocked with sadness that they had been to blind to notice through their own happiness.

"H-hai they look awesome." The boy managed before the girls voices cut him off.

"Of course they're awesome just wait till we get to start using them in training we'll show everyone at the academy!" called out Naruko her fist up in the air in happiness. Beside her Minami nodded in agreement before opening her own mouth.

The older Minami's eyes went wide, as she remembered her own words with a motion she forgot everything else, she forgot she was in a memory she forgot she couldn't change this she just shot forwards her hands outstretched reaching to grab onto her younger self to stop the next words…but they came just the same.

"Ya, if you weren't always pranking Niisan you'd get them to, you need to start working hard or you'll be left behind by everyone." The little girl said, still thinking that Naruto's own pranking and laziness was to blame for everything. The pair saw the effect immediately, Naruto's eyes went cold, blank, and his head bowed not looking at them, as the other voice rang out in pure rage.

"_L-left behind…. WHAT THEY HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BEING LEFT BEHIND MINAMI! WHAT! YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING YOU STUPID SELF RIGHTOUS SPOILED BRAT! THOSE MONSTERS YOU CALL PARENTS ARE NEVER GOING TO TRAIN HIM AND YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A CLUE DO YOU! NO YOU DON'T HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT LEAVING HIM BEHIND WHEN YOU LEFT HIM TO ROT YOU MISERABLE!...AAAAAHHHHHH! NARUTO YOU ARE LEAVING THIS HELL HOLE TONIGHT! OR I'M GOING TO SHOW UP AND DRAG YOU OFF IN A SACK!" _screamed the voice as Naruto's head stayed bowed and the pair moved away Hinata shooting a glare after them as they left, and looking down at Naruto who got up and ran upstairs towards his room tears in his eyes.

Without pause the two girls took off in pursuit of him leaving a concerned looking Hinata behind looking after the blond boy as he raced upstairs. As they reached the landing they were just in time to see Naruto plowing into Kushina's legs almost knocking the women down as she shut the door to Mito's room drawing a startled cry from her lips. Kushina turned to look down and saw Naruto the shock and pain from the impact stopping her from thinking straight and instead fueling her voice before her mind.

"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze what do you think you are doing, you almost knocked me down! What drove you to start treating your home like a race track!" she scolded looking down at the boy, missing the tears pouring from his eyes as she did. The girls drew up short as the saw Naruto pushing himself up and trying to move past Kushina towards his room only to have his arm caught in Kushina's grip.

"Oh no you don't mister! You need to apologize to me, just because it's your birthday doesn't mean you can get away with anything you want!" she continued still scolding the boy in her grip that was still faced away from her silent. Again the voice rang out loud and horrible distorted by rage.

"_APOLOGIZE…..APOLOGIZE! HE SHOULD HAVE HIT YOU HARDER YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR A KAASAN! YOU DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE DID YOU, NOT WTH YOUR PRINCESSES AROUND! GET AWAY WITH! LET GO OF HIM YOU CLUELESS, USELESS EXCUSE FOR A KAASAN!" _the voice howled as Naruto tried to force himself to hold it inside. Minami and Naruto looked on shocked at what they were hearing…all this time…every smile…every tear…every time Naruto had been fighting to keep himself from blowing up…forcing the pain deeper and deeper while anyone else would have broken…he had suffered in silence.

When Naruto did finally speak his voice was broken with emotion, so much so that Kushina let his arm go in surprise.

"a-am I starting training this year?" the boy asked, and Naruko and Minami could hear the pain in his voice as he asked it…the almost desperate plea for it…a wish that held more pain than either girl thought they had experienced in their whole lives summed up into a single plead…a plea that went unanswered as Minato arrived upstairs his head looking around and spying Kushina calling out to her.

"Kushina the girls are about to open their presents." He called causing Kushina to look around as the man disappeared back downstairs. For a moment there was silence before Kushina turned back to see Naruto still with his back to her looking forwards in silence. With a small sigh Kushina stood up dusting herself off, and looking down at the boy her anger fading and her voice softening in turn.

"Naruto I told you, you need to wait a little longer and if you keep up this behavior you won't be getting there any sooner, now come on its time to open up your, and the girls presents." Kushina said turning and walking back down the hall a small look of pain on her face, which passed as she reached the stairs. Minami and Naruko looked at Kushina as she passed before looking back to see Naruto moving over to push his way into his room the door swinging shut behind him as he did. The girls moved forwards through the door to find the young boy curled up his back to the door curled up in a ball and crying into his knees as he did.

Seeing this both girls simply sank down beside the boy stretching their arms out on either side of the boy finding they could hold him now as he continued to sob to himself. His small arms caught hold of theirs as he pulled them tighter around him both girls crying silently thankful just to be able to hold the boy…to be there for him in some way. They had reached the end of what they could take, the hate, the shame, the guilt…it was all there, but It didn't matter anymore…it didn't matter unless it could help the boy before them…so they put away their pain and just held him, trying to be there from him like they wished they had been able to in the past.

"_He suffered like this in silence you know…never fighting back. I tried to tell him to, tried to make him see that it was killing him to hold it inside, but he always knew better." _came an adult sounding voice from a figure in the room. Looking up Naruko and Minami saw what looked like another Naruto the same age as the one they held but wearing a yellow jacket that seemed to glow slightly. The two looked from him back down to find that the Naruto they held was now gone, along with the room they had been standing in.

The two looked at him for a moment before he walked forwards looking between the two for a moment before letting out a sigh, and looking around.

"_fine you were right…. They've had enough…we've had enough of this." _called the voice as Naruko and Minami turned to see the Naruto they had been holding walk forwards a sad little look still on his face, but looking a little happy at the same time. The two looked between the two boys for a moment confused at what they were seeing. Before the two could speak the two Narutos walked forward each holding a hand out to the girls to help them up off of the dark ground around them. Slowly the girls took the hands a faint glowing golden light slowly enveloping them, as they looked at the pair of Narutos.

Before the two could react they found themselves blinking at the light, and standing in a grassy field. For a moment they blinked around before their eyes found Hinata standing a few yards away along with Shizune, Tsunade, and Juubi all looking over at where a young looking Naruto was currently standing as Mito ran around him excitedly seeing Naruto almost the same size as herself. The two blinked around for a moment before Mito and the other Naruto caught sight of them Mito running over dragging her Naruto with her excitedly calling out to them as she came.

"Minami neesan, Naruko neesan, you found another Aniki, look Hinata-chan found one too!" she called excitedly as she dragged the poor boy behind her. The other two Naruto's looked at one another just as Mito reached them smiling around at the group. Naruko and Minami looked at one another letting a small smile cross their faces as they did, before looking back at their Naruto who were giving their fellow a small welcoming smile before they too were dragged away by Mito. Soon the two were dragged off by Mito, to see her work on Kyu, as the two girls looked over to see Juubi, and the rest moving over to them.

* * *

As Naruko and Minami were disappearing, unknown to them three figures watched them both powerless to do more that watch in silence, the only company their other silent companions. Minato and Kushina had been watching unable to act, unable to speak, only to watch as Minami and Naruko had lived through the events of their birthday. Both strained against invisible bonds as they saw what occurred helpless to go to their children's pain in the past or the present. As the girls faded away in golden light the Naruto beside them walked past them looking down at the memory of Naruto who still sat against the door crying to himself, as they saw that their past selves were none the wiser assuming that he was pouting about his run in with Kushina, and not wishing to spoil the party due to his actions.

After a moment the scene faded from view only to recoilless into another scene depicting the next year that Naruto turned to them as a similarly depressing scene began to play before them. This went on scene after scene memory after memory before the boy finally spoke up.

"So just curious but how does it feel to be helpless to do anything but watch, as someone you care about suffers…I suppose it's worse for you because you know it is your fault that it is happening but still I want to know." Finished the boy even as a scene showing a young Naruto watching as Naruko and Minami showed the newest achievements in training during a day in class, Naruto looking embarrassed and heartbroken when it was his turn to demonstrate his efforts attempts to make a clone failing miserable in front of his fellows, causing him to slink away to a some mocking tones.

This time not only did Kushina find herself able to speak, but Minato as well, both letting out small gasps as their freedom to move their heads again returned. Kushina simply looked at the boy before looking down at the scene her eyes wet, but unwavering. She looked up just long enough to meet the boys eyes giving him a small sorrowful nod before looking back…this was her doing…and her own guilt was second to helping her sochi now…her own pain and disgust at her actions only focused upon if it helped the boy before her.

Naruto seemed to understand her intention giving her a small approving smile and nod, before turning to face Minato, who looked much like a broken man would, after seeing all he loved burning before him. His mind was still fighting with what he was seeing, but as Naruto looked at him he found he could not meet the black eyed gaze of his Sochi, his eyes turning away from him.

There was a sudden jerking sensation as he tried to look away forcing him face forwards once again to see the glaring black eyes of the boy before him his brow creased in a look of rage.

"NO YOU DON'T HOKAGE-SAMA! YOU DON'T GET TO LOOK AWAY AND PRETEND THIS ISN'T REAL BECAUSE IT ISN'T SOME NIGHTMARE YOU GET TO WAKE UP FROM, IT ISN'T SOME SAD STORY I'M TELLING TO MAKE YOU FEEL BAD, THIS IS THE WORLD THAT YOU MADE FOR HIM!" shouted the boy the memory of the classroom fading out to show a scene of Kushina and Hitomi sitting in the second exam Kushina's voice clearly explaining about the prophecy and her actions towards Naruto. As the words carried to Minato his eyes widened in horror.

_n-no please Kami no…he can't. _Minato thought trying to turn and will the truth before him not to be reality. Naruto seemed to notice this and a small cruel smile cross his face.

"OH YES MINATO ALL OF US KNOW ABOUT THAT FUCKING PROPHECY! AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I WANT TO HURT YOU KNOWING THAT YOU DID ALL OF THIS JUST FOR SOME STUPID WORDS…BUT YOU KNOW WHAT MAKES ME EVEN ANGRYER…DO YOU!" yelled the boy marching up to stand almost nose to nose with the man his black eyes cold and empty looking into the man's blue ones.

"IT'S THAT YOU WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME TO ANY ONE OF US…MITO…MINAMI…NARUKO…ANY OF US….YET YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO ACT LIKE ANYTHING YOU HAVE DONE IS SOMEHOW JUSTIFIED WHEN YOU WOULD SELL OUT ANY OF YOUR FAMILY YOU MONSTER!" yelled the boy as Minato felt the pressure build up around him again. As Naruto turned from him, so did Kushina seeing something that Minato couldn't, what looked like black tears made of tar leaking out of the boy's blackened eyes and moving slowly down his face as he looked forwards.

"WHATS WORSE YOU EVEN GOT THE FUCKING THING WRONG! At this Naruto waved his hand again the scene of Kushina and Hitomi dissolving to show a set of words spelling out in simple glowing letters before the three, spelling out the words of the original prophecy.

**A great evil will descend upon the ninja world, and that two who share a great burden with the blood of my student, and the blood of the leaf will be the ones to determine the worlds fate. It went on to say that the two would either stand side by side and together join their power to vanquish the darkness, or one would fall, and the remaining one would then have a choice to either save or damn the ninja world**

Naruto with his back turned simply walked back and forth tracing the words as he did before halting.

"So this is it, these words were enough for you to destroy me…to break me apart, to hurt him, me! ANY OF US! some stupid words from a TOAD!" Turning Minato saw the black tears streaming down Naruto's face marring it like scars freshly cut.

"AND THAT TWO WHO SHARE A GREAT BURDEN!" shouted another voice as another Naruto not as scarred as this one moved out of the darkness behind the prophecy his eyes the old purple and blue that Minato remembered seeing the day that Naruto had first blinked his eyes open at him as a child. Those eyes blazing with hurt and sadness as they turned to look at Minato unblinking.

As the second walked up to stand by his fellow scenes began popping up around them depicting Naruto in a mindscape speaking with Juubi, the explanation of who and what she was and how she had found herself in the boy playing out in stereo, accompanied by scenes of Naruto watching neglected by his family thanks to his actions. Repeating the memory of the splitting of Naruto as in his room the night of his birthday as one headed out the window leaving the other to close it behind him, and moving to sit on his bed. His new fellow rushing out over the fence and into the forest around the village headed out into the wilderness. Minato's eyes grew wide at his heart actually stopped beating as his mind simply stopped doing anything but watching the storm raging before him.

"WITH THE BLOOD OF MY STUDENT AND THE BLOOD OF THE LEAF!" came another voice as another Naruto walked out looking somewhere around ten years old looking as though he was coming from a hard day of training his eyes fixed on Minato, as the images shifted suddenly to depict Juubi's tree, as her voice rang out explaining her past and her children that had played during the first set of the exams.

"The two will share, the two would either stand side by side and together and join their power to vanquish the darkness, or one would fall, and the remaining one would then have a choice to either save or damn the ninja world." called out a calmer voice as a fourth Naruto stepped up, a horrible looking stab wound clear upon his chest. His eyes distant, and cold, but his face looking somehow peaceful in his own way. The horrible complexion of the boy caused Minato a fresh wave of pain, but before he could even feel the pain of it, the scene showed the events in wave playing out as Naruto fell by Zabuza's blade, and the coming merger as the two words "either" and "or" slowly faded from the prophecy. Then a quiet voice came out from behind the prophecy as a small boy around five years old stepped forwards his cloths the same as the ones he had worn on his sixth birthday, his small form looking odd surrounded by the older fellows around him. His eyes traced upon Minato's for a moment before he looked around at the others around him before looking back into the man's blue eyes.

"I'm tired of being alone…I-I can't fight alone anymore." at this the boy slowly sank to his knees pulling them into himself as the others all started to glow a faint golden light flowing away as if in a gentle wind blowing the seeds from a dandelion. As the boy sat down he pulled his knees into himself just sitting before the two, not crying, but simply looking at them his voice slightly muffled thanks to his legs position.

"I just want to have my family back…I never wanted to leave…I wanted to stay with all of you…but if I did I would be gone. I just want it to go back to how it used to be." Finished the boy as his head dipped into his knees the images around him shifting to show happy times from his life, parties, meals, simply days at the park, the family laughing, smiling, and together. With a small shock Minato found himself free to move again, his body falling to the ground his limbs weak and his mind a wreak. Beside him Kushina moved forwards kneeling beside the boy and pulling him close one hand stroking gently through his blonde hair as she rocked him back and forth, tear tracks running down her face, the same look of simple content she had worn the night that she had first held the boy and his sisters in her arms.

Minato's whole world was in tatters…the prophecy…his family…all of it broken before him…his own Sochi's mind splintered like a fallen tree…but as he looked forward it was suddenly so simply to him. So clear for the first time in what felt like a lifetime… his Sochi needed him… his Sochi needed a Tousan to be there for him…and it was well past time that he had one.

The strength was gone from his legs, so he crawled pulling himself forwards towards the pair reaching them a few painful moments later before roping his arms around the pair and holding them close his body forming a living barrier from everything around them…protecting them…shielding them…as he realized that was his true responsibility in this life, not the village, not some words, nothing came before this.

As the family held one another there was a faint tingling sensation around them as the blackness pulled away from them grass springing up as the forms of everyone else came into view, the Namikaze's, Juubi, Tsunade, Shizune, Hinata, and the Narutos of all ages slowly moving forward towards the three slowly fading to golden light as they came the specs flying forwards and into the boy they held between them. One by one the boys faded until Kushina and Minato looked to be kneeling in the middle of a sea of stars all slowly spiraling inwards dancing around as they did.

There was a sudden flash of light that caused everyone but Minato and Kushina to close their eyes looking away as from that glow came Narutos form back, as he looked up at the pair one eye bright purple and black, while the other the old mix of purple and blue from his childhood, a small smile on his lips as he looked around at everyone.

"I guess I'm back." He managed before everyone was rushing forwards to hold the boy, smiles spreading across their faces as they raced forward to see the boy who had been lost for seven years. Home at last.

* * *

As events unfolded in Naruto's mind a group of Kiri shinobi were making their way into the hospital grounds, escorted by several medical shinobi who were pulling two of the figures forwards into a tent beginning preliminary work. Haku and Zabuza's injuries were relatively manageable so in short order the two where bandaged enough to function, if not fight. The two found themselves laying on a pair of cots as Mei stood over them Suigetsu and Karin electing to sit on an available cot their bodies drained from the recent combat. As Suigetsu sipped at a water bottle almost lazily Karin was looking up at Mei who was tapping one delicate figure to her lips as she looked out across the village, her eyes focused on the stadium and the unusual white and purple tree gently swaying in the wind its leafs catching the light as it did. After a moment she spoke.

"It would seem Karin that your Uzumaki ties may become more useful to our village than even I thought." Spoke the Kage drawing Karin's eyes up to look at the woman as she continued.

"Unless I am missing my guess it would seem that Konoha has a new secret weapon they have been hiding away for the other villages… someone here has the power of their first… and if that is true the power shifts in their favor greater than ever before." She finished looking down at Karin and Suigetsu her lips turning up in a knowing smile.

"Mist can hardly seem weak if we are to join with such a power so I think I'll have a job for your team when we return." She said the smile on her face giving the two a nasty shiver, their minds racing as they tried to imagine what their Kage could be referring to. Finally Karin could not take her mind's conjured horrors any longer and broke the silence.

"Mei-sama." She began waiting for Mei to give her a nod signaling her to continue, "What kind of mission do you have in mind?" she finished Suigetsu leaning in as well interest clearly shown upon his brow. Mei gave the two a look before shrugging slightly.

"I suppose you have earned a small reward for your efforts today, it is time that the new Mist once again held a Jinchuuriki within its walls, I will be sending you to find and escort Utakata holder of the Rokubi back within our village." She finished looking down at the two. Both students just stared at the women in blank shock. Utakata the jinchuuriki of Rokubi had been awol for years now, and only vague ideas of his location were known, worse anyone sent after him in the past had been completely annihilated. The two looked as though Mei had just given them a death sentence, and in truth in their minds she effectively had. Mei seeing their looks let out a small somehow sensuous laugh her mouth turning up in a small smile that reached her eyes.

"Do not worry I have no interest in losing my newest chunnin to a suicide mission, you will not be attempting capture, but bargaining, it has been confirmed he now travels with a student, and we will be offering the pair safety along with shelter, it is unlikely that any conflict with erupt, so you may be at ease." She finished looking back out over Konoha. The pair let out small sighs of relief at Mei's words feeling like they had just dodged a kunai. Their relief let them sit comfortably for a few more moments until something the woman had said caused them to stop, and look at one another and then back at Mei for a moment.

She had said chunnin…they were chunnin… and as that thought set into place the pair let out small little shouts of triumph actually turning to embrace one another giving the other a clap on the back each smiling as they did. This lasted all of a few seconds before Karin registered that she was hugging Suigetsu, and promptly pushed him away before swinging a fist into the boys head causing water to explode out crashing down onto Zabuza who woke with a start trying to jump up, but ultimately falling over his own stinted legs and crashing down in a heap before Mei who let out a laugh at the ensuing chaos around her. Oh this had been a most interesting chunnin exam indeed.

* * *

As the shinobi from Kiri were busying themselves with plans for the future a ways away in another corner of the hospital grounds a boy was growling as found himself coming back to consciousness. The first thing he noticed was a heavy weight on his chest that seemed to be in much the same state as himself. Kiba blinked his eyes open to see Akamaru lying on his chest his head as well as one leg bound in medical wrapping and apparently asleep at the moment. Kiba managed a small smile at seeing the pup reaching a hand up to pat the pup gently on its head causing the pup to let out a small huff of satisfaction as it leaned into the boy's hand.

"Hey partner…looks like we both got messed up." The boy managed to chuckle as he looked around noticing his position in the hospital ground for the first time. As he scanned back and forth he was stuck with a small stab of panic as his nose brought him the unmistakable scent of blood, along with ash, fresh earth the odd singe that lightening left and a myriad of other smells that told him that conflict had recently been raging. Before he could take all of this in a happy little tone rang out beside him, causing him to look round to find his Kaasan slumped in a chair beside his cot her large dog Kuromaru.

"Well pup I see you finally woke up, you had us worried there for a bit, figures only you would sleep through a whole war." chuckled Tsume as she saw the boy's eyes go wide, as he attempted to push himself up, only to have Kuromaru to heave himself up and over to add his weight to the boy holding him down.

"Keep still pup the hunt is over for now…rest." The old dog said in his heavy tone as he fixed the boy with his one remaining eye, his body offering no room for argument. So Kiba relented leaning back onto the cot, his eyes still looking at Tsume as his voice crooked out.

"Hana…the clan… my team…the village..? the boy managed before Tsume gave him a hushing motion with one hand giving him a small proud smile. Even injured the boy was loyal to his duty first.

"Easy there pup, Hana is just fine she's off caring for any injured hounds and shinobi she can find, she and I managed to punch our way out of the stadium and make it down to you in the medical wing. We went with Lady Tsunade to help protect the wounded escorting you all here to the hospital. Afterwards I headed to the compound, but we got off lucky, whoever was in charge of the invasion didn't target our homes, it seemed they were aiming to hit us in the open instead of laying siege to any particular spot, so the clan went into the fray…a few lost limbs… some will never be shinobi again…but by luck it would seem that we didn't lost any lives, the damage was light all things considered." Finished the woman allowing the boy to digest the information for a moment, before he looked around at Akamaru and spoke out.

"Wh-who?" asked the boy his voice harsh. Tsume didn't need to ask what the boy meant.

"It was Orochimaru, it would seem sound belonged to him, Suna was involved as well but from what I hear the snake was impersonating their Kage, once word spread they threw down arms and surrendered, the whole fight became one big chase after that, the sound had numbers but lacked much else so they didn't pose a problem. Anyway I saw Hinata, and Kushina running around here recently, haven't seen Naruto anywhere, but the darndist thing happened during his match." Finished Tsume as Kiba let out a small grateful sigh, as a small grin spread across his face.

"Let me guess he won against Naruko using a bunch of black creatures, and blowing everyone away." Chuckled the boy causing Tsume to stop in mid speech to look down at Kiba her eyebrows raised in a small feral smile spread across her lips.

"Ha I knew you were hiding something, so Kushina's pup was keeping secrets, I knew I smelled something about him, ha I'm never wrong about these things." She chuckled to herself with an air of pride evident in her speech.

_Ya sure you did Kaasan you're always right. _Thought the boy as he rolled his eyes at the woman's words his eyes tracing over the skyline of the village as he did stopping at a particular sight. The boy blinked a few times in a row before closing his eyes and muttering to himself drawing Tsume's eyes again.

"Huh what's up Kiba?" she asked her tone concerned. Kiba just shook his head slightly raising a hand up to rub at his head.

"Nothing Kaasan, it's just that Suna girl must have given me a concussion, because I thought I just saw Juubi's tree out there." Muttered the boy causing Tsume to look up to where Kiba had been looking her eyes falling on the massive white and purple tree that towering over the stadium. Tsume looked from the tree to Kiba her mind trying to piece together what Kiba had said, however, before she could concentrate further on the issue, she heard her name called from behind her causing her to turn to see Shikaku, Inoichi, Chōza, Shibi, and several other clan heads gathered behind her looking over at her.

"Well the whole gangs here, I suppose you're not here for fun, what's going on?" she asked, as she pushed herself to her feet, looking around at the gathered clan heads. Most gave her looks telling her that they had felt the same about whatever was going on, but it was Shikaku who spoke up first.

"Hai looks like someone's calling a council meetings, the civilians want to know what's happening, and apparently the Hokage has been found, and is alive so with any luck it will just be to check to see that everything's being taken care of…but something tells me it won't be that simple…ah troublesome." Sighed the man as his two friends gave him small knowing smiles as Tsume gave a short bark of amusement at the man's antics.

"Hai, Hai, ok pup, you stay here Hana will be by later… and before I forget," she said as she turned to lean down rustling the boys hair and giving him a happy smile, "You did great in your match, also Hana and I approve of the girl, she had spunk." She finished chuckling at the dumbfounded look present on the boy's face. Before he could respond Tsume had giving him an affectionate bop on the head before straightening up to follow after the other clan heads off towards the hospital doors. Leaving the poor boy stunned and confused in her wake.

* * *

While Kiba lay wondering what his Kaasan had meant, back in the holding cells of Anbu headquarters Temari was watching still in shock at Gaara's still form laying on the cot across from her letting out a happy little huffing sound as he curled up apparently lost to the rest of the world.

…_..I give up that's it I give up, Garra is sleeping soundly fine, my match turns into the closest thing to a date I've had in years, a tree explodes out of nowhere causing the monster in Garra to go back to sleep…and now I'm sitting here in a cell after those black whatever they were broke out of here a moment before surrounded by the scariest looking women if I have ever seen…..yep I give up the world is officially gone mad. _She thought leaning her head back to thump against the wall behind her letting out a small grown as she did.

From outside the cell a knock came drawing the girl's eyes around to see Anko standing there looking in at her.

"Hey brat, looks like I have another guest for you." The snake mistress called as she pulled a familiar figure forwards the door swinging open as Kankuro was pushed into the cell looking first at Temari, and then stiffening as his eyes fell on Garra, his mouth dropping open as he looked at the sleeping youth.

Anko just shrugged before closing the cell door and turning to leave back down the hall stepping over a few bits of broken wall as she did from where the seedlings and Kushina's group had decimated several cells.

At the same time Kankuro was just frozen looking back and forth between the sleeping Garra and the completely relaxed form of Temari giving him a small wave of greeting.

"Hey Kankuro-niisan good to see you made it through this FUBAR day…it's good to see you." She finished letting her final words carry a little of the happiness she felt at seeing the boy unharmed. Her words seemed to shock Kankuro out of his stoopper causing him to look round at her before he moved to take the seat beside her idly reaching up to pull the cloth cover from his head exposing his brown spiked hair and dirt covered forehead as he sank down beside Temari his eyes closed as he let out a small groan.

"Hey Temari…it's good to see you too. I guess this whole thing was doomed from the start…so what's with Gaara, they seal him or something?" finished the boy allowing his head to look over to where Temari was giving the sleeping boy an appraising look. After a few breaths she turned her dark teal eyes over to look in Kankuro's direction.

"Nope, believe it or not he's going all natural." Replied Temari her usual shrewdness showing itself through the heaviness of their situation actually allowing her to break into a small grin. Kankuro in the meantime looked over at Gaara for a moment before looking back at Temari, letting out a sigh.

"Sure why not, I've seen enough crazy stuff today I'll believe it, heck did you see that tree thing, sprung out of nowhere, and then there was this weird lady talking to the Ichibi of all things, then next thing I know the sand explodes and there's Gaara sleeping, I got jumped the next minute on my way down there." The boy said giving his imoto a shrug as he leaned back against the wall. Temari searched her memory before remembering some woman standing there before she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Hai I remember seeing something like that… still this whole thing is crazy, that women…."

"Juubi."

"That Juubi woman fighting." Temari started to continue before pausing looking over with Kankuro to see Gaara's eyes looking up at them looking slightly annoyed, but carrying a small amount of sadness in them as well. Both teens froze looking over as Gaara looked between the pair for a moment.

"Ga-gaara?" Kankuro managed causing the redhead to give his Niisan a small nod of acknowledgment.

For a moment the three siblings just sat looking at one another before Gaara fixed the two with a sad look.

"Sorry." He whispered out causing the two to look between each other and then back at the boy, as he watched them.

"um…what?" asked Kankuro not following what was going on. Temari gave Kankuro an exasperated look even as Gaara looking between the two again the sad looked still present upon his brow.

"I'm sorry…for how I was…I..I want to make it up to you." The boy whispered eyeing the two hopefully causing the two to look at one another again their mind's racing trying to figure out what they were supposed to do with the boy's words. Gaara had started as a lonely child someone they had originally hated for taking their Kaasan from them… by the time they had recognized their mistake Gaara was little more than a broken weapon that could go off at the slightest drop of a hat. He had threatened to kill them anytime they so much as looked at him wrong…but he had never actually harmed the pair.

After a moment Temari sat up walking over to sit on the end of Gaara's cot moving the boy's head so that it rested in her lap as she let out a small sigh.

"Hai, hai we forgive you now just go back to sleep Otouto, and tell the tanuki to keep it down its been a long day." The blond finished leaning to rest her head against the cell wall, as she brushed the boys red hair gently through her figures. Gaara gave a small smile at this looking over at Kankuro who was looking at Temari before shrugging and lying down on his own cot.

"Hai what she said Gaara, now go to sleep." Finished the puppeteer lying down with a sigh of content. Gaara gave a small smile before allowing his eyes to close, the mental whisper of his Kaasan soothing him to sleep along with his siblings. So the three siblings from sand slept soundly as a family for the first time since the day that the youngest's cries had first echoed through Suna's night sky.

* * *

Even as the family from Suna was busy putting themselves back together the Namikaze family along with their onlookers were finally disentangling themselves from the giant hug Naruko and Minami having to work together to pry Mito from their Niisan's neck where she had grabbed hold of the boy. As the group stepped back Hinata came forward causing Naruto to look round just in time to get a heavy slap across the face which forced him to fall over on the ground due to the impact.

"wha Hinata-chan?" the boy started to ask, but before the sentence could continue Hinata had pounced onto of him her lips crashing into his own as her arms wrapped around him as she let out the tears she had been fighting to hold back along with some choice words.

"You baka, you pig headed stubborn baka, what were you thinking worrying me like that!" she said pulling back to look down at Naruto her face a mix of relief, happiness and annoyance all at the same time. Naruto for answer just blinked several times before sitting up causing Hinata to slip back onto his lap. Before she could continue she found Naruto's lips upon her own, and suddenly her complaints didn't seem all that relevant. A moment later they broke apart Hinata's eyes slightly distant.

"Sorry Hinata-chan I guess I keep making you worry about me." the boy chuckled as he moved to stand helping the girl up with him as he did. Hinata just gave a small nod before interlacing the fingers of one hand down into Naruto's own and looking from the boy to her surroundings. The rest of those present including all of Naruto's family, her sensei, a sage, the mother of the tailed beasts and two of the beast themselves were looking at her with polite, and in some cases knowing looks. The poor girls face went bright red before she moved her face down to press against Naruto's chest pulling a corner of his coat up to cover her face, as the group let out a burst of laughter and in Kushina, Tsunade, and Juubi's case a couple of whistles, and claps.

"That's my girl!" called Shizune proudly as Tsunade gave her old student a clap on the back in approval the pair smiling at the couple. From behind them Kurama let out a small snort turning from the event.

"**Honestly you human's and your mating rituals." **Huffed the fox as Juubi gave him an annoyed look and he instinctively moved a bit further away from the entrance to his cage.

After a few moments the laughter died down and the group was about to start leaving the mindscape when a new voice called out calm, but with a kind of dignity that they did not recognize. The group as one turned to see a small wave of what looked like sand spreading over to sit between the two massive red cages.

On top of the sand stood a massive Tanuki, his coat a dusty sand color, while the rings in his coat looked to change with the light between deepest blue, and black. He was leaning back on his feet using his massive tail for support and so looked to stand no more than twenty feet tall or so, but one could tell from a glance that this was not his full mass. The sand came to a halt as the Tanuki looked around at the two halves of Kyuubi before letting out a laugh so deep that it caused the tree to shake slightly.

"**Priceless, just wait till ****Matatabi** **sees you like this, I swear you always did have a knack for getting yourself into trouble Kurama-imoto. Hum I suppose it's Imotos now isn't it." **Spoke Shukaku turning to look over at Kyu who was wagging one massive braided tail back and forth.

"**Hey Shukaku-Niisan!"** called Kyu excitedly as Kurama just rolled his eyes at his elder siblings arrival. Juubi for her part just moved over to grab hold one of the Tanuki's massive paws burying her face in the fur and rubbing it back and forth in happiness.

"**Shukaku-kun!" **she said excitedly as Shukaku gave her a small smiled as she stepped back looking around at the three of her children together before her the happiness practically radiating off of her.

"**Hello Kaasan, sorry but I'm not here for a social visit, i have business with your host." **Spoke the Tanuki pointing over to where Naruto stood. The boy looked up at the massive tanuki before marching forwards with Hinata to stand before Shukaku the pair giving a small bow as they reached him.

"Hello Shukaku." Spoke the boy, Hinata giving a small nod as well a little afraid of the creature before her. Shukaku raised a hand gingerly in response.

"**It would seem Kaasan has helped to give you some manners…puts you ahead of some siblings I could mention." **Chuckled the tanuki as beside him Kurama let out a soft growl of annoyance that Shukaku ignored.

"**Anyway, Naruto was it, I feel I owe you a debt for the aid you gave my Kaasan, and I wanted to repay it." **Finished the tanuki causing everyone there to look a little taken aback at the creatures words. For the older group they were trying to wrap their heads around the idea that this well-spoken creature before them was the mad tanuki that they had heard of. For the younger, they were simply looking at it confused as what was being referred to…well all but one who had shot off like a rocket with stars in her eyes, only to smack into a wall of sand with a small crack of impact before tumbling back her eyes changing from stars to swirling spirals.

Shukaku gave the scene a small look before he caught his Kaasan's eyes and let out a sigh letting the sand move to form a soft cushion around the redhead, and forming a small tanuki made of soft lightly packed sand that she pulled to herself almost on instinct. This caused Juubi to give a nod of approval and the rest of the adults looking on chuckled slightly at the scene of Juubi corralling her children.

"Um thank you Shukaku but it really isn't necessary." Naruto tried to say but a wave of Shukaku's hand caused him to fall silent.

"**You misunderstand me, the gift has already been given, now might I suggest you move this little party of yours back into the real world, as there are events in motion that you should be present for." **Finished the tanuki causing the group to look around in confusion. A moment later there was a slight shake as though a distant explosion had gone off before everyone except for Naruto, Minato, and Kushina flickered out of the mindscape as though pulled out by some unforeseen force. Naruto and his parents spun around suddenly as Shukaku let out a small sigh.

"**Oh Kaasan looks like you have two grandchildren by the way…and this one's a fighter." **Chuckled Shukaku as Juubi turned to look up at Shukaku for a moment before her face broke into a huge grin before she let out a happy cry and jumped onto Shukaku her voice echoing out around the field.

"**Shukaku-kun oh thank you, thank you, thank you!"** called the woman in excitement even as Minato and Kushina stepped forwards to Naruto the three fading back into the hospital room. As the three came to consciousness they found everyone including Kyueed and the seedlings all looking over to the wall that had been facing the outside of the hospital…even though now there was only a wide hole in its place.

* * *

A few minutes ago as Shukaku's sand had entered into the seedling Jiraiya's seal matrix had gone off, prompting him to be slung forward into the seal to immerge out of the toad's mouth and into the hospital room. However, just as he as his head came into view he found himself staring face to face with one of those black creatures… only different from any other he remembered seeing.

For one the thing had one bright yellow glowing eye, to complement its purple left one. Along with that the creature had a short pair of what looked like rounded fussy ears coming from the top of its head, and deep purple markings that made its face look like a raccoon of some kind. It's arms too had changed, shifting to look like two swelled out pawed forms that ended in long claw like fingers that looked a little like black fur covered versions of those seen on the great tanuki Ichibi. Aside from that Jiraiya only had time to notice one last feature, a large fluffy black and purple tail stretching out behind it waving gently back and forth.

Before Jiraiya knew what was happening the toad he was still half out of was hoisted up and heaved forwards into the room causing the sage to topple to the floor sprawling as he did so. As his body continued to immerge slowly from the toad he looked up to see the creatures large tails slowly stop shifting crumbling into a small cloud of what looked like black sand before rushing into him with the force of a sledgehammer forcing him back against the office wall.

The sage was still to battered from his earlier fights to put up even a bit of a fight, and the suddenness of the attack had caught him completely unprepared, and in an incredibly vulnerable position. His eyes vaguely noticed the scene around him the figures grouped around Naruto's bed all seemingly unconscious, Minato at the foot beside the creature described as taking him away in the first place. This entire scene Jiraiya saw in a flash as he was jerked into the wall by the black sand as the creature before him raised its right arm up in a gesture as though it meant to hit the man. Before the sages eyes the creatures other arm crumbled to the same black sand, gathering with the excess that seemed to circle the creature until it coalesced into a fist mirroring the one that the creature was making with its remaining arm.

Jiraiya's eyes went wide at seeing this just in time for him to squeak out a cry of concern before the boulder like fist shot forwards like a cannon blast slamming into the man with enough force to fling him back sending cracks throughout the hospital wall bits crumbling away as the fist crashed into him pushing him back into the wall till the entire structure gave way flinging the man out along with a crash of sound and a blast of rubble into the hospital grounds skipping across the open ground between the operating tents drawing panicked cries and alert sounds of concern from those in the yard. The crash caused a few of the seedlings to slip down letting out small hums of confusion as they turned to see the black sand moving back to reform into the new seedlings arm and tail yet again, before the creature seemed to relax turning to walk back from the hole and take a seat with a dignified little hum that almost passed for a humph of self-approval.

The rest of the seedlings let out excited hums crowding around the newest change in their fellow apparently excited by their new figure. From around the bed the group was coming back to waking, blinking around and taking in the wreak of the hospital room. As Naruto, Minato, and Kushina woke they were greeted by a commotion at the door as it swung open showing two Anbu, along with Kakashi, Guy, Kurenai, and Asuma looking in concerned at the state of the room, their eyes traveling over the family, and figures, the seedlings, included Kyueed who was letting out happy sounding humming purrs as it moved over to sit beside its fellow changed seedling, even as Minato let out a small groan moving to stand at the hole in the wall looking out. From behind him there were a few sound of greeting but were drowned out by Minato's words as he looked out into the front yard his mind filling in the gaps to explain why Jiraiya was now laying in a pile of hospital wall, as a few shinobi including the majority of the clan heads looked down at the man, and then up to the hole seeing Minato standing there. From the doorway Kakashi spoke his voice steady despite the situation he found himself in.

"Minato-sensei, it's good to see you and your family are alright." Spoke the man seeing Naruto looking over at Minato as well as his wife and daughters, ignoring the seedlings for now. "Sensei the council is being called soon, to discuss the invasion the clan heads were heading here to." Began the man before Minato turned to look at him, his face a harsh look that silenced the Jonin.

"What is the status of the conflict?" asked Minato his tone flat, as the Jonin looked at one another for a moment before one of the Anbu answered.

"Hokage-sama, the Suna forces have laid down arms, and the sound forces have either fled or been driven to the border, and the village is secure, the fighting has finally died off, and now we are simply managing damage control." Finished the Anbu, as Minato gave the man nod. Before looking around the room and then back out to the courtyard.

"Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Guy!" Minato listed off causing the four to snap to attention. "All of you contact our forces we are to secure the village for now…once that is done everyone that is not on guard is to be dismissed to go to their families…the fighting is done for now let us celebrate the living and morn our dead… now is no time for petty meetings about more fighting. Anbu go inform the council, tell them to go to their homes to their families…there has been enough fighting for one day." Finished Minato the group bowing before disappearing in burst of speed to complete their tasks.

Minato turned to see Shizune and Tsunade next. "Lady Tsunade, Shizune please go and find Mei, and make sure that the other dignitaries are safe…then if you wish please return here…we have things to discuss…as a full family." finished Minato his legs faltering slightly as he fought to remain standing upon his weakened body. Kyueed was there in a second beside him supporting him and helping to move back to his seat at the foot of the bed as Tsunade and Shizune gave him a small bow and departed.

As Minato had spoken Hinata along with Minami had helped to prop him up on some pillows his body still weak from the fighting, as Kushina had held Mito close as the girl had apparently remained asleep after getting knocked out inside of Narutos mind. Naruto looked across at Minato his new eyes focusing on the man with an openness that hadn't been there before.

"So that's what Shukaku meant by a gift." Chuckled Naruko as he looked over to the Seedling that had taken on Shukaku's traits. The seedling seemed to hear her words and turned to look over at her letting out a hum of acknowledgment to her words causing her to give the creature an small smirk in reply. After a moment Naruto spoke up.

"Hey Hinata-chan could you take the seedling and my Neesan's out in the hall for a bit, there's something that my parents and I need to discuss." Asked the boy looking around at Hinata who gave him a small nod before giving him a quick hug, followed by a soft bop to his head before she and the others moved out of the room leaving Naruto and his parents alone.

As the door swung shut behind them they looked at one another for a time. None of them speaking just watching one another no one knowing exactly where to start. Finally Minato broke the silence with a small groan of pain as he let his legs stretch out before him, an audible crack coming from his joints. The sound for some reason caused Kushina to let out a giggle that soon had Naruto chuckling. The laughter spread to Minato next and for a moment the room was full of the sound, the members keeping its life up despite themselves. Finally the noise quieted, and Minato managed to speak.

"I-I'm sorry." He managed through the dying laughter as Naruto and Kushina turned their still smiling faces to him trying to stifle their own smiles.

"I'm sorry for everything…please give me the chance to correct my mistake." Asked the man his voice an odd mix of the last of the laughter paired with a true sense of deep sadness as he looked at the two before him. Kushina for her part looked over at Naruto waiting for the boy to make the first move. The two watched as the smile from the laughter slowly faded and the boy looked over at Minato his eyes shaking back and forth as they did.

"I-I don't know if I'm ready…yet." He began causing a small frown to spread across Minato's lips. "but." Continued the boy stopping the Hokage before he could sink into despair.

"I guess we can try Minato-baka." He finished giving the man a small hopeful smile that Minato returned.

"Minato-baka…I guess that fits." Chuckled the blonde as Kushina moved over to move Minato over to sit beside her at the side of the bed. There was still the attack on Naruto to examine…there was still conflicts ahead…there was still work to be done before Naruto had a father again…but for now…Minato-baka was a start.

**Ok chapter done and I don't think that counts as a cliff hanger so yay for that. Ok I think everything is clear here so I'll leave my comments limited this time. First thank you to everyone again for your reviews, favorites, and follows, it's great that all of you enjoy the story so much. Ok let's see glad everyone liked the Omaku's so I figured I'd start adding one every now and then just to see if I can make anyone out there laugh a bit more. And finally I have a new contest/poll to announce. **

**I won't go into great detail at this time but soon more jinchuuriki will be making an appearance in the story, and so far the order is still working, so here is what I'm proposing, there will be a prize to anyone who guesses the next jinchuuriki to make an appearance in Konoha. So guess away at which of the remaining seven will come to the village next. Those that get the answer right will be able to cast the vote for who they want to see follow that Jinchuuriki in order, yep if you get it right you get to have the story go in the direction that you want to see it, pretty cool. So guess away and see if you can get the answer and steer the story. Till next time Songbird out.**


	24. Chapter 22

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

…1000…..Favorites and Follows …. I can't even begin to describe how amazing this is thank you…thank you thank you thank you! I am so glad that so many people enjoy this story to such an extent, and I hope that you continue to enjoy my work. I know that I had a shaky start, and sometimes you wanted to punch me in the face over cliffhangers, and flashbacks, but thanks for sticking with it for so long. Let's keep up the pace and have this story keep growing till the end.

Ok I have had a lot of people comment that although they are happy about Minato taking his first steps they think it was too easy for him after all he has done. Well I'll say you are justified to some extent, but keep in mind all that happened was a chance for a second chance, not forgiveness. Also consider this forgiveness for a Hokage and a man are different from the forgiveness of a father, so things will take time. Also had a lot of guesses for the tailed beasts and those who guessed correctly have already voted so the next tailed beast after this one has been set down, and is on its way into the story.

Ok small point that crazy songbird has been bugging me about, and yes he has some complaints so sorry ahead of time. People keep asking me over and over if Naruto is a shinobi without his seeds, or if he will get a new ability, or shadow clones, or the rinnigan, sharingan, wood release, or every one of the tailed beasts abilities…and to be truthful, this has kind of become a pet peeve of mine. Is naruto a shinobi without the seeds….is a hyuuga a shinobi without the byakugan, is Shikimaru a shinobi without his shadow, is Gaara a shinobi without his sand…look the question really just comes off as stupid to me. I get that some people want him to have a huge power up, and that they feel the seedlings overshadow him somehow, but please remember that his ability is the seeds, and seedlings. If he didn't have them he would be focused on other things, but given they are his primary weapon it only makes sense that he focuses on them so he can master them, and without him they wouldn't exist. Look Naruto is a shinobi with and without the seeds, but without them he is weaker, just like if I took any of the aforementioned things from those mentioned they would be shinobi but a heck of a lot weaker, sorry I don't make Naruto like Madara in canon where with no eyes, one arm and a rock he could fight off an army of shinobi. It's the equivalent of asking a "what if" question, it really doesn't help answer anything as far as the story is concerned, so please stop asking me that question. Please, sorry for the rant, but this one keeps coming up and it is driving me crazy.

Ok crazy songbird is back in the basement where he belongs; let's not let him out again shall we….he bites and Mito told me that she wouldn't help bandage me up again after I didn't let her play with Kyueed for a whole chapter so I'm alone on this one.

Ok last note I promise, and this may sound odd, but I really didn't want to write this chapter, because really I had no idea what to do with it. Sorry but I know where I "A" am and where I want to go "C" but with this "B" I'm a little hard pressed to figure it out. So I hope it doesn't come out as a complete mess which is kind of how I feel about it at the moment. I know this doesn't sound very encouraging but what can I say, it's just the way this one is, one of the big reasons that this took so long, it was just plain hard to write :( as nothing seemed to pop the way I wanted it to. Still hope you enjoy it, and that it doesn't come off as a huge disappointment. The next chapter should be a little faster as it is something I want to write about again lol.

P.S. small comment on the latest Naruto manga at the time with Sasuke going all suddenly ultra asshole….calling it now the writer is trying to pull a Lelouch from code geass…and I think it is stupid. Sorry but the character isn't there to make that work, in geass it made sense as his attitude played into the sacrifice, but here I can just see it as a way to have Sasuke never lose, as "it was all a sacrifice" just like Itachi, Madera, and everyone else with a sharingan, ya ever notice that they don't lose, like ever. Now I could be wrong about this but I just have a bad feeling that this is what is going to happen, aka Sasuke "throws" the fight and dies telling Naruto something like now you can be hokage or something like that….god I hope I'm wrong.

**Chapter 22**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**Picking up the pieces of a war -**

As the door swung shut behind them they looked at one another for a time. None of them speaking just watching one another no one knowing exactly where to start. Finally Minato broke the silence with a small groan of pain as he let his legs stretch out before him, an audible crack coming from his joints. The sound for some reason caused Kushina to let out a giggle that soon had Naruto chuckling. The laughter spread to Minato next and for a moment the room was full of the sound, the members keeping its life up despite themselves. Finally the noise quieted, and Minato managed to speak.

"I-I'm sorry." He managed through the dying laughter as Naruto and Kushina turned their still smiling faces to him trying to stifle their own smiles.

"I'm sorry for everything…please give me the chance to correct my mistake." Asked the man his voice an odd mix of the last of the laughter paired with a true sense of deep sadness as he looked at the two before him. Kushina for her part looked over at Naruto waiting for the boy to make the first move. The two watched as the smile from the laughter slowly faded and the boy looked over at Minato his eyes shaking back and forth as they did.

"I-I don't know if I'm ready…yet." He began causing a small frown to spread across Minato's lips. "but." Continued the boy stopping the Hokage before he could sink into despair.

"I guess we can try Minato-baka." He finished giving the man a small hopeful smile that Minato returned.

"Minato-baka…I guess that fits." Chuckled the blonde as Kushina moved over to move Minato over to sit beside her at the side of the bed. There was still the attack on Naruto to examine…there was still conflicts ahead…there was still work to be done before Naruto had a father again…but for now…Minato-baka was a start.

After a few hours the sun was finally setting over Konoha, as a group made their way slowly from the hospital and down the war torn streets towards their home. In the lead was a black figure that blended into the night itself, only illuminated by the occasional unbroken light along their path. Washes of dim electric light revealed the figure of a boy with long bulky claw like arms, and small tanuki ears. Before it, its large tail was across its chest like a makeshift sling. Nestled into the soft plush of the enormous tail was the small form of Mito curled up into a small ball holding happily onto one of the creature's fingers, as the creature continued forward, with a determined stride. Earlier in day the little redhead had decided that this new seedling was to be known as Seekaku, once she was told about Shukaku. Seekaku seemed to have inherited some of Shukaku's personality, as instead of playing with the girl in cheerful abandon, it instead had simply hung back watching over her, and the rest of the seedling as they played, every once in a while keeping the group in check with a small blast of black sand, that would push them apart.

So Seekaku had watched until Mito had managed to run herself out, gently wrapping her in its tail creating a makeshift blanket for the sleeping child, and then with a few huffs and hums, instructed the rest to either head back to Naruto as seeds, or in the case of Kyueed, to go back to his work as a support for Minato.

Following Seekaku, were the three figures of Naruko, Minami, and Naruto all looking more or less beat from the day's events. As the three trudged forwards they would give each other small exhausted smiles, but otherwise remained silent just holding themselves together for the time being. Behind them marched the final three; Kushina with her arm still held up in a sling, followed by Minato, and Kyueed, the latter still using its tails to steady Minato, as he moved forwards. The two adults hadn't spoken much since their departure from the hospital room with Naruto. The events in the boys mind had been traumatic to say the least…but it was at an end now.

Everything was out in the open, the prophecy… the mistakes…the broken promises…the destruction of their family…everything. Nothing was hidden now. Minato couldn't help but flinch as he remembered when they had brought in Naruko and Minami to explain everything… It had been quite the event.

-Flashback-

The group had chosen to move into another room, thanks to the giant hole they had made in the previous room. As they filed in Minato was pushed onto a bed after it was clear he was barely standing as it was. After he was set down the others filed in, leaving Mito, and the seedlings to be watch over by Kurenai, Asuma, and the confused pair of Kakashi and Guy. Kakashi in particular seemed to be amused as one of the seedlings took to mimicking his actions even creating a small black book of its own to flip through idly letting out small hums to mimic the man's own giggles.

Meanwhile back in the room Kushina put up the seals once more turning to find a seat as Minato looked around at the group with a heavy sigh.

"Tousan what's going on?" asked Naruko as the seals finished being set up. Minami nodded in agreement turning to look over at Minato who let out a tired forlorn sigh. As his blue eyes looked around they focused for a moment on the mismatched eyes of his Sochi.

_No…I've waited long enough to answer for my mistakes…too long. _The blonde man thought taking ahold of himself as he looked back towards his musume's.

"Naruko-chan, Minami-chan, its time you know why everything you saw happened…and who's to blame for it all." started Minato causing the girls to look around confused at each other for a moment before the blonde continued. Minato laid out everything, the prophecy…the slow progression that had warped the simple plan to the monster that had almost destroyed them all. As Minato explained the sad tale of events Naruko and Minami could only look on in mixed horror and confusion as the reason for all of their problems was set before them. When the story was over the two girls look completely overwhelmed both staring wide eyed between Minato, Kushina, and Naruto as if expecting someone to shout just kidding. Finally Minato spoke up once again.

"I-I'm so sorry Minami-chan…Naruko-chan…I-I I failed you all…especially you Naruto." Minato finished letting his tired body lean back into the bed his eyes pressed tightly together, not wishing to see the looks of betrayal upon his families face.

"W-wait all that training…all of it was for some stupid prophecy…w-why didn't you tell us, what were we just some kind of tools?" asked Naruko as she looked up at her Tousan. Minato seemed to flinch slightly from his musume's tone, before replying.

"Jiraiya and I decided to try and protect you from the prophecy…to prepare you for it so that you and everyone else would be safe…we were fools to keep it from you…fools for not seeing you as my children first." Replied Minato as Naruko looked away her own face contorted into a look of mixed anger and betrayal.

"Protect us, what about Naruto why wasn't he being protected? Why were we chosen?...wou-would you have done the same to us!?" as Minami her tone becoming slightly more panicked as she continued. Beside her Naruko was also becoming agitated. Minato could only hang his head in shame, knowing that nothing he could say would make his mistakes any less despicable.

"I don't know…" replied the man in a voice that sounded like it caused him a physical pain to use it. Minami and Naruko looked beyond horrified at the blonde's words. Their minds flashing to show every time that he had praised them, every smile, and every cheer, now somehow darkened by this reveal. The two looked as though their world was about to break once again before help came from the most unlikely of sources.

Naruto walked over between the two agitated girls and softly poked the two in their stomachs causing the two despite themselves to let out small shocked giggles.

"Na-Naruto what they heck?" asked Naruko giving her Niisan an annoyed little look as Minami mirrored her on his other side. Naruto in turn gave the two a small smile before speaking up.

"Naruko, Minami…Minato-baka made a horrible mistake…I won't defend him for that…I still haven't forgiven him myself." Spoke Naruto, as behind him Minato gave a small flinch at the boy's words but simply stayed silent as Naruto continued.

"But he made his choice trying to do what he thought would protect everyone…even me… he was wrong, but he has made enough mistakes without us inventing new sins for him to answer for." At this Naruto turned to face Minato his gaze set, and determined.

"Did you fake the pride and happiness you showed them…was that an act to you?" Naruto asked his tone firm, and direct. Minato opened his eyes the pain and sorrow almost a physical presence around him.

"Ne-never my mistake was never having you there to share those feelings with Naruto." spoke the man in a slightly firmer tone. Naruto seemed to consider the man for a moment before nodding slightly.

"I can understand his actions as a hokage….i can understand them as a shinobi…but you have a long way to go before I can understand you as a Tousan… but that doesn't change the fact that you were a good tousan for Naruko, Minami and Mito", at this he turned to look around at the girls, "… he has to answer for what he did to me, but please trust me to know when it the right way to do it…Kay." Finished Naruto looking back at the girls who looked more than a little exasperated. Naruko looked ready to speak up before Minami gave her a small pat on the shoulder causing her to halt.

"….Just like you Niisan there's just no arguing with you sometimes…besides I think we've had enough separation in this family for a life time." Finished Naruko walking over to give her tousan a small annoyed look.

"I guess I can't point fingers after how I was… but I'll follow Naruto on this one." finished the girl as she gave Minato a small smile moving over to sit beside Kushina. Minami in the meantime could see her own thinking in Minato's actions, and despite herself saw how easily she had made a similar mistake in her actions…Naruko was right they were not the ones to judge, so she too followed Naruto's lead. The redhead gave Minato a small nod in agreement, causing Minato to bow his head in gratitude.

"Th-thank you." The man managed to whisper. From beside the man Kushina gave her family a kind smile before turning to look over at where Naruto still stood, a small content look upon his face.

"There's someone that still needs to answer for this." Kushina spoke up looking around the room as she spoke. Both Naruko and Minami looked around at Kushina a little puzzled at her words before the group heard a cracking sound and turned to see Minato gripping the sides of the bed hard enough to splinter the wood.

"Hai Minami there is someone who has much to answer for, and he will be answering for it soon enough." Minato spoke through gritted teeth. The Man's tone seemed to satisfy the occupants of the room for the time being. However, before they could comment a small excited giggle from outside accompanied by a crash alerted them to one of Mito's common bouts of activity. The three siblings looked at one another before letting out small sighs and turning to the door.

"Come on let's make sure Mito isn't causing more damage to the village than the invasion." Chuckled Naruto as Minami, and Naruko followed after as Minato watched them go in silence. As the door shut behind them Minato turned to Kushina his face one of shame.

"Do you think I can fix my mistakes?" asked the Hokage as Kushina looked over at her husband's form, a sad look on her face. After a moment she stood leaning over to embrace the man in a firm hug.

"I hope so you baka…I hope so." Finished Kushina.

-Flashback End-

Tsunade had visited Minato later that day and declared him well enough to return home for the time being. The damage to his legs and body had been healed, only his hands remained damaged, but Tsunade knew enough of the man's technique to make the discomfort manageable. Before the family moved out Juubi had announced that the mind that was held prisoner had finally broken down likely to return in whatever state it was left in to its body. The group couldn't help but flinch as they imagined what if any kind of a mind was left of the man, but knowing his actions against Naruto most were far from a pitying mood.

Minato had sent a group led by Kakashi to retrieve the body, however, when they arrived the body had already been removed, and at the moment no clues existed to show who the figure could have been.

So the group finally returned home the triplets following Seekaku upstairs with Mito all looking forwards to having some rest after the madness of the past few days. Meanwhile Minato and Kushina moved slowly forward as Kyueed marched along behind them letting out happy little purrs as seeing the inside of the house for the first time. As they walked down the hall Minato's eyes turned to look at the pictures on the walls each a small testament to his own mistakes, each plunging into him like a dagger, his own mistakes coming back through every smiling photo that lacked his Sochi. Beside him Kushina looked around at the photos in turn long since coming to admit to the truth of them, and her own part in their creation.

The three made their way slowly down the hall, each step bringing fresh pangs of guilt with them. As they reached the end of the hall, however, things shifted slightly. Minato looked round seeing a group of new photo's that he hadn't remembered seeing. Naruto's smiling face showed out of each of them, grouped around everyone from his team to Tsunade and Kushina, all apparently taken within the last few months. The photo's brought Minato to a stop, Kushina turning to face Minato with a small smile on her face as she noticed the shift in the man.

"We can't fix the past Minato…but we can make a better future." Kushina spoke almost in a whisper, as she gently guided the man forward and down to their room. As Minato moved he could not help but hope that someday he might see his own smiling face beside his Sochi's on the wall.

* * *

As the sun crested over the still damaged vision of Konoha Minato found himself sitting in the living room of his home, a cup of coffee wrapped in own hand, as his eyes looked around the room, pausing at different spots as memories blossoming from his surroundings uncomfortable and unbidden . Minato was drawn away from the memory of Naruto impaled upon Zabuza's blade by a small purr from below him. Looking down Minato couldn't help but smirk as he bent slightly to scratch at Kyueed's long rabbit ears, causing the fox to hum in happiness.

"Well I guess I get why Mito has been so excited about her last few trips with Naruto… I guess you're why she stopped asking for a pet…even if you are a hither to unheard of chakra creature made by my sochi and apparently something like a child to the Kyuubi…who's Kaasan lives in my Sochi's head…." Minato spoke as he turned his attention back around the room. For a second Minato seemed to pause before taking another sip of coffee.

"You know whatever Kyueed, I have enough issues to sort out without trying to figure you out, don't you agree." Minato half chuckled to himself as Kyueed let out another happy humming purr. As the two interacted Kushina slowly entered the room a white robe drawn up around her as her eyes fell upon Minato and Kyueed. Kushina moved over to sit on the chair opposite Minato idly scratching one of Kyueed's tails as it brushed up against her drawing another set of humming purrs from the fox and a small smile from the redhead's lips.

The couple looked at one another with small smiles at the scene they found themselves in, this was the first day of what they had promised to be a better future for their family, and the hope of that thought forced them to feel a sense of happiness that seemed lacking as of late. However, before they could speak a small thump from above drew the pair's eyes up. As they watched Seekaku walked out onto the small open balcony that overlooked the living area, its two mismatched eyes focusing on them as it let out an almost thankful huff at seeing them. As the pair watched the tanuki like boy marched downstairs before moving over to look directly at Kushina before turning around and unrolling his massive plushy tail to show the still sleeping form of Mito that seemed to have a death grip on the creature's tail. Apparently the girl had decided to not let go of the appendage so Seekaku had become the unwilling plushy for the redhead all the previous night. Kushina couldn't help but let out a small giggle at the vision of the tanuki boy sitting on one end of the bed with the girl practically attached to him the whole night.

Kushina looked between Seekaku and Mito with a small thankful smile before reaching over and pulling the still sleeping Mito from the creature's tail, extracting a small happy hum from the creature as it collapsed back into its seed form, carry a single large sand colored stripe like tail upon it. The two watched as the seed shot up stairs a small excited yelp followed by a small bang following it moments later.

"What the!? Do you have to do that while I'm sleeping… the floor is cold in the morning." Echoed the voice of Naruto followed soon after by a small commotion as several figures moved around upstairs. A few moments later Naruto along with Minami and Naruko all walked out onto the small balcony all still in various loose sleeping cloths ranging from orange to blue. The triplets blinked sleep out of their eyes as they looked down at the scene in the living room spying the rest of their family below.

Soon the family was all gathered in the kitchen as Minato along with Naruko worked on cooking as, Kushina sat with Minami watching amused as Naruto and Mito instructed Kyueed in helping to set the table. The process was more trial and error…with more on the error side as Kyueed once again overshot the table with a plate in one tail causing Kushina to catch it with a golden chain handing it to Minami who let out a small chuckle as she set it in place.

"You remember the good old days when they didn't help." Chuckled Minami as she looked over at Kushina as another plate went wising by. Kushina gave her musume a happy little smile as she focused catching another plate that went by.

Soon enough the family was more or less seated around the table. Kyueed was allowed to stay thanks to Mito's insistence, and was lying on the floor beside Mito's seat, as the little girl tried to pass him some of the food from her plate with her chains. It was when the group was about half way through eating that a noise came from the front of the house drawing the families eyes around as Minato pushed himself up from the table to answer it. The rest of the family watched him go Kyueed once more at his side, his tails once again acting as a crutch for the man as he made his way to the door.

After a few moments Minato returned marching along slowly until he reached the door to the kitchen looking around at the group as he did. After a moment he let out a sigh and moved over to plop back down in his seat. The family exchanged confused looks before Naruko spoke up.

"Tousan what's up?" stated the blonde girl before twirling her fork into a small golden chain that was inching towards her sausage causing Mito to frown at her. Minato looked up at his musume's words then around at the rest of the families faces all looking at him confused. For a moment Minato considered remaining silent, but the next he realized the slippery slope that could be once again. So with a small sigh he spoke up.

"That was a message from the elders, the council will be meeting today, and it has been requested that I explain the events that occurred during the invasion…particularly the black creatures seen among our forces." Spoke the man as he looked around the group just as Kyueed popped his head up looking over at Minato along with the rest.

"…So what are you going to say?" asked Kushina as she watched her husband, her expression guarded inwardly fearing the choice that Minato might soon be making. However, it seemed that Minato had indeed entered into the right path.

"I will explain what happened to me, and that everything else is a matter of clan business, and in that case I must defer to the Uzumaki clan." Finished Minato as he looked over to where Naruto sat his two toned eyes looking over at Minato with a small approving look over at Minato.

"**So Minato-baka seems to be getting with the program….I still say you should have let me pound on him while he was in here." **commented Juubi as Naruto pushed back a small grin the threatened to break out across his face.

In the meantime the rest of the family turned to look over at Naruto, who seemed to be considering his options. After a moment he seemed to come to a conclusion before giving Minato a small smile.

"It would be my pleasure to assist my Hokage….he can be a baka at times, but he is getting better." Smiled Naruto causing Minato to smile slightly despite himself. The females at the table looked between the two blonde men as they gave each other small smiles, before all looking at one another and coming to some kind of silent agreement.

"Well I guess that the members of the Uzumaki and Namikaze will be attending a council meeting." Kushina said getting nods from both Naruko and Minami. In the meantime Mito just smiled over at Kyueed who let out a small humming yip of approval. Minato looked around for a moment considering arguing the point, but a small dangerous smirk from the women at the table decided better of it. Naruto in the meantime had the advantage of a woman giving him some advice in his mind explaining to him how he should just shut up and not attract attention to himself at the moment. So with that it was settled and the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans soon departed for the council chambers.

* * *

Meanwhile across the village in the hospital a particular toad had managed to work his way back to consciousness, and was moving to figure out exactly what was occurring. The last thing that Jiraiya could remember was a black wave of sand that had slammed into him before darkness overcame him. The next thing he knew he was waking up in a hospital cot looking up at a medical shinobi who gave him a small nod before sitting up to make her way out of his line of sight. As Jiraiya felt his body numb from pain killers, only barely keeping the bite of his injuries from overcoming him. With a force of will Jiraiya pushed himself up to a sitting position noticing that his left leg was now in a cast matching the one on his arm. Idly he noted too that his chest seemed to have fresh bandages. There was also a small weight on his face alerting him to the presence of another set of bandages there as well. All in all Jiraiya felt like one massive bandage, and idly thought just how accurate that description may well have been.

As all of this was coming to the man he noticed a small bit of movement in the corner of his vision. With a groan he looked around to see a familiar blonde figure stepping up into the observation tent, her arms crossed under her large bosom. For once Jiraiya managed to look up from the impressive assets on display, and up to Tsunade's face, who was glaring down at the man in anger.

"Well I guess you survived, if you were smart I would suggest you stay down for the time being, before you manage to make me want to change that diagnosis" Advised Tsunade in a tone that made it clear that this was not a kind suggestion. Jiraiya whether due to the drugs or his own stubbornness chose instead to push himself to his feet coming to eye level with his fellow sage.

"Tsunade…h-how long have I been out? Where's Minato?" demanded the man staggering slightly but still managing to keep his body on his feet. Tsunade in reply simple quirked one eyebrow at the man before poking him hard in the chest causing him to fall back onto his cot with a small groan of pain as he landed.

"OK let me put it a different way, you leave this cot when I tell you to, or I break your other leg, and tie you to it."

"Da-damn it Tsunade this isn't a joke." Jiraiya managed, before Tsunade leaned forwards her eyes set.

"You're right this is no joke, I have had enough of this crap from you, and news flash so has everyone else. If you think I'm willing to let you do anything else to harm this family, I will personally lower the number of sages in this world." finished Tsunade glaring down at the man who stared defiantly up at her.

_Tsunade….yo-you don't get it…don't look at me that way…you don't know what is at stake…what could happen to you if I don't do this. _Jiraiya thought as he looked back up into Tsunade's eyes.

"Tsunade there are things happening you don't understand! This is bigger than anything you can imagine." Jiraiya managed as he tried again to rise to his feet. His bones seemed to creak in protest as he tried to push himself up, but before he could stand a firm hand came down upon his head slamming him back down onto the cot, causing his head to spin slightly. As he managed to get the world to stop spinning he looked up to see Tsunade still looking down at him a mix of anger and just a twinge of worry.

"Well then how about you enlighten me! What is so wrong with you, why are you so obsessed with a stupid prophecy, tell me Jiraiya was it worth it, practically tearing a family apart, getting into this sorry state, acting like a madman and defying direct orders! Tell me is any of this worth it? Because at this rate your life will be the least you lose!" Tsunade finished planting her arms once more under her bosom as she did. Jiraiya looked up into Tsunade's face with a twinge of anger.

_Madman you have no idea what I've done for this village….for you…if that makes me a madman then fine, but I'll do whatever is necessary to keep this village safe…for you , and everyone else…I have to. _Thought the man defiantly rising to his feet once more under Tsunade's harsh gaze. With a greater effort than it should have taken Jiraiya managed to steady himself again turning face to face with his old teammate his eyes set in turn.

"Tsunade we have been over this before, whether you like it or not sometimes this world has to be harsh Tsunade, sometimes we don't get to do what we like, but what we have to do. Sometimes we don't get a choice! SO DON'T TELL ME ABOUT SACRIFICE!" called Jiraiya his mind racing over his own bloodied past as he did, the sacrifices he had made...for the village…for her. His anger was radiating off of him hot enough that it was a surprise that he didn't burst into flames.

Tsunade for her part looked more concerned than angry now. Her eyes looking sadly over her teammates figure for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh as she raised a hand up to her head shadowing her eyes from Jiraiya as she did. Accompanying this was a heavy sigh, but not of anger, but of pity.

"Jiraiya….this isn't some mission, this is a family…can't you even tell the difference anymore? Can't you even see that you're destroying everything around you, for Kami's sake you're acting like that old wrinkled fool Danzo rather than our sensei!"

"I'm nothing like that man Tsunade; I am doing this for the safety of the village. This is a mission Tsunade, and it has to be done this way." Replied Jiraiya attempting to push his way past Tsunade who this time didn't lift a hand to try to stop him. However, just as he was passing her the blonde spoke out softly, and her words froze his blood.

"Just like how you couldn't come to me when I needed you, how you chose to treat it like a mission…protecting me from the shadows…tell me Jiraiya… what good did that do?" whispered the blonde.

Jiraiya went rigid Tsunade's words coming to him as though from a great distance. For a time his mind simply attempted to digest the words, to understand them. His mind began slowly to piece itself back together one scrap at a time until the whole horrible truth it depicted was placed before his eyes.

_Sh…she knew…she knew I was there…wha...what I did…and I…hi…hime. _Sputtered the toad sages mind as the crushing reality sank down upon him. His sacrifice, his duty, his belief of the greater good…all of it and it had never mattered to her. His support through all of his actions, all of his trials, his driving truth that he had steered his life by…it was lie. She had never judged him for his actions…never mentioned it…kept silent and smiled the same way she ever had…only now did she look at him as a monster… he hand not failed her till he chose to be a shinobi over himself. But what was left of him now except that shinobi…that self-assure drive…what was he. He'd spent so long selling himself bit by bit to becoming the perfect shinobi… her perfect protector… what was left for the man.

Tsunade for her part simply looked over at the confused face of her teammate, her heart breaking as she saw the horror in his eyes. Oh she had known…she had always known. The first week she had left to grieve she had assumed that she would be attacked, waited for it in fact, wanting to fight wanting to let the pain escape from her that way…but they had never come. So she waited wrapped in her own sorrow, waiting, hoping that someone would come to help her, longing for the smiling face she had always known to burst through the door, and make a wise crack, anything to cheer her up…but he never came. It was on the fourth week she had recognized the taste of blood in the air as she had left the hot spring. She had turned expecting a fight, only to find nothing, so she had raced out towards the smell expecting something, anything. She had raced into a clearing only to catch a small flash of fire and smoke that had illuminated the area for one moment. And in that moment she had seen him. Jiraiya standing covered in blood with a body slung over his shoulder, a Kumo headband hanging limply from the bodies head. Before she could do more than take this in the pair were gone, leaving nothing but the stale taste of blood in the air.

Then she had known, known where her friend had been…where the assassins had been…and she cursed herself for not seeing it. She had waited then…waited for each night, each attack rushing out to try and catch him, to find him when the attacks came, but always she was too late to find him. Their little dance continued for months until Tsunade found she could no longer live like this, alone, waiting, hoping, and failing to find her friend…to find help. She turned to drinking again, gambling anything to remind her of the pain she was feeling. Her journey finally came to an end when a letter had come about Kushina's pregnancy, so she had returned to the village…and only then had she seen her traveling companion…his smile somehow darker than before…scarred…and because she cared for him she had kept her silence giving him the smile she knew he had fought for…keeping her silence for his sake...for the man she had found she cared for more than she ever thought possible. But seeing what he was becoming Tsunade had finally ended it…because if she didn't she feared the man she had waited for would never truly return…and that thought was to terrible to even admit to… because it would mean the death of another of her loved ones…another she couldn't save.

Jiraiya was still frozen standing his mind collapsing in upon itself as one of the absolute truths of his world fell apart around him; as if on instinct his body jerked forwards as he started to march…move…to run from the reality that had just confronted him. Tsunade turned casting a disappointed look over at the man who was moving away from her. For half a moment she was tempted to speak to him…but instead just watched as Jiraiya slowly began to walk away…towards the entrance to the hospital. She could fight him, she could yell, threaten him…but it wouldn't bring him back…it couldn't he had to fall first. So she watched as he marched himself off towards the council to find Minato…to hold onto anything left of his life…a single thing that wouldn't be a mistake…his only hope for his path to have been justified.

However, even as he marched forwards he could not help but fear for the horror of the truth on his horizon…that everything he had done had been for nothing…that he had become this hollow shell of a man for nothing.

* * *

As Jiraiya hobbled his way out of the hospital, across the village the Uzumaki and Namikaze family arrived only a few moments before at the Hokage building which doubled as the council chambers. At the moment the group had filing into the Hokage office to wait for the time of the meeting. At the moment Minato was seated behind his desk with Kushina sat on the couch her hand gently stroking Kyueed who was purring happily at the attention his eyes dimmed to almost complete blackness the creature's equivalent of closed eyes. Across from the couch was the open wall of the office a few pictures having been taken down and stacked on the side clearing the wall. At the base of the wall Naruko and Minami were standing with their arms interlocked and small smiles on their faces looking up at their imoto. Mito was attempting with instruction from the pair to learn to walk up the wall. It seemed that Hanabi had mastered the ability already thanks to the Hyuuga training, and Mito had announced her desire to accomplish the same. So Naruko and Minami stood with their arms forming a net catching the giggling form of Mito as she tumbled from the wall after a few steps.

The final member Naruto sat across from Minato the diminished seed from the summoning being rolled between his hands. Naruto had attempted to create a seedling from the orb but it seemed that in its state it was incapable of most of his techniques, something to mind for the future if he wanted to continue to have Juubi in the fight. Minato watched the small black ball about the size of a baseball role back and forth still feeling more than a little awkward addressing the boy before him. After a moment Minato decided to at least communicate with his Sochi on some level…he had to start somewhere.

"Naruto even if we don't like it you will need to give some explanation… trying to hide everything will only hurt our position more. Besides, obviously we can't have Juubi show up, best case scenario she puts a few of them in the hospital; and I can't see her responding well to the whole view of her children. Also I'm guessing that she may still want to take a swing at me." Spoke the blonde.

"**He makes a fair point I would." **Came Juubi's voice from the small orb in Naruto's hands. For whatever reason the seedling in question had a direct link to Juubi now, and functioned like a pollen megaphone. Minato gave the ball a small look of concern before he let out a small chuckle

Naruto gave the orb a small smirk before turning to face Minato.

"Hai I suppose that wouldn't end well, I guess we go with Kaasan's idea, some ancient Uzumaki super-secret move…passed down from our great, great, great, great uncle or something, right Kaasan." Finished Naruto leaning back slightly to look over at Kushina who gave him a half annoyed smile.

"Well it's better than what you two came up with, what was that last one, you found them in wave as ancient artifacts from the sage of the six paths?" Kushina fired back getting a huff from Juubi.

"**As if, all that guy left were family issues a mile long."** Half snorted Juubi just as Mito dropped from the wall again with a little eep of excitement as she was caught by Minami and Naruko. Juubi in the meantime let out a small laugh that reverberated around the walls.

"**By the way what will be happening to Shukaku-kun?" **the orb spoke up. Minato in turn leaned back in his chair picking up a sheet of paper off of his desk as he did.

"Don't worry Suna is already in contact, at the very least I can guarantee that Gaara and shukaku will be safe…if things go well I can allow a chunnin I trust to escort him around the village, so you can have some time with him…kami knows the boy looks like he could do with some social interaction." Finished the blonde getting a nod from Kushina and the girls. They knew the harm of being a jinchuuriki, and it was not a stretch to imagine what the boy had been through. The orb sent out a small happy pulse as Mito let out another happy giggle that drew people's attention. Just as the family turned to look over at the happy little girl, there was a knock at the door drawing the group's attention, as Juubi's orb went silent.

"Enter." Called Minato, as the door slowly opened and Kakashi poked his head in looking left and right at the scene before giving the room an eye smile.

"Hi, how is everyone doing?" asked the man giving the room a small raised hand of greeting as he stepped in with his usual eye smile. He moved to stand at attention before the Hokage's desk before Minato gave him a nod allowing him to relax.

"Hai Kakashi, what is it?" Minato asked.

"Sorry Sensei, I was just reporting to let you know the council is arriving, and will be ready for you soon…and," at this he couldn't help but look over at where Kyueed was looking up at him his bright red and purple eyes lighting up to focus on him, "well myself and a few other Jonin would like to attend if possible. We have heard enough rumors to want to get the real story about what's going on." Finished Kakashi as Kyueed let out a small yip and walked over to sit at the Jonin's feet blinking up at him in apparent interest. Minato seemed to consider the request, for a moment, but decided it was better to have the Jonin informed first, rather than dealing with the mentioned rumors.

"I can allow that, however, understand that you are subject to any ruling in the council room…understand?"

"Hai Minato-sensei I understand." Kakashi replied before finally looking down at Kyueed in acknowledgement of the creature's presence. For a moment the two just looked at one another, and then with a small smirk Kakashi pulled up his forehead protector to show his own miss matched eyes. Kyueed seemed to be at first suspicious of the red eye remembering it from somewhere but a happy smile from Mito seemed to put his worries to rest, with this the fox let a happy little yip as Kakashi gave the creatures head a small scratch behind the ears causing the fox creature to push up against the man's leg happily.

The rest of the room couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the sight, Kyueed seemed to have a knack for meeting new people. Kakashi soon left to inform the rest of the Jonin's wishing to be present during the meeting after giving Kyueed a parting scratch.

The family spent the rest of the time with Mito and the girls continuing their exercise as Kyueed moved around to lie down beside Minato. Kyueed seemed to have become rather fond of the hokage as the blonde gave him a pat or scratch every now and then. Naruto in the meantime had moved over to sit by Kushina pulling out a small scroll and brush to work more on his sealing work. The two had been working on his sealing for a few months now, but progress had been slow at best. It seemed that Naruto's chakra didn't like sticking to sealing works as naturally as normal chakra, at the same time kushina had found that by definition Naruto's defensive barriers and seals had an advantage over any other. Naruto despite this was determined to at least get an understanding of the art given his Uzumaki heritage, though his personal work was still more dangerous to him at the moment.

Things seemed to be going along smoothly for the healing family while they waited and a kind of rhythm took over allowing them to relax. At least until there was a commotion at the door that drew all of their attention. There was a small series of thumps outside the door that drew everyone's attention. Even Kyueed's head poked up from behind the desk the noise continued to build at the door. In Mito's case her attention caused her to lose grip form the wall causing her to tumble into the arms of her Neesan's. The door to the office was suddenly flung open showing the patchwork of a man. The figure seemed to be made more out of bandages than body, and with a small shock they noticed that the figure was someone they knew Jiraiya standing in the open doorway his body sagging, but moving with an almost fanatical strength.

For a moment everyone just watched as Jiraiya staggered in, apparently incapable of noticing anyone outside of Minato, and even then he seemed somehow distant. His eye's almost looked glazed as he marched forwards into the center of the room his entire focus on the Man seated before him. The man's lips cracked open as he reached the edge of the hokage's desk his voice coming out in a broken call.

"Min-minato…yo-you're ok…th..the girls the village. Minato something is happening Naruto the prophecy." Jiraiya managed to say, his disjointed speech continuing on as though it was simply tumbling from him lacking any kind of self-control. "Minato…he…we have to…if we…the future… the saviors it has to work…it has to!" the man almost pleaded. However, before he could say another word his eyes fell over on where Kyueed was looking at him, his head and ear's cocked to one side as if in apparent confusion. Jiraiya just stared that the creature for a few moments before a voice spoke up from behind him casing the man to shift slightly taking in the members of the room for the first time.

"You/You!" Minami and Naruko called in stereo as despite themselves they found their eyes shifting red with anger. The day before they had recognized Minato's attempt to make amends, and even his own suffering in his attempt to protect them…however, Jiraiya was not so fortunate, he had been the driving force…the one that sold this prophecy that had become the bane of their family. Naruto at the same moment couldn't help but allow his chakra to pulse slightly causing a pair of his seeds to move out of his body as if preparing for a fight and his purple eye to sift to solid black mirroring that of Juubi. Beside him Kushina at the same moment looked as though she was fighting with herself trying to keep from committing murder in front of her family, although she seemed to be losing that battle and fast. However, before any of them could act Minato beat them to it.

"Jiraiya if I didn't think it would kill you at this moment, I would throw you through the office window, so let me give you a piece of advice." Stated Minato, as Jiraiya turned back to face the man still seated behind his desk his arms holding the arms of his chair so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

"Remove yourself from this office…go back to the hospital and pray that I don't decide to make a visit to you. Your actions during the invasion I am willing to account to Orochimaru knocking you through a wall and hopefully addling your brain, so I would suggest you leave now before you fool me into thinking that you could have been enough of an idiot to intentionally harm my family on top of the damage that you and I have already done. We will discuss your actions later, but for now sensei if you have an ounce of self-preservation get out." Finished Minato in a tone that would have made Jiraiya freeze in place if he wasn't still so out of it. Instead not to hear the words the man spoke as he focused back on Kyueed who was still looking at him confused about the white haired man before him.

"Kid that thing, they, the invasion…Naruto he. Protect." Managed Jiraiya as he reached forward towards Kyueed a small pulse of chakra forming as if attempting to take some kind of action against the creature before him. However, before Jiraiya could do more than take a step forwards the small black orb that Naruto had been playing with cracked down on Jiraiya's head causing him to fall face first onto the ground. Everyone turned to see Naruto with one hand stretched out and an annoyed look on his face. The rest of the room looked at him confused for a second before Naruto gave them a small shrug.

"What he was acting crazy….and I might still be angry about the prison thing….and I promised Juubi she could hit him." Naruto finished.

"**You're darn right I did." **chuckled Juubi happily as the orb lifted back up and back to Naruto. The rest of the group couldn't help but nod in apparent approval with the pair's actions before Minato let out an audible sigh signaling for a pair of Anbu to enter the room. A moment later the pair left with orders to take Jiraiya back to the hospital and keep him under guard while he was there. As Jiraiya was escorted out another Anbu appeared bowing in the center of the room drawing everyone's attention once again. With a motion the Anbu rose quickly saluting Minato.

"Hokage-sama the council is prepared and awaiting you." Spoke a female voice from behind a cat mask bordered by long purple hair. Her Anbu uniform clung to her form accenting her build while also drawing attention to the blade that was draped across her back marked her as one of Konoha's few blade masters. Minato gave a nod standing as Kushina moved over to take Mito from her neesan's arms and setting her down beside her. Meanwhile Naruto hopped off the couch as Naruko and Minami moved forward the triplets prepared to move as well. Kyueed in turn fell in beside Minato his tails once again acting to brace the Hokage, and help him step around the table and forwards towards the exit. As he passed he noticed that Neko was staring at Kyueed with something like recognition. Naruto also noted this and couldn't help but want to investigate the phenomenon. Anbu were notorious for their complete lack of any emotion. So Naruto could not help but want to investigate halting to turn to face Neko.

"Neko-san did you run into something like him during the invasion if you don't mind me asking I kind of lost track of a few during the commotion?" asked the boy causing the Anbu focus on him, noting mentally the change in his eyes. She dismissed it a moment later before checking with Minato who gave her a nod allowing her to respond to the boy's question.

"Hai, my Anbu team ran into something like that," her she nodded at Kyueed, "during the invasion, although it looked like myself by the end of the fight and was fighting with swords when I saw it, actually managed to copy a few of my techniques. Is this one related to it?" Finished the Anbu as Naruto seemed to consider the women's question. With a shrug Naruto pulled out a seed from his back allowing it to fall and break out into a seeding. The seedling in question looked around for a moment before spying Neko and letting out a hum, as a sword molded itself from the creatures back, and its cloths changed to reflect those that Neko wore. Soon there was what looked like a mini Neko standing beside the group as the Anbu just looked down in apparent surprise. The Uzumaki and Namikaze family gave the image a small look shrugging it off, and moving towards the council chambers leaving the mixed pair of Neko's slightly behind. There was only so many times that a seedling could pull its mimic trick before one simply became use to it.

Neko finally seemed to snap out of it as she gave herself a small shake before turning to follow after the group noting the seedling falling in beside her matching her steps with its own. After a few steppes she glanced down to see the Seedling looking up at her his face now obscured by a similar Neko mask of his own, only colored a mix of black and purple. The seedling seemed to notice the attention letting out a happy little hum of excitement that caused Neko to look back up trying to keep from giggling at the creature's actions. It wasn't every day after all that one was given their own mini me.

At the same time Neko just turned the corner to see a few of her fellow Anbu standing guard before the council chambers their masked all facing forwards in silence. Neko just spotted Minato and his family entering into the chambers as the door swung shut behind them. Falling back on protocol Neko took up her post beside her fellows with the seedling marking up to stand at attention beside her. From beside her Boar and Hawk leaned slightly forwards to get a look at Neko's companion. In turn the mini-Neko leaned forwards to look at them. For a moment the three just looked at one another before Neko gave a short nod before leaning back into formation. Boar and Hawk looked at one another before giving a shrug and leaning back. After all, after the past few days this was hardly the oddest situation they had been involved in…besides it was practicing proper protocol and they had wanted a mascot for a while.

After that the group remained stoic at attention. Soon a group of Jonin and special Jonin rounded the corner with Anko and Ibiki in the lead, followed by the team leaders, all of those that Kakashi had been referring to when he meet with Minato earlier. As the group arrived Anko looked over stopping in mid-sentence as she spotted the seedling, a wicked smile spreading across her face as she focused on it.

"Oh so you guys got one already, where do I sign up those little buggers are great." Chucked Anko as she marched over to look down at the seedling that gave a small hum of greeting. Anko in turn looked over at Neko who, she knew outside of her Anbu work with a small smile.

"Neko-chan can I have him please?" asked Anko edging closer to the seedling with an almost hungry expression upon her face. Most of the Anbu couldn't help but move slightly to shield their newest member boar speaking up among his fellows.

"Get your own; this one's ours…besides you'd break it." Stated the Anbu causing the surrounding Jonin to let out chuckles as Kurenai stepped forwards to pull an annoyed looking Anko into the council chambers along with her fellow companions.

* * *

After a time the council room was filled every member finding their seat with varying degrees of speed. Minato looked around as he took his seat behind the central desk that allowed him to look out at the amphitheater seating surrounding the area his eyes falling on the far right of his position. There in the first row sat his family all lined up looking around waiting for this show to get on the road. Naruko and Minami looking around noting a few of the familiar faces they recalled as their friends parents, while Mito simply sat under her Kaasans careful gaze. Meanwhile the other clan heads had all made their way into the room taking seats alongside civilian representatives as well as a few of the elders of the village. The elders along with the civilians may not hold the same level of authority in the village as the active shinobi, but they were at least permitted into the council meetings so as to offer their experience, or simply to act as mediators for information between the shinobi and civilian populace.

Usually the council would be a buzz of speech, arguments, and the like being shot back and forth, or at the least greetings between the recognized figures of Konoha. However, at the moment everyone were otherwise occupied looking over at the strange sight before them. Kyueed had marched in beside Minato and actually hoped up beside the Hokage curling up on the desk beside Minato his tails wrapped around its form and letting out a small purring hum every now and then, as an ear would twitch or so looking, for all intensive purposes, like a great black fox sleeping at the right hand of the Hokage. For most it was just an odd enough scene coupled with the earlier reports of black monsters, and the events in the exams to render most silent. It hadn't helped when Hiashi had made his way into the chambers, his movement slow but firm accompanied by Hinata on his right, and Hitomi on his left both acting as support for the man. Hinata had been allowed to attend, with the understanding that she would be monitoring Hiashi's condition, as he was still recovering from the recent conflict. As the trio moved into the chambers both Hitomi and Hinata had paused as they passed Minato to give Kyueed a pat from which the creature gave a happy yip.

After a time Minato decided to begin the meeting giving a small signal to the Anbu surrounding the room to seal it to all outside forms of communication. As he did he couldn't help but not a slightly smaller Anbu running after the rest, but simply shrugged it off. As the seals fell into place a small pulse of chakra was enough to draw everyone's eyes forwards towards the hokage's position.

"This meeting will now begin; we have been called here today to discuss the events of the recent invasion. It will please the council to know that thanks to lady Tsunade's efforts the hospital was able hold the number of casualties to a minimum, and those injured are well on the way to recovery. At present our forces have lost about twenty-five percent capacities for at least the next few months."

"At this time our forces have also taken position on the borders of Konoha, and have reported no further incursions from Suna or Sound. On that note Anbu team one has reported that Suna is requesting a meeting for terms of surrender, it seems that Orochimaru was responsible for killing the Kazekage, as a means to enter into the village, the delegation should arrive within the week. For the time all Suna prisoners are being held separately from any sound forces until the elements of this assault can come to light. I will add that at the moment it would seem as though Suna was manipulated into attacking, but that still remains to be proven." Started Minato addressing the new information he had received. Minato continued to announce everything pertaining to troop placement, to captured intelligence including his own battle with Orochimaru and subsequent retrieval. As Minato finished those present could not keep from looking from the unassuming figure of Kyueed as it lay there apparently asleep and back to Minato as if expecting the Hokage to insist that the figure they saw was not in fact the same creature he had described battling alongside him against Orochimaru. There was a small pause then, as the council seemed to gather itself before figures who had remained silent at last took up their voices.

"Hokage-sama I believe I speak for the majority of this council when I ask what that creature is, and what exactly is the connection to the events of the invasion, particularly how it managed to aid you during you conflict with Orochimaru." Stated a wizened elderly looking woman her hair pulled back into a tight bun.

"I must agree with Koharu-san on this matter, reports have been circulating concerning several of those creatures, and their connection to not only your Sochi, but also several incidences in the invasion. In fact some have even reported that they are somehow connected to the tree that has appeared in the Stadium, and the woman reported to have subdued the one tailed beast. With this there are also earlier reports stating similar creatures were involved in the second exam, I am sure that we would all like to know just what these creatures are." Finished Homura the elder's spectacles coving his firm gaze as his old teammate nodded in agreement beside him. The pair sat watching Kyueed with a concerned look on their faces. The two had become more suspicious of any danger to Konoha after their old age had robbed them of the strength to protect it as they once had. Now they viewed it as their duty to cut off problems before strength of arms were required, and at this moment the threat was the creature before them, add in that this particular creature and his kind had basically appeared out of nowhere only added to their concern on the matter.

From behind the pair the third elder, Danzo sat watching his one visible eye focused on the creature even as his mind continued to show him images of what was left of Fuu when his body had been brought back to root. Despite their efforts they had been unable to find any physical injury upon the man to account for his behavior. Fuu one of his top Anbu a man who would have faced death without moments hesitations had been reduced to a whimpering bit of madness. It was as if someone had beaten the man's mind past the breaking point, and then pushed on for several more rounds until all that was left was a broken fragment of humanity, whatever Fuu had seen or experienced it was clear that it had all but destroyed the man. Even now the remainder of Root's mental walkers were doing everything they could to salvage anything of the man Fuu had once been. So Danzo watched for any clue as to what power had been at work to so thoroughly destroy such a man…and how that power may strengthen Konoha…under his guidance if necessary.

Minato looked up towards the elders and then around to see the faces of the clan heads also looking for some kind of information on this unknown element in their midst. Most only knew that Naruto was somehow involved, but even then this did little to answer the larger questions in play. So Minato let out a sigh turning to see Naruto looking back at him. After a moment Naruto gave Minato a small nod moving to stand and approach the center of the room.

"The creature you are referring to is the product of a clan technique, and as such any questions must be handled by the clan in question. As such I must ask Naruto Uzumaki to stand and address the council's questions." Finished Minato as Naruto finished marching over to stand in front of the hokage's position, facing the rest of the council. Naruto looked out at the assembled council his posture relaxed carrying a kind of calm indifference to the entire setting. A few of the Shinobi took note of the boys disposition, but before they could do more than take note a voice rang out around the room. The elders wasted no time in beginning their questions.

"Genin Naruto Uzumaki, you are called to answer what relation you have with the creature present, as well as the events during the exam." Called Koharu in a harsh tone of a seasoned warrior. Naruto in turn faced over towards the woman his mismatched eyes resting above a small smirk, and otherwise lazy expression that almost begged for a challenge.

"Respectfully Elder-san which event are you referring to, after all I think you would agree that there was hardly only one event yesterday?" replied the blond a small smirk on his face. True he was required to answer to an extent, but that didn't mean they were getting it for free. From over with Kushina and the girls there was a small giggle as Naruko and Minami exchanged looks remembering back to Naruto's pranking nature in Iruka's classes. Oh he would answer the elders, but the answers would not come cheap.

Koharu looked as though she had just been smacked upside the face at the boys disrespect. From beside her Homura had to give a small smirk at the sheer attitude that it took to mouth off to the council like he was, heck it reminded him a bit of his old sensei. The second had been many things, but a patient man had not been among him. Something about the boy's clear annoyance with the situation brought back memories of his sensei to him, as though the man was standing before him once again. However, this was not the time to admire the boy; rather it was time to figure out the situation in play, for Konoha.

"Uzumaki we request to know what is your connection to the tree that appeared in the stadium, and is it connected to any bloodlines that may aid Konoha?" asked the man focusing the conversation away from any personal issues that may have occurred between his teammate and the boy. Playing a game of personal pride did nothing but slow the process, and unlike his teammate Homura was not so easily offended. Naruto slowly turned to face the man with a slightly impressed look in his eyes before he replied.

"Hai elder-san I was connected to the tree that appeared in the stadium. I was responsible for the summon that the tree accompanied, unfortunately the scroll in question only allowed for one holder and was taken back to the summon realm so I cannot produce it to show you. It has no connection to any bloodline, and for the record I have no idea how to get rid of the tree if that is your intention…I don't have to fix that do I?"

A few of the council let out a small chuckle at the boys words Tsume actually letting out a bark of a laugh at the boy's attitude towards the older man's questions. The elders, however, were less than pleased with the boy's flippant answers. True he had given a clear answer, but he was also playing the fool allowing it to keep much of the information they wanted hidden. A combination that made one at the best of times difficult to predict and worse harder to control, neither desirable elements for a shinobi in their view.

"Uzumaki explain what the summon creature is connected with your contract?" continued Homura forcing himself to remain calm. Anger would only destroy his attempts to learn what he wanted and he had passed to many winters to let his own pride slow him now.

"My summon wishes to remain unknown as is its right as a private summon of any clan, so with respect elder I will not reveal the name of the summon." Replied the boy, his eyes focusing on the elder. For a moment the two stared at one another until Homura let out a sigh, whether he liked it or not the boy was correct, and summons were outside of village command Orochimaru was proof enough of that.

"However, I have been allowed to permit her a moment to speak, but understand she will only address you this once, before returning to the summon realm." Naruto continued before the elders could organize their next remark. With a pull Naruto held up the black baseball sized orb before him allowing it to drift slightly in front of him as it did. The crowds focus was drawn to the small orb as a small swirl of leaves surrounded it for a moment before a soft voice rang out.

"**Greetings Council of Konoha, I have been asked by my summoner to prove my existence to you… I find this a foolish request; after all it was by my hand that the one tailed Tanuki was held at bay, the only duty that is owed is to my summoner for his actions. With that I bid you farewell." **Finished Juubi as the seed shot back into Naruto's hand, as the blonde and those who knew Juubi forced them to keep from smirking at the image of the grin that had to be playing across Juubi's face at seeing the council's slack jawed reactions. For a time no one spoke many trying to piece together what summon could have possibly spoken through the small orb before them. However the pause had allowed for Koharu to catch her second wind which she brought to bear on Naruto.

"Uzumaki we demand that your summon answer for its actions against Konoha forces during the invasion, according to reports it acted to protect both enemy forces and such an act is paramount to treason and explanation is warranted."

The woman's words caused Naruto to actually let out a small chuckle of mockery at the woman's position.

"Really? Come on I just told you she was just going to give her little speech. Besides I can answer your question simply enough, my summon and I were battling the one tailed tanuki at the time. Any attack it mounted we countered to the best of our abilities, during the firefight some attacks were intercepted, but no action was taken against our forces, unless you want to tell me not getting blown apart by friendly fire is some kind of a crime now?" fired back Naruto giving the woman a slightly smug look that caused her to grind her teeth in annoyance.

"Very well Uzumaki we request and explanation for the creature behind you, as well as their actions throughout the invasion, and exams." Naruto in reply shrugged before sending out a small pulse that caused Kyueed to look up the lights in his eyes flicking brighter as though it was waking up, before it hopped down beside Naruto looking around at the group.

"Well this is Kyueed, Kyueed this is the council of Konoha be nice." Stated the blond causing Kyueed to give the boy a small nod before sitting back on its feet looking around at the group. Idly it spotted a few familiar faces letting out small yips of acknowledgement as it did wagging its tails happily in turn. At this from above civilian council woman with dark blonde hair actually let out small sound that sounded suspiciously like Kawaii, before taking control of herself once again.

"Anyway Kyueed here is one of my seedlings, it is a special Uzumaki type of clone that mimics the abilities of those it sees, kind of like a more solid shadow clone but limited in number, this one watched Minami and Naruko training with the Kyuubi's chakra enough to mimic them. During the second exam I used them as scouts, giving the free feral status of the exam. With the invasion, I simply instructed them to aid any Konoha forces they saw. Does that answer your questions elders" finished Naruto with a look of apparent contentment on his brow. The elders seemed to consider this for a moment trying and failing to poke holes in the boys answer. Then the final member of the trio rose. Danzo spoke up for the first time from behind the other elders his voice drawing Naruto's gaze immediately.

"If that is the case then could you explain why we have not seen these clones used by any other Uzumaki before? It would seem that your family should have utilized such an ability before now, yet I do not recall every seeing anything like these creatures from any Uzumaki…even your own family." stated the man focusing on the apparent clone before him thinking of the damages reported during the invasion, and the devastating possibilities of these clones in practice. He knew that the boy was not giving them the truth, but the trick was to catch him in it, and as much as Danzo hated to admit the boy was playing his game well.

Naruto privately remembered Minato having made a point to warn the boy about Danzo ahead of time. From what Naruto understood Danzo was just about the slyest shinobi alive in Konoha, possible the elemental nations, and old enough to show that he was a master at his craft. So as with most things the way to counter a master was not to play his game, but to change the field.

"This was apparently a forbidden form of an Uzumaki art that unfortunately causes a shift in the person's chakra as a result of its use; few if any have ever taken this training as it renders all other Justus's incompatible. The scroll containing the formula was hidden away in the scrolls that my Kaasan received from Mito upon taking her place in Konoha. I stumbled across them, and by luck was compatible with them. From what we understand it is a one way process, and I am the first in over a hundred years to even attempt it. That is all I can say for now, as it is still a clan technique, and no I am afraid that is not negotiable. "Finished the blonde causing Danzo to glare slightly. By making this a clan matter the boy had moved the discussion away from the council's powers to control…a well-executed move. From behind Naruto a voice rose drawing the council's attention from the debate below.

"I would remind the council that any question pertaining to the creation of clan justus is not up for discussion, it would be wise for our elders to remember the practice that Konoha has long held in such high value…wouldn't you agree." Spoke the man in a tone that made it very clear that his word would not be questioned. Danzo let out a silent curse at this but soon another voice rang out, causing his attention to shift.

"Hey pup, answer a question those little guys were seen looking different during the exams why is that? Do they remembers everything they see?" called Tsume as Naruto turned to face the feral woman a small smile on his face as he did. In answer Naruto pulled another orb form his back letting it fall into a seedling before the watching council. Most of those present couldn't help but lean forward slightly interest clearly spread across many of their faces. With a hum the seedling looked slowly around the chambers giving everyone a tiny wave before it turned to face its creator.

"Hey I need you to pull a Kiba followed by an Ino for me, I think that should answer the council's question." spoke the blonde to which there was a short hum of confirmation, followed soon by a shifting in the seedlings form. After a few seconds there was a black shadowed version of Kiba Inuzuka standing there turning to face Tsume it's wide purple eyes bright as it fell into the Inuzuka clan taijutsu style. Tsume let out a small whistle at the figures actions. Then the Kiba-seedling stood before shifting, more quickly this time, into Ino giving a small twirl and wave to everyone, causing Ino-shika-cho trio to chuckle remembering that particular seedlings actions during the exam.

"Impressive, I must say. It is no wonder the technique was so well hidden, I dare say it does become hold many possibilities." Called the head of the Kurama clan Murakumo as the seedling shifted back to its usual form with a happy hum. Around him there was a small sound of agreement from the rest of the council before the elders spoke up once more.

"Impressive indeed, however, we noted that there were multiple of these creatures during the invasion, how many of these creatures do you possess?"

Both Kyueed and the seedling at this time turned in the direction of Danzo even as Naruto did the same.

"The number varies depending on how much chakra I pump into one elder, just as with any ninjutsu." Replied the boy causing Danzo to grimace slightly in annoyance. Meanwhile from above them where the Jonin sat Ibiki was fighting to keep down a laugh at the way this genin was manipulating the elders employing the age old tactic of continuing to go at a quick enough pace for them never to find solid footing.

"Genin Uzumaki it would seem that your abilities are quite impressive to say the least, as such I must request the council to request you turn over at least one of these creatures for study so that we can incorporate them into our own forces. Their abilities are too great to simply leave them in a genin's unexperienced hands." Finished Danzo deciding it was the time to try and contain the situation before him. As his words finished there was a break out of mutters from the crowd at large. Danzo had struck at the proper moment so that his words had their full effect. After seeing the abilities of the creatures most were eager to see more, and more than a few couldn't help but be a bit worried about the power exorcised by the beings.

Naruto in turn silently cursed himself for being lead into such an obvious trap. By showing the seedlings abilities it had naturally made everyone more interested in the creatures, and its ability to mimic just made the argument to protect a clan technique all the more troublesome after he himself had demonstrated that the seedlings were capable of mimicking even that. As the boy looked around at the council seeing a few seeming to think that Danzo may have a point. The worth of the technique was just too great to ignore, and if it wasn't a blood line surly it should at least be put into the forbidden scroll for the betterment of the village.

"I would remind you Danzo that this is an Uzumaki clan technique, as such this council does not have the right to tell my sochi, or any other clan member to divulge their abilities." Fired off Kushina giving the elder a harsh glare that dared him to argue with her on the point. From above the voice of Hiashi rang out as well.

"I must agree with Kushina-san on this matter, no matter how powerful a technique it does not leave a clan unless they allow it. Danzo your request is against the laws of Konoha." The stoic man called his voice carrying the weight of his position as a clan head with it. Around the room several clan heads nodded in agreement, particularly those who held abilities not related to bloodlines. Then from across the room another spoke up.

"That is true Hiashi, but the law is made to protect Konoha, and sometimes a clan must be willing to do what is necessary for the greater good of the village, while I do not find the idea favorable it does have merits. Though the choice falls to the Hokage not with this council." Called a firm female voice. Many turned to see Mikoto Uchiha sitting calmly across from where the Hyuugas did, her eyes looking down conflicted towards where Naruto stood. Idly the boy looked up at the woman and idly noticing the similarities she had passed to her Sochi. From below Minato and Kushina suppressed a small flinch at the woman's words…Mikoto knew of sacrifice…she had known all too well at what it had cost her family…what it had cost her. Mikoto had never quite been the same after the death of most of her family, and her Sochi's supposed treachery. In her heart of hearts she knew that the Uchiha had left Minato not choice…if it had been another likely her whole clan would have faced the blade for their treachery, instead only the collaborators and those that could have acted had perished. But the loss had been too much for the woman. So she had removed herself form the village sight for a time, taking solace in looking after the young Uchiha children, even as she was forced to watch her own Sochi become consumed by a desire to murder his own niisan.

Kushina looked up to gaze sadly up at the stoic face of Mikoto as she watched Naruto, a heavy amount of sadness sinking in as she did. The two had drifted apart long ago after the Uchiha incident and for a time it seemed as though they were doomed to stay that way. It was actually through Naruko that the two had even been able to start mending there friendship. When Naruko and Sasuke had begun to become rivals the two had found themselves speaking again, reminiscing, and after a time the friendship had slowly worked its way back to the surface once more. Kushina silently thanked her old friend turning to see Minato pushing himself to his feet his hands steadied upon the desk before him.

"Uzumaki Naruto you may sit down," began the man as he turned to address the rest of the council.

"Uzumaki Naruto's abilities are property of the Uzumaki clan, and it is up to them to dictate how that power is to be used." Began Minato as Danzo and the elders seemed prepared to argue the point. However, before they could speak Minato turned to address his next words at the trio. "This is the decision for the good of the village, the bonds of our shinobi is what holds our strength not a single technique and I will not see our beliefs compromised on this point. Is that clear?" finished the hokage at the three bowed their heads in unhappy acceptance of the Hokage's words. Danzo privately crushing the hokage's path. Minato looked around the council once more before slowly lowering himself back into his seat suppressing a groan as he did.

"That will conclude this council meeting you are dismissed." Called Minato as the clan heads and council members slowly rose and moved to exit the room. More than one of the clan heads pausing as they passed the assembling Anbu outside the door noting a particularly shorter one among their number.

* * *

It was a few days later when things in the village had finally begun to fall back into some kind of normality. Following the council meeting the Namikaze family had departed along with several of the clan heads to return to the hospital for either their own work or to see family. It had taken a few days but negotiations with Suna had finally begun. At the moment Minato had called for aid in the restoration of Konoha, one which its allies were happy to oblige. Unfortunately Minato had found himself practically buried in the mountains of paperwork pertaining to the recent invasion.

Naruto was sitting under Juubi's massive tree his eyes closed as he let the cool breeze of the midafternoon blow lightly through his hair. Patches of light pushed themselves through the massive canopy of purples to form a small garden like area in what had once been the Konoha stadium. Naruto lazily cracked his eyes open looking over at the person who he had permission to be escorting today.

A few feet away from him lay Gaara also using the massive tree as a support for his own rest. In addition the redheaded youth also had what appeared to be a small cushion of sand that acted as a cushion for the youth. Naruto couldn't help but let out a small snort drawing the red heads attention over to his blonde fellow.

"I have to say Gaara when I said I'd take you around the town I didn't think it would be for nap time." Chuckled the blonde, as Gaara fixed him with an annoyed look.

"Try not sleeping for a few years' months at a time, and having the worst nightmares you can imagine when you did, sorry if I'm enjoying my new found solace in sleep. Besides so far all you have wanted to do is eat ramen with me…you need to find a hobby." Replied the redhead as inside his mind Shukaku sniggered at his vessels comment.

"**I find myself agreeing with Gaara on this point Kaasan, one would think the vessel of Juubi would have more on his mind than a snack and a girl…maybe you should have him take up a hobby, I know Matatabi always has her vessels learn sewing for some reason." **Chuckled Shikaku as from inside Naruto's mind Juubi let out an annoyed little huff.

"**That isn't nice Shukaku-kun." **Juubi called out her tone carry a note of humor in it as she chided her eldest. Over the past few days Gaara and Naruto had spent a few days with one another, and they had usually found themselves back here under the newest addition to Konoha's village.

"**You're just too soft on him Kaasan, really I swear you let Kyu, and Kyueed get away with anything, you would never see Seekaku or myself acting like that." **Spoke the tanuki as it looked down at the shogi board laid out between the pair. Juubi gave her Sochi a small smirk before moving one piece causing Shukaku's confidence to suddenly falter. The tanuki's golden eyes grew for a moment looking between the board and Juubi in apparent disbelief.

"**True but sometimes you need to remember that everyone needs a little work, Kyu and Kyueed are young, while you my little Shukaku-kun are still a bit overconfident." **Chuckled Juubi as she motioned for the tanuki to pay up. Shukaku looked up with a slightly exasperated look before letting out a sigh as the sand board disappeared and he allowed his massive tail to swing lazily round for Juubi to grab hold of as she ran her hand over the soft fur with a happy smile on her face.

Meanwhile outside the pairs minds Naruto let a small smirk cross his lips before letting out a sigh and relaxing into the soft grass that had formed around the tree.

"Hey I have hobbies… they just tend to cause general mayhem." Chuckled the blonde as a small sound like a muted thump carried to the boy's ears, followed soon by an excited amount of shouting and commotion. Gaara couldn't help but crack an eye looking over to see a smirk playing its way across the blondes face.

"You paint bombed the Anbu guard station again didn't you."

"Well it's what they get for locking me up, I believe in both forgiveness and revenge." Naruto muttered leaning back with a happy smile as another thump went off this time seemingly from a greater distance. Gaara quirked up an eyebrow at the sound.

"Hokage office." Whispered Naruto, as the two got back to relaxing under the tree.

* * *

Meanwhile down on the central street of Konoha walked two figures not speaking as a lone puppy happily ran around their feet yipping ever now and then.

"I still don't see why I have to have an escort through the village." said Temari, looking over at her "guard" as she turned her head to face him.

"Look I'm not ecstatic about this job either, but Naruto vouched for you and your brother so I thought I would be nice and offer to give you a little time around the village, and out of ANBU headquarters. Besides last time I checked your village invaded ours." Fired back Kiba wondering why he had thought taking the blond out would have been a good idea. First rule of the leaf blond men, fine, blond women insane.

"Ya whatever." Temari responded looking away from the feral boy as she did so.

_I guess it was nice of him to let me get out a little, at least it's better than being under watch all day by Anbu, I guess I can be a little nicer to him…he did call me cute…darn it get your head on straight! _She thought to herself.

_Gah how did I let Naruto talk me into this, go and take Gaara's sister out for a bit, she's nice I bet you two could talk about your wind justus or something, what was I thinking agreeing to this. Heck she is more dangerous than Hana when she is in one of her moods, though neither her or Kaasan was worried about me losing…wonder why that was…come to think of it they didn't mind me taking Temari out for a time either…weird. _Thought Kiba looking down at Akamaru who was still happily jumping around their feet. _Well at least Akamaru is enjoying himself._

As they continued down the street Temari finally broke the silence.

"So you're from a clan right?" she asked trying to be a little more pleasant towards the boy.

"Hm, oh ya I'm part of the Inuzuka clan, we're near my compound now if you want to take a look?" he said thinking at least there he wouldn't have to make small talk with the girl.

"What would be there to see, no offence but I'm not interested in seeing just some big house in my first time out in days. I grew up in one, and all it ever seemed like was a waste of space." replied Temari.

"I guess you're right, there isn't much to look at most of the clan will be out anyway working on border patrol, only my Neesan will be there to help with the two new litters." replied Kiba not noticing that the small look of excitement that had spread across Temari's face.

"Litters?" she asked with a small note of hope in her voice. In suna luxury pets had been scarce most animals did not fare well in the desert, and thought she covered it up well, it was taking most of her self-control not to grab the pup at her feet and cuddle with the fluffy thing. While she was a shinobi first, that didn't mean she wasn't also a girl. And with so few opportunities to be one in suna and her life she made the most of opportunities she did come across.

"Ya we just had two litters right before the exam finals, can't be bigger than your hands at this point, just little squeaking balls of fur at this point, but they'll grow up soon." Kiba said raising his hands apart to demonstrate the pup's size. That did it for Temari.

"Which way?" she asked softly, with a slight hint of longing in her voice.

"Hm what did you say?" asked Kiba looking over at the girl not having caught her last words.

"I SAID WHICH WAY TO YOUR COMPOUND WE ARE GOING NOW!" shouted Temari causing both Kiba and Akamaru to jump to attention.

"This way." fired back Kiba, a little louder than he had meant steering them towards the Inuzuka's home.

_I knew it, blonde rule of Konoha, Naruto I'll get you for this_ thought Kiba as he headed towards his home along with his companion. Meanwhile Temari was having a slightly different mental battle.

_What was that Temari, you're a kunoichi for kami sake keep it together. But the fluffy little things are just ahead, oh I can't wait, maybe I can keep one and name him. I wonder if they'll let me keep it with me in the cell... well at least I won't have to worry about Gaara killing it anymore. _She thought allowing a true smile to spread across her face as she raced towards the compound with Kiba and Akamaru.

After a few minutes running the three found themselves standing before the compound gates Temari looking more animated than Kiba could remember seeing her. Heck if he didn't know any better he would have sworn she was giddy. Still at least there was something to do here. Soon Kiba guided Temari around the back of the compound and to a smaller building with a wide pair of double doors and several kennels on either side. As the two teens approached the doors they swung open as a tall teen girl with slightly feral features sporting a chunnin vest slightly opened to expose some of her generous curves. As she moved out of the doors she paused at the two before her a small smirk playing across her face showing a slightly more developed canine grin.

"Well if it isn't my ototo, and the girl who mopped the floor with you during the exams, I must say you two put on a good show." Chuckled Hana as her three ninken moved out so stand beside her, giving the pair a set of doggy grins. Kiba in turn gave his sister an annoyed look accompanied by a small annoyed growl.

"Hey she didn't mop the floor with me and you know it!" fired off Kiba as Hana's smirk grew despite herself as she crossed her arms under her chest and looking down her nose at Kiba letting out a small growl of her own.

"Oh does the pup want to have another match, last time you were out for a week, want to do double or nothing!" fired back Hana, as from beside Kiba Temari couldn't help but let out a small snort looking over at Kiba being put down by his Neesan. This drew Hana's eyes over to Temari in turn before her grin blossomed into a feral smile as she directed her next words to the blonde.

"Still apparently I'm still losing on the looks department, isn't that right cutie?" chuckled Hana as Temari's smile fell, and a blush spread slowly across her face before she gave the chunnin an small glare her eyes darting over to Kiba and back several times. Hana noticed this and just kept of her smirk, oh yes these two were just too much fun to mess with; maybe she should find Kaasan and bring her in on the action. Before that could happen Temari managed to gain enough of focus for her mind to once again focus on their goal of being here.

"A much fun as this is we are here for." Began Temari before a small squeak drew her eyes down to see a small grey pup his eyes still closed and his little tail wagging back and forth causing it's back to sway along with it. The pup was letting out small squeaks as it marched forwards under the legs of the gathered ninken moving slowly forwards its head moving up as if trying to catch a scent as it headed towards Temari. As it reached the edge of the girl it seemed to catch a whiff of her unfamiliar sent before letting out a squeaking bark resulted in frighten itself causing it to plop back on its hind legs. Kiba and Hana couldn't help but let out small snorts at the pup, looks like it would be a fighter to be sure, but before the pair could mention the point there was a small flash of yellow as they found the pup gone from its spot. For a moment the two looked down at the spot in confusion before what they could only describe as a happy cooing found its way to their ears and the pair turned to see that Temari had somehow scooped up the pup and gotten past the Inuzuka's hounds and all and was sitting in a chair just inside the doors happily nuzzling the small pup who, was giving her small wet licks as it wiggled in her grip. Temari paused for a moment looking up at the two figures in the doorway with a harsh look.

"This never happened or you will deal with Gaara…now where are the rest?" asked the blonde as both Kiba and Hana raised their hands up pointing to a set of doors leading back into the kennels watching as the blonde marched over into the room, soon followed by what the two couldn't help but think was an excited squeak followed by happy giggles. As Kiba watched this Hana let out a small chuckle laying hand on her otouto's shoulder.

"I think you should invite your girlfriend to dinner, she seems to fit right in." finished the chunnin.

* * *

As Kiba was busy entertaining Temari, Kushina was arriving just outside the doors of Minato's office a small smile on her face. She had been at a small lunch with Mikoto and Hitomi when the call had come in from an Anbu messenger to come to his office. So she had bid the two goodbyes before and headed towards the hokage tower. She had just turned the corner her eyes fell on a rather odd scene. There standing out in front of the kage's door were three figures.

Two Anbu stood their arms crossed, and white animal masks somehow conveying disappointment despite the lack of any expression. Before the pair was what looked like a seedling in miniature, only colored black, and sporting a similarly featureless mask with two slightly dimmed purple glowing eyes. This scene was odd enough to bring Kushina to a momentary halt just as the Neko Anbu spoke up.

"This is not what we expect from you, you are an attempt for the Anbu forces of Konoha to gain experience with a new technique, and a chance for you to improve yourself. Now the next time the Hokage is in danger you do not dive behind him, you dive in front of him, do you understand?" finished Neko as the Seedling gave a small hum and bowed its head. From beside Neko her fellow Anbu the one wearing an eagle mask.

"cough-cough, Easy Yūgao, we were lucky to get our new mascot lets cough-cough try not to scare him off ok." spoke the other Anbu through his birds mask. Neko turned to look over at her fellow and Kushina could almost feel the small amount of anger coming from the eye holes of the mask.

"Hayate you aren't going to help him by babying him, and on that note where were you?" Yugao asked as Hayate moved over to kneel beside the seedling looking just as sorry as it did.

"I-I just wanted the kid to have a shot at protecting the Hokage…besides it was just paint…though the way he was screaming you'd think it was more than that." Finished the man as Kushina let out a small chuckle as she decided to make her presence known.

"So we have a new volunteer for the Anbu squad…I hope he isn't causing too many problems." Smirked the redhead as Yugao and Hayate snapped up to attention soon followed by the Anbu-seedling that hopped up mimicking their salute.

"Hai Kushina-san, please pass along our thanks to the hokage." Spoke Yugao before she and Hayate disappeared into the shadows outside of the office under a familiar genjutsu for the organization. The seedling in turn looked around for a moment before moving over beside a potted plant melting down into the plants shadow making it almost un-noticeable. Kushina let out a small chuckle as she moved over opening up Minato's door and stopping dead at the vestige before her. Minato's office….all of it was bright neon orange and purple some of it even dripping from the ceiling along with what appeared to be bit of paperwork that had gotten itself glued to the office walls.

In the center of this was a very colorful looking Minato, who looked like he was about to start crying. As Kushina entered the room Minato looked up at her a pleading look emanating from his bright blue eyes.

"Wh-why? I was almost done….it was on the last page…is this my punishment…Naruto is siding with the paperwork…please say it isn't so." Minato bleated out just as Kushina gave the room a once over before looking back at Minato.

"Hai I'm afraid so Minato, maybe you can organize a cease fire with him, he might go for half of the village if you throw in the ramen stand as well." She finished moving over to the open chair in front of Minato which had somehow avoided the blast of paint that had apparently come from the final sheet of paper.

"So did you call me just so I could see my Sochi's art project, or is there another reason?" asked the redhead. Minato gave her a small sad smirk before he shook his head opening his desk and pulling out a small scroll.

"No Kushina, I wanted to give you this, I thought it would mean more coming from you, it took time thanks to invasion but I wanted it to get to Naruto as soon as possible." The blonde said as Kushina took the scroll looking down at before unrolling it enough to see a storage seal along with an official statement attached to it. Kushina's eyes lit up as she recognized that what she was holding was a chunnin announcement addressed with Nartuo's name. The redhead couldn't help but beam as she looked up at Minato, who despite his painted self-managed to look proud.

"He's more than earned it, we even had a few requests from some of the visiting dignitaries for his seedlings if you will believe it, the Queen of snow even managed to snag one for a few days after Naruko got a signed picture for Mito. Between the pair they managed to get Naruto to give them a seedling for a few days, thing came back mimicking the princess almost completely, little Mito was so happy to have a life size princess Gale I don't think she'll ever calm down." finished Minato as he reached down to pull out a second scroll. Kushina looked up as Minato handed the second over.

"And this will be his first chunnin mission; we have a group from Takigakure arriving including someone who will need some seal work from you, I think that your team would be the perfect ones to act as the escort for them while they are here." Kushina gave a nod as she scanned the scroll before looking back up at Minato with a small smirk.

"I have to say Minato-baka when you try to fix things you don't go half way do you?"

"I have enough to make up for, I don't intend to waste time getting to it." Replied Minato as Kushina moved around and gave the man a quick hug planting a small kiss on his brow unknowingly turning her lips bright orange. Something Minato noticed with a small chuckle.

"Thanks, I have to clean this up, but I'll be home later, oh and tell the girls the council is deliberating on their rank as well, we should know soon." Finished the blonde as Kushina smiled and walked out of the office, the shade from the plant beside the door giving a small hum of greeting as she passed by it.

* * *

As Kushina was leaving the Hokage tower Sakura and Hinata found themselves standing in Tsunade's' office along with Shizune standing a few feet beside the seated blonde. Tsunade sat her desk covered in small piles of paper work along with a small jug of sake, but at the moment her entire attention was focused ahead of her. The pair of genin looked curiously between the two adults a little confused as to why they had been called into the office with them. With a small welcoming smile Tsunade decided to address the two.

"Thank you for coming in today girls, first let me start by saying your performance during the invasion not only did both of us proud as your teachers, but also saved a lot of lives, which is even more important."

Beside the blonde Shizune smiled giving a short nod of agreement with her fellow's words. Hinata and Sakura gave each other congratulatory smiles before turning back to face their sensei's. This time it was Shizune who spoke, her tone carrying the same pride in it that Tsunade's had.

"Given your performance we have decided to offer both of you the chance to become our official apprentices, now this would mean that you would hold an unofficial rank until the time we felt you had completed your training, however, once completed each of you would be special Jonin in both rank and authority. If you chose this path you will be unable to pass into chunnin duties, meaning even if you would receive the promotion you would have to turn it down for this program. This is your choice to make, both Tsunade and I will continue to teach you, but understand you would have your standard duties which would not allow us to carry your training into the specialized fields that you two excel in. The choice is yours, just know that neither of us could be more proud of either of your performances." Finished Shizune as she along with Tsunade fell silent waiting for the pair to make their choice. It didn't take long.

Sakura and Hinata both turned to smile at their senseis.

"Tsunade-sensei, Shizune-sensei I think I speak for both of us when I say we would be honored to enter into the program, we hope we do you proud." Smiled Sakura as beside her Hinata beamed. Shizune and Tsunade exchanged a quick smile of their own, before the blonde pushed herself to her feet.

"Very well then, from now on you both are formal apprentices to the two finest Medical shinobi in the world, get ready for more work than you thought possible. We will start tomorrow we will inform the Hokage and your sensei's. Take the rest of the day off for now, and we will see your bright and early tomorrow." Concluded the sage as she and Shizune moved out of the office to conduct rounds.

Soon Sakura and Hinata were making their way clear of the hospital grounds, and down the road chatting as they went. The two were just passing by the barbeque when they hear a pair of voices call out to them.

"Hey Hinata! Sakura! Over here!" called an excited voice from a booth near the open window. The pair stopped turning to see Naruko and Minami waving at them from the window of the restaurant.

"Hey you two come and join us we just got in!" called Naruko waving them over. The pair returned the blondes' smile before moving into the building finding the booth in short order and falling into seats beside the pair.

"Hey you two what are you up to?" Asked Minami as Sakura and Hinata finished placing their orders.

"We just got the great news, we're being accepted as official apprentices. " Sakura said excitedly as Naruko looked between the two giving them a happy smile.

"Congratulations you two, so what now headed home to spread the good news?" inquired the redhead.

"Hai, we'll head off just as soon as we are done here, so how about you two, what are you two up to?" asked Hinata, as she took a sip of tea.

"We just got done playing with Mito and training, just looking to keep ourselves busy while Sasuke is in the hospital, we visited yesterday, and he's getting better fast, so with any luck we'll be on missions soon enough." Answered Minami as Naruko gave a small nod.

"Hai, have to say I'm not sure which is harder the training or keeping up with Mito, I swear she is pure energy, and your ototo is no slouch either Hinata." chuckled Naruko as she pointed over at the pale eyed girl. Hinata let out a small smile at that.

"Yeah they can be a handful, so did you leave Kyueed with them?"

"Hai, I swear he's becoming a plushy to those two more than anything else. Still I can't say that those buggers aren't the handiest thing to have around." Chuckled Naruko as Sakura and Hinata gave the girls a small look before shifting over to Minami, who had a slightly guilty look on her face. Sakura slowly let a grin spread across her face.

"Ok Minami spill, how many do you have?" as the pink haired girl pointed at the redhead who was attempting to look anywhere but at the girl across from her. After a few moments of silence Minami let out a sigh reaching down and pulling up a black orb with a single golden strip along it.

"So we kept Seekaku to help us with training." Stated Minami getting a grin out of Sakura.

"I swear after the invasion those things are becoming party favors, so why is it collapsed?" questioned the pink haired girl. From across from her Naruko spoke up.

"Because when he was out people kept wanting talk to him, or pet his tail and ears, we had our own little trail of kids at one point. Heck when we got here the waitress even wanted to talk to it, took us forever just to get seated." Chuckled the blonde. The girls continued to talk back and forth through their meal until they finally headed out back towards their respective homes.

* * *

As the girls were marching towards home another group of individuals were at that moment marching towards the massive gates of Konoha. There were around several dozen of them in total all sporting headbands with Taki's waterfall sigil upon them. Most were dressed in a similar fair to the familiar Konoha green, however there was one figure that stood slightly apart from her fellows both in dress and distance.

Trailing slightly behind was a girl that could not have been more than fourteen at the most, her tan skin draped in a small white cutoff kimono and accessorized with a huge red scroll that draped down her back. The wind blowing slightly through the trees along the trail caused her mint green hair to sway gently overshadowing her orange eyes every now and then. However, this seemed to go unnoticed by the teen as she seemed be showing signs of some kind of a headache at the time. The cause of this was the excited voice in her head that kept chirping away at her as it had been for the past four days straight. Poor Fu was starting to wonder if she would end up going nuts before she ever even reached Konoha.

"**Hey Fu hurry up will you! You're going so slow, seriously just fly come on why do you go so slow, hey look another bird that's what number thirty right, bet that number wouldn't be so big if you...oh I don't know flew to where Kaasan was come on! I'm so bored!" ** Called a slightly metallic sounding voice inside the youths head. Fu in response just let out a heavy sigh continuing to pace forwards at the same pace.

_Chōmei please for the love of kami, Shinigami and every other being of power shut up please, you have been going at it like this for days now and I'm starting to lose it! _Replied Fu as she personally hoped that the hokage's wife might have some kind of aid to offer with her seal. The seal had been agitated for the past few days ever since that…well whatever it was had caused that pulse in her seal. Ever since Chomei had been yelling about her Kaasan, almost nonstop heck Fu didn't even know she had a Kaasan until then, but now it was Kaasan this, Kaasan that.

These thoughts brought them up to the gates of Konoha, and as the Jonin showed their forms, and began to get instructions Fu happened to look up and around her. She was born and bred in the smaller village of Taki, and had never been allowed out of the village, her status had always kept her securely under watch, but with this event with the seal she was getting her chance to see a new place, and despite her annoyance with Chomei's constant talking she was looking to have some fun while she was here.

As her eyes traced over the building she couldn't help but let out a small whistle at the sheer size of the place. Then with a jolt Fu's eyes fell upon an oddity upon the Konoha skyline. What appeared to be a large purple and white tree was there, growing in the dead center of the village. Just as she was thinking how odd that was Chomei let out an excited chatter of noise.

"**It's Kaasan! I knew it! I knew it! Told you she was here, hurry Fu hurry up, you need to go there now, come on let's go! Fu I am not going to bend on this one! Come on girl move it! One, two, one, two! Flap those wings we haven't got all day! Come on that's Kaasan! Let's go! What do we want, Kaasan, when do we want her RIGHT NOW! KAASAN, KAASAN!" **called Chomei as she pumped a small pulse of chakra through the seal and into Fu causing the girl to sprout a pair of long dragonfly like winds from the small of her back causing those around her to turn suddenly in her direction. Oddly enough the two Anbu on guard seemed to simply shrug it off before turning back to the Jonin leader. Fu in the meantime had finally reached the end of her patience.

"Fine, FINE I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE I'M GOING OK, I DON'T CARE LETS GO SEE KAASAN!" called Fu in a half crazed voice as she took off into the air and shot towards the tree in the center of the village. The Taki forces looked about ready to move before an Anbu motioned for them to remain stationary.

"There is no need to be concerned Hokage-sama had informed us of this possibility, rest assured Fu-san is in no danger, we have Anbu position there to escort her back to the hokage office when she has completed her mission here." spoke the Anbu before getting back to the paper work.

Meanwhile Fu was shooting forwards her wings blurring as Chomei called out excitedly as she raced forwards becoming a mint green blur that rocketed towards the stadium. It was only a few moment later that Fu all but crashed into the stadium halting suddenly just before she impacted the grassy ground her eye's wide with a half manic glint shining in them.

"THERE YOU ARE KAASAN TREE NOW SHUT HER UP PLEASE!" called Fu drawing a couple pair of eyes over to her as she ran forwards slamming her hands onto the tree's surface, even as she let out several panting breaths. There was then a small silent pause where only the sound of the wind occasionally interrupted by another heavy intake from the girl could be heard, until Chomei spoke up again.

"**This is not Kaasan…" **the metallic voice spoke in a huff that almost sounded like it belonged coming out of a child. This was it for poor Fu, with a small whimpering breath she just let herself fall back onto the grass cackling as she did.

"Oh course not! Why would it be, after all it's just what you have been driving me crazy over why shouldn't it be a fake!" called the girl as from a small distance away she heard a forced cough. Turning her head she glared over at a pair of teens who were lying with their backs to the massive tree. The redheaded of the pair being the origin of the noise. Fu gave him an annoyed glare for a moment as he turned his own teal eyes lazily towards her.

"Hey mind leaving me alone, I'm trying to go crazy over here!" called the girl even as the redheaded boy gave a small silent smirk.

"Do what you will, Shukaku just wanted to tell Chomei that she should be acting a little more lady like in front of Kaasan, after all she hasn't seen in in what a few thousand years." Finished Gaara closing his eyes once again. For a moment both Fu and Chomei fell silent just staring at the redhead before a small movement caught their attention. Looking up Fu found herself looking up at a blonde boy with a pair of mismatched blue and purple eyes that was offering her a hand up.

"Hey Chomei, Juubi wants to say hi." Naruto said as he reached out and grasped the girl's hand.

**Ok done, sorry but this one took a lot out of me, usually these things just flow but for this one it felt like a battle. I hope that it is still enjoyable, and that you didn't mind waiting the extra time. Thanks once again to all of my followers, favoriters, and reviewers. The voting is officially closed, so tune in next time to see the winner of the vote I won't spoil it this time ****. Also this is a bit selfish but I'm really close to getting 1000 reviews, so if you never have commented before I'd really appreciate it if you took a moment to type out any comment, questions, or even complaint you have, believe it or not I do take the time to answer every single one of them that I can. Thanks again for the support songbird out.**


	25. Chapter 23

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

…1000…..Favorites and Follows …. I can't even begin to describe how amazing this is thank you…thank you thank you thank you! I am so glad that so many people enjoy this story to such an extent, and I hope that you continue to enjoy my work. I know that I had a shaky start, and sometimes you wanted to punch me in the face over cliffhangers, and flashbacks, but thanks for sticking with it for so long. Let's keep up the pace and have this story keep growing till the end.

Ok with that out there I would also like to thank every single one of you who has been reviewing on my story, you are what makes me want to pull out my laptop and type up a next chapter, without you this story wouldn't have gotten anywhere…course that could be to my short attention span lol but who knows. I have another small announcement that people have pointed out to me. Some are starting to think that the seedlings are being given away in the last chapter….and that's not really what's happening. Think of it like this, they are mimics right, so if they stay with Naruto when he isn't doing anything they don't learn anything else, so if they are out with other shinobi they are learning and increasing in ability and intelligence, in simplest terms they are growing up. Also it's not like people are taking them apart to figure out how they work, the negative chakra element, as well as their abilities are still largely unknown because they mimic only what they are seeing, so unless in heavy combat the range of their abilities is not obvious. Don't worry they aren't going to be given away as party favors lol.

Ok small addition here because I have a few people asking me, yes the other tailed beasts are aware of Juubi's return, however they are also a little more composed than Chomei and Kyu. For Chomei I modeled the personality after someone who is ADD aka has the attention span of a nat, bug personality I think you can understand that. With Kyu keep in mind he was "born" only on that night 12 years ago when he was split from Kurama, he is basically a child in comparison to the others as far as his personality, the other tailed beasts all have their own personality which will appear later, but I am looking to make each unique, and not just bunch them up and make the all the same, i.e. a waste of character.

And that brings me to my final point…Mikoto. Ok I will be one hundred percent honest with you on this one, I had no intention of ever using her in this story, and I'm very hesitant to use her much here. I did establish her being alive earlier in the story, but with her appearance many have begun asking if I will do anything with her, and the answer is a big maybe. Look she is a blank slate she had something like three lines in the story just like Hitomi, actually she has more than her but you get my point not a lot to work with. If I make her a character that's another OC to create and make work, develop, and honestly for how little I intend to have her in the story it seemed a waste. Heck the only reason she is alive is because I don't like a story where children or women die…not kidding it bothers me a lot, heck I cringed during the Giver movie recently when they put the child to sleep it's just me I don't deal well with it, and if I had Itachi do that then you think Sasuke can be written bad, or that Jiraiya deserved a thrashing it would be nothing compared to the hell I would have put Itachi through…so I chose to avoid it by changing the mission and justifying that Minato wouldn't make the same black and white choice that the third was forced to. So I hope you understand if Mikoto, and a few other small characters don't show up prominently in the story, sorry but I have something like…wow 29 characters that I have either created or have altered enough to make them my own, i.e. shukaku like characters and well I have to draw some limits.

Ok enough of my A.N. let's get onto what you actually care about Fic time.

**Chapter 23**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-Reunion and Recreation -**

"THERE YOU ARE KAASAN TREE NOW SHUT HER UP PLEASE!" called Fu drawing a couple pairs of eyes over to her as she ran forwards slamming her hands onto the tree's surface, even as she let out several panting breaths. There was then a small silent pause where only the sound of the wind occasionally interrupted by another heavy intake from the girl could be heard, until Chomei spoke up again.

"**This is not Kaasan…" **the metallic voice spoke in a huff that almost sounded like it should have been coming out of a pouting child. This was it for poor Fu, with a small whimpering breath she just let herself fall back onto the grass cackling as she did.

"Oh, of course not! Why would it be, after all it's just what you have been driving me crazy over why shouldn't it be a fake!" called the girl as from a small distance away she heard a forced cough. Turning her head she glared over at a pair of teens who were lying with their backs to the massive tree. The redheaded of the pair being the origin of the noise. Fu gave him an annoyed glare for a moment as he turned his own teal eyes lazily towards her.

"Hey mind leaving me alone, I'm trying to go crazy over here!" called the girl even as the redheaded boy gave a small silent smirk.

"Do what you will, Shukaku just wanted to tell Chomei that she should be acting a little more lady like in front of Kaasan, after all she hasn't seen in in what a few thousand years." Finished Gaara closing his eyes once again. For a moment both Fu and Chomei fell silent just staring at the redhead before a small movement caught their attention. Looking up Fu found herself looking up at a blonde boy with a pair of mismatched blue and purple eyes that was offering her a hand up.

"Hey Chomei, Juubi wants to say hi." Naruto said as he reached out and grasped the girl's hand. As the pair's hands met Fu suddenly felt a tug as the world around her seemed to shift slightly. For a moment the girl couldn't put her figure on what had changed, same big tree, same boy smiling with the mismatched eyes, same giant tanuki and pair of foxes…..wait. Fu was suddenly up on her feet her eyes bulging as she looked over at what she could idly recognize as at least three of the tailed beasts. Her reaction was….well interesting.

Before Naruto could speak a reassuring word Fu leapt back from the boy instantly going for the pouch on the back of her hip attached at her small white waist skirt, her eyes bulging slightly as a truly manic smile spread across her face as her left eye began to twitch, as a bit of manic giggling escaped her lips.

"HAhehahahehehehahahaha! THAT'S IT CHOMEI YOU DID IT I'M CRAZY BUT I WON'T GO THIS WAY YOU HERE ME YOU WANT CRAZY I'LL GIVE YOU CRAZY!" the girl called her voice cracking slightly as she spoke. Naruto adopted a look of confused horror as Fu's arms reappeared in front of her carry two large rolls of paper bombs, that Naruto could already see were lit. Naruto was about to leap away when Fu slammed the bombs down in front of her a wave of fire and smoke shooting out with a defining crash… Naruto threw up his arms to block the oncoming attack but, the pain never came…the fire wasn't hot. Just as Naruto noted this, the smoke and ash cleared away showing Fu face down on the grass her form blackened with soot and slightly smoldering a small trace of her insane giggle still escaping her lips.

More confused than anything else Naruto bent down on his knees idly reaching over to poke at the still smoldering form of Fu, still a little lost as to the context for this little episode.

"Hey there anyone left after that little explosion?" asked the blonde. For a moment there was no response for a moment till a small muffled voice came from the tan girls form.

"hehe boom goes the crazy….we sure showed them didn't we Chomei…I think I'm going to take a little nappy now." the girl huffed out to the confused boy.

Naruto crouched stunned for a moment before he looked around at the sound of laughter from behind him. There Kyu, Kurama, Juubi and even Shukaku were slumped against one another howling with laughter at the scene that had just played out. As the group continued to laugh, another slightly metallic chirping giggle joined the deeper bass of the three beasts, and the happy loving laugh of Juubi. One by one the rest of the group fell silent all turning over to look at the massive tree standing a few yards from the group. Juubi in particular had a massive smile upon her face as she spied the figure clinging on the side of the three the massive metal shell like body of Chomei, with its six wings folded back with its final green tailed body wrapped around the base of the tree.

Chomei turned its giant armored mask over towards Juubi looking nothing so much like a medieval knight's visor with a strong orange glow flowing out behind the grate. Juubi smiled fondly over at her youngest daughter for a moment before she seemed to pause looking the figure up and down before crossing her arms and quirking up one eyebrow even as the other three beasts managed to stifle their laughter.

"**Chomei-chan? What are you doing hiding back there?" **called Juubi, Chomei's giggles dying down as the massive insect shifted slightly to move its body further behind the tree, it's massive visored face never leaving Juubi's own.

"**Sorry Kaasan but I'm not coming out or taking off my armor with Kurama Imoto there…last time I did he blew me all over the forest, it took me a week to put myself back together, though I did get to see this great waterfall, it was so cool Goku-niisan would have hated it, but I bet Isobu-niisan would have loved it…what was the question again Kaasan I forgot, oh hey Shukaku-Niisan, where's your sand?" **the massive bug said firing one question after another so fast that Shukaku couldn't help but smack his own face into his open palm.

"**Kaasan you know better than to get Chomei talking…we'll be lucky if she stops by next week." **Shukaku said shrugging his massive shoulders before moving over to curl up on a small bed of sand that was slowly trailing out of thin air to form a cushion under the creature. Juubi in the meantime gave her eldest an annoyed look before with a small wave of her hand a small branch of leaves flew down from the tree to slide themselves like a calming hand over the face of Chomei silencing her speaking.

"**Chomei, Kurama-kun and Kyu-kun have already been punished and they won't do it again, will you!" **at this point Juubi pivoted to see both Kyu and Kurama moving their tails back around themselves and away from the apparent use as massive fans.

"**Oh course not Kaasan!/Oh course not Kaasan!" ** both Kitsunes called slightly annoyed at getting caught before they could perform their prank once again on Chomei. Juubi fixed the two with a slightly annoyed look before shifting it back over to Chomei.

"**Now come on Chomei I want to see my little Cho-chan!" **called Juubi stepping forward her arms outstretched as if to hug a figure her own size. Naruto in the meantime was watching these events confused as to what the family was talking about. Still at the moment he just settled for moving the girl Fu over onto her back before plopping down beside her and just sitting back to enjoy the show. Meanwhile before him Chomei was slowly moving down the trunk of the tree until it was stretched out down the trunk vertically, its back facing the group. Just as Naruto was about to ask what was going on what looked light a bright golden line moved its way down starting at the base of Chomei's armored form to the very tip of its vented head. The light slowly grew brighter until there was a resounding crack that rang out around the grassy field rustling the leaves on the branches of the massive tree.

From the crack flooded a sudden bright golden light as the great armored form simply split open and what looked like a great golden shaking cloud that moved out from the armored husk before blowing around the tree, small flakes of golden pollen falling from what Naruto realized was hundreds if not thousands of golden wings their beating wings making no noise as the light around them continued to shine. As those present watched the golden mass moved down before a form seemed to coalesce out of the cloud of insects. The form that appeared looked to be about the same size of Juubi, her form more of an outline than an actual being. In fact as Naruto watched he noted that as the figure moved over and embraced her Kaasan he noted that the back of the figure was simply gone, like the insects had formed one massive shell on only one side as a few of the insects flew ideally around the form alighting on it every now and then as one could take flight.

Juubi in the meantime was simply holding the golden figure of her Musume, looking at the golden outline of her face, her eyes, lips, and hair all a golden shifting form made up of the cloud around her. The golden shell of a woman turned her golden outline of a face into a brilliant smile as she spoke, her voice seeming to come from a thousand tiny voices all singing out in tune.

"**Kaasan, Kaasan, Kaasan you're back, I knew it, I knew you would be, I told them I did!" **chirped the golden figure excitedly as two hollow golden arms wrapped themselves around Juubi's form, as the golden figure bounced excitedly up and down never letting go of her Kaasan. Juubi in the meantime just held her youngest musume happy tears falling from her eyes as she held the gold form of her musume. Naruto finally drew himself out of his stupor long enough to call out to the pair, causing the two to turn to face him.

"Hey, um Juubi why did your musume explode, and why are you hugging a swarm of insects?" called Naruto more than a little lost as to what he was seeing. Juubi looked like she was about to answer, however Chomei beat her to it. There was what looked like a small golden flash as the shell that Juubi was holding fell apart and rushed over to right before the boy crouching down before him the golden face of the swarm made figure looking into his own its head cocked to one side.

"**Hey are you with Kaasan, is this your head, that's so cool he what happened to Fu? Why is she covered in black stuff, I hate black stuff, so hey you have different colored eyes, that's cool. HEY SHUKAKU-NIISAN COME SEE THIS KIDS EYES!" **called Chomei as she waved a hollow arm back and forth as a few insects came loose before moving back into place, even as she leaned closer and closer to Naruto causing him to lean further and further back. From over on his sand Shukaku quirked an eyebrow up one black and gold eye moving over to look at Chomei.

"**That's nice Chomei, Naruto run it's your only hope." **Called the tanuki as it laid back down to sleep. Naruto in the meantime was edging back slightly from the figure before him looking a little worried as he did. Luckily for the boy he was saved by a small groan coming from beside the boy. The two looked over in turn as Fu slowly fidgeted before blinking her orange pupil less eyes open looking up at the golden figure leaning over the boy beside her.

"Well that didn't work I'm still crazy, hey golden girl mind handing me another roll of explosive tags from my pouch?" asked the girl as Chomei looked over confused at the girl.

"**But Fu you have to meet Kaasan first, if you blow up again you'll miss your chance, oh and this is his head, neat huh, hey isn't it neat how we can't get hurt in here, why do you have all that black stuff anyway?" **asked Chomei in another rapid fire series of voices before Juubi moved over with a small wave of leaves moving over to wrap around the swarm form creating a large orb with a small grate like the one on Chomei's armor one side.

"**Huh Kaasan? Why did you put me back in a cage? I just got out of my armor, hey Fu get Kaasan to let me go!" **called Chomei as Fu leaned up looking bamboozled at the now recognized Chomei before looking over to Naruto and Juubi before letting out a heavy sigh.

"So…I'm not crazy am I?" she asked looking around as everyone from Shukaku to Naruto shook their heads slowly as Fu let her head droop.

"I knew it, the world is the crazy one." finished the green haired girl as she fell back on the soft grass with a little sigh.

* * *

While the family reunion was underway, Minato had finally managed to clean the last of the paint from his office just as a rap came at the door causing the man to look round with a small twitch in his eye.

_I swear if this is one more appeal from the council I will burn every single form I can lay my hands on before declaring a war on all paperwork everywhere. _Thought the blonde as he moved over to plop down behind his desk a small hum coming from below the desk.

"Easy there Seedling, remember your in hiding until Neko comes back." Minato whispered down to the hidden seedling as a hum escaped from below his desk before going silent as Minato turned to face the office doors.

"Come in." he called as the doors slowly opened and Tsunade marched shutting the door behind her as she moved to plop herself down in the seat across from Minato. The two blondes faced one another for a moment before with a sigh Minato bent down into a drawer of the desk pulling out a bottle of Saki as he reemerged. In silence Minato set a pair of dishes down pouring a generous amount into both. Before the Hokage could even set the bottle down Tsunade had already pulled the dish up and emptied it in a single swig and followed that up by slamming the dish back down and gesturing for more. Minato gave the women a sad little look before pouring another helping and moved to take his own dish from the table.

"So I take it he is still not speaking." Minato asked his fellow blonde with a tone that made it clear this was a statement and not a question. Tsunade answered by letting out an angry snort before taking the bottle in hand and pulling a solid swig from it.

"That baka clamed up on everyone, he just sits there staring out the window barely doing anything, heck he isn't even trying to flirt with the Nurses…he is acting like a child!" Tsunade managed before taking another swig as Minato gave his head a sad little shake following it up by taking a drink from his own diss.

"That worried are you?" Minato spoke once again his tone carry the same declaration as before. Tsunade for her part didn't even seem to notice as she took another swig, before letting her body ease back into the office chair.

"About that baka, never, I'm just angry how he's acting…he could be doing something, fixing what he did…trying…like we did!" Tsunade replied as she took another massive swig finishing the bottle. However, behind her bravado Minato could see the traces of tears in the women's eyes. She had been like this for the past few days, just as long as Jiraiya had been in his silent state. Shizune had been the one to notice first, she had come to Kushina and Minato looking for help, but so far none of the three were able to manage to do more than run damage control on the women. It hadn't taken long to figure out what was happening to the women. She was watching another loved one die, and once again she couldn't seem to do anything to fix that someone she loved… and that knowledge was eating her up inside.

After a moment Minato let out a sigh drawing Tsunade's gaze up towards him, her brow cocked as if expecting him to say something. As the silence stretched on the women finally couldn't take it anymore and spoke up.

"What you want to tell me how this isn't a big deal, how Jiraiya will be ok, or that I shouldn't be worried, that I should just push through, hu, you tell me how I'm supposed to look at him like this and know I helped put him like that. If I had tried harder, if I had come back sooner then…then maybe he…" here her voice broke slightly causing her to look away from Minato her eyes pressed closed as a single tear worked its way from her eyes even as her blonde hair hung over her face shielding it from view. For a moment Minato didn't speak as he raised his glass to his lips once again taking a small sip before setting it down in front of him and fixing his fellow blonde with a sad stare.

"I was going to ask you the same thing Tsunade, how do you fix something like that. Look at me, you're closer to my Sochi than I am, and I don't deserve any better. I destroyed his life and now I'm fighting to make up for it, but it all feels so pointless…I keep blaming myself for all the times that I could have made a better choice…all the times I wish that I could go back and fix it..so tell me Tsunade, how did you do it…how did you find a way to know Naruto the way you do? Answer me that and maybe I'll know how to help you to help Jiraiya." replied Minato in a somber tone that cause Tsunade to raise her head slowly to look over at the hokage, her face of mix of anger and pity for her fellow blonde. After another pause she let out another heavy sigh she leaned back further into her chair.

"Fine but I need a drink." She replied as Minato nodded waving a hand ideally in the air sending out a small pulse of chakra. Tsunade was about to ask what he was doing when a seed slowly moved out of the shadow of Minato's desk before unfolding into a miniature Anbu in a Neko mask that looked the two over with a small hum of greeting.

"Hey grab another bottle from the seal would you." Asked Minato shaking the empty bottle for good measure. The seedling in turn looked at the bottle before striking up a passible salute before moving over to a small cabinet with scrolled laid across it as though they were in a wine shelf. With a hum the seedling picked on before moving back over to Minato and handing over the scroll giving the man another salute before shifting back into a seed and moving back under the table. During the entire event Tsunade had watched Minato with one eyebrow quirked up as if asking the man "really you're doing that?" Minato simply gave a shrug as he pulled another bottle from the scroll matching the women's silence as he poured out a glass for each of them again. As Tsunade pulled the cup up she looked down into the crystal clear liquid her own brown eyes looking back at her the sadness in her face mirrored upon the reflection.

"Well I guess it just took time, heck first time I actually hung out with the kid it was just lunch, after I told him about Nawaki all I did was sit there like a stump as Shizune and him talked…I felt like an idiot the whole time just watching him laugh. Took me another week before I was even able to get myself to try to meet with him again." Started the blonde as she took a sip from her Saki dish.

-Flashback-

A week after her first meeting with Naruto Tsunade founder herself standing in front of the Namikaze home once again knocking on the door as her mind raced at what in the world she was doing there.

_Great this is just brilliant what am I doing here, sure I want to see that gaki but what am I supposed to do, just stand and just look at him he'll think I'm nuts, I could offer to help with his medical work but Shizune already has that covered….gah how the heck did I let this happen. Oh just shut up Tsunade you're hear now so just shut up and get to working. _The blonde argued just as the door to the home swung open and Mito looked out blinking up at Tsunade before her face burst into a wide grin.

"Baba-chan!" cried the small redhead as she sprang forwards impacting the women's legs with enough force to almost boll the poor women over. Tsunade managed to remain standing, as she smiled down at the excited girl reaching a hand down to ruffle the girls long red hair.

"Wow there gaki, it's nice to see you too." Smiled the blonde as Mito turned her head up to beam at the women. A small sound of motion caught Tsunade's attention as she looked up to see that Kushina was now standing in the doorway, dressed in her Uzumaki armor, as she crossed her grieve covered arms giving the two before her a knowing little smirk which Tsunade returned.

"So you decided to take the position hu, haven't' seen you in that armor for ages. Sure you're not too old for it." Chuckled Tsunade as she looked across the black bodysuit with it's almost samurai like armor covered in a sea of seals that gave Kushina the look of some kind of legendary warrior. In response Kushina puffed out her cheeks a bit a small annoyed look and blush creeping up her face.

"Hey it hasn't been that long; I'm still a young woman!" fired of Kushina causing Tsunade to let out a little laugh at the women's look of surprise.

"Besides do you really want to discuss age Baba-chan." Kushina finished a knowing look as Tsunade gained her own annoyed smirk to match the redheads. The two women glared at one another for a moment before their serious masks broke and the two started to laugh as Kushina stepped back to allow Tsunade to enter Mito now running back down the hall ahead of the pair. As the women entered into the living room Tsunade spied Hitomi out on the back porch along with Hanabi. As she watched Mito raced out into the yard a single golden chain grabbing Hanabi as she raced by dragging the boy after her.

"I asked Hitomi-chan over to help look after Mito while I was training, I want to keep it secret from Naruto so I can surprise him during team placements, and luckily it seems I haven't lost my touch." Chuckled Kushina as she looked over at Tsunade. Tsunade in turn gave a small nod before she found herself looking around the attempting to find some trace of a particular blonde. From beside her Kushina seemed to notice the women's action before a small bit of understanding slowly washed over her face.

"If you are looking for Naruto, then he will be here in just a bit, he and Hinata-chan went out to grab something for the kids, if you wait he will be here soon enough. Make yourself at home while you wait." Kushina said as she marched her way back to the front of the house on arm raised enough to give a small parting wave.

"I have to get some more work in, tell Naruto I'll be back in time for our lesson." Called Kushina before the snap of a door closing told Tsunade that she was now alone in the Namikaze home. Finding nothing for it Tsunade moved over to one of the armchairs of the home sinking slowly into it with letting her eyes slowly scan the room around her. As she did she spotted a photo she hadn't remembered seeing before, sitting a small distance away on an end table where it could be seen from anywhere in the room. With an air of curiosity Tsunade found herself leaning forwards slightly to get a better look at the photo.

It wasn't very large, only about the size a large book might be, set in a simple frame, but for some reason that didn't seem to register with the women the photo inside seemed to have an almost alluring nature to it. Tsunade found herself smiling as she inspected the photo, there in the center was what could only have been Naruto as he was now giving the camera the largest smile he could fit on his little face, a huge bowl of ramen sitting before him, as behind him Kushina stood half bent so that her smiling face took up a corner of the frame, both flashing the camera a thumbs up. Ideally Tsunade noted that the Naruto in the photo could not have been more than seven or eight, but before she could thing on this more something else drew her attention. With a small jolt Tsunade heard the door open aa a pair of voices ring out.

"Hinata-chan I'm telling you if you and Sakura keep this up you two are going to be the greatest medical shinobi ever!" called a familiar male voice.

"Nar-naruto we both have a lot of work to do, besides we only just passed the exam, and we still have a lot to learn from lady Tsunade and Shizune-sensei." Replied a softer female tone. Tsunade could almost see the blush that was likely adorning the girl's cheeks as she spoke. Soon the two teens entered the living room their arms loaded down with a few bags of what could only be food for tonight's dinner. As the two entered both turned to see Tsunade sitting her brown eyes turned towards them, as a small smile played across her lips.

"Hinata is right about that gaki, they still have a long way to go, but if they keep it up who knows they may just make me and Shizune look like the apprentices." Smiled the blonde as Naruto and Hinata both look over at the sage obviously surprised to see her there. Before either could speak, however, Tsunade continued.

"Hinata-chan could you let me borrow you boyfriend for a little while, I promise I'll bring him back in one piece." The women asked looking over to Hinata who gave small nod of her head obviously still a little off guard from finding Tsunade waiting for them. After she and Naruto had taken care of the bags, Hinata had giving Naruto a quick hug before moving out into the back to find a place beside Hitomi leaving the two blondes alone in the room. For a moment the two just looked at one another before Tsunade finally broke the silence.

"So Naruto…do you want to take a little walk with me?" Tsunade managed before mentally berating herself for her lame choice of words. _Take a little walk is he five what the heck is wrong with me, gah I was right I haven't got a clue what I'm doing, I should have let Hinata stay, heck maybe bring Shizune at least then I'd have something to talk about. _However, before the women could get much farther into her rant Naruto's voice rang out.

"Um ok, where should we go?

The boy's words caused Tsunade to halt her mental discussion and look with an air of almost confusion over at the boy in front of her before her mind kicked back into gear.

"Ah, well I was thinking we could just kind of take a walk and get to know one another a little better, you know just wanted to get to know my godson a little." Tsunade replied before falling back into another mental discussion. _Oh that's great remind him of how you don't know thing one about him, that just freaking perfect, I swear you are the dumbest blonde I know! _ But once again just as the women began to build up steam Naruto's voice spoke up once again.

"Ok but there isn't really that much to me hope you don't get bored." Chuckled the blonde as he turned towards the door casting a look over his shoulder at Tsunade as he did.

"Well are we going?" he asked causing Tsunade to snap out of the stupor she had fallen into before standing up and moving over to follow the boy out of the house and into Konoha. The two walked for a time Tsunade firing off questions and Naruto answering them before firing off his own. The two found themselves continuing this until eventually the pair of blondes found themselves sitting on a park bench. Together the two sat looking out over a small fountain as it bubbled up the smooth waves of water dancing down its sides in the midday sun.

For the majority of the walk it had been question and answer but now the question's seemed to have mostly run dry. The two found themselves sitting in silence just listening to the bubbles of the fountain as a small breeze moved through the trees around them. Finally Naruto broke that silence.

"Um hey Tsunade?"

"Ya gaki what is it?" the women replied turning her head to look down at the boy beside her who seemed to be momentarily occupied in watching his own feet.

"I was…I was wondering why you wanted to get to know me now…I mean I didn't think you liked me like you did Naruko, Minami and Mito…did I do something wrong?" finished the boy looking over at Tsunade a sad weight in his eyes that caused Tsunade an almost physical pain to look into. However, this time there was not mental battle.

"NO!" the blonde women thundered out, loud enough to cause Naruto to jump slightly in his seat. Getting ahold of herself Tsunade relaxed slightly before continuing.

"Sorry Naruto, but no you didn't do anything wrong…"

"I did, I was well I was scared… you remember what I told you about my Otouto Nawaki right?" Tsunade asked as Naruto gave a women a small nod as she relaxed back into his seat.

"Well I lost him, along with a lot of others during the war…it hurt so much that I ran form the village…heck I ran from everyone…"

"Then when I came back and you were born you looked so much like my little Nawaki…heck you two even acted the same…and it hurt to see him again, so I ran…just like I always did." Finished the blonde women suddenly sounding much older than her youthful form would suggest. Naruto seemed to consider the women's words for a moment before she felt a small weight on her leg looking down to see one of the boy's hands lying gently upon it.

"So why did you stop running?" asked the boy looking straight into the deep brown eyes of the women above him, and once again the answer came forth without a moment's hesitation.

"I guess I realized that running was only hurting what I cared about more. And I'm tired of hurting those I should be caring about…hurting people like my godson." Replied Tsunade as Naruto slowly nodded giving her a small smile.

"ok baba-chan, that's good enough for me!" smiled the blonde as despite herself Tsunade let out a small laugh at the boys energy. On the way home the pair had stopped off briefly at a nearby ramen stand continuing their discussion as they went. After their meal Tsunade and Naruto had headed back to the Namikaze home still talking as they went, Tsunade teasing the boy while laughing at how easy he was to rile up. In the weeks that followed the two blondes continued to meet, each time the discussion becoming easier, each time the distance between them shrinking if only by a bit. Meanwhile a new photo had joined the one of Naruto and Kushina showing a pair of blondes both smiling at out from another simple picture frame.

-flashback end-

As Tsunade wrapped up her tale Minato let out a small sigh as he took up his dish taking another swig from it before leaning back in his chair his eyes looking up at the ceiling.

"So just have to stop running hu… sounds easier that it is." Minato said as from across from him Tsunade nodded.

"I guess that's all we can do… I stop running from my past…any you stop running from your feelings…go to him Tsunade…go and give he a reason to want to stop running, kami knows you both know you want to." Finished the blonde as he set his glass down. Tsunade in turn looked over at the man for a moment before giving a small nod of her own.

"Hai…I suppose that is all I can do." She finished as she pushed herself up from her chair and turned to exit the hokage's office.

* * *

As the meeting in the office was coming to an end, Fu was just coming back to consciousness with a grown rubbing her head as she did. Slowly she took not that she was lying against something and in a sitting position. The girls groans were enough to drawn the other two boys attention both looking over at her as she finished coming too.

"Hey welcome back, sorry I didn't warn you but kind of hard to say, oh hey I'm going to suck you into my mind so that we can have a family reunion, so ya sorry about that." Called Naruto raising a hand up to wave sheepishly over at Fu. Gaara in the meantime let out a sigh before settling back to get some more rest. Fu in the meanwhile just looked over at Naruto with an annoyed look on her face.

"Well gee that makes me feel oh so much better." replied Fu as she leaned back letting her mind relax taking a moment to recognize that she could no longer hear Chomei screaming away inside her head. This was a happy enough realization that it caused Fu to burst out into a wide grin.

"Ha silence oh thank you Juubi-Kaasan silence at last!" called out Fu throwing her arm sup in happiness as she spoke causing a small annoyed grunt form her left.

"Silence would be nice wouldn't it, mind trying for a moment." Called Garra his tone slightly annoyed to which Fu simply have him a slightly superior smirk before she pushed herself up looking down at Naruto with a small smirk.

"So Naruto Hu what do you do for fun around here, or is everyone as exciting as Mr. Tanuki boy over there." Asked Fu jabbing a thumb over at Garra who just continued to look forwards attempting to fall asleep. Naruto let out a small chuckle pushing himself up on his feet as he did his eyes looking around the apparently deserted arena before waving over at a corner after first causing Fu to wonder if the boy was mental.

"Hey Neko can you look after Gaara so I can take Fu out on the town for a bit?" called the boy as a female Anbu appeared for.

"You know some time you have to explain to me how you are always able to find us?" asked the Anbu looking between Naruto and Garra as she spoke. Gaara just continued his apparent nap as Naruto flashed another wide grin.

"Don't worry about it Neko-san; Gaara now you be a good boy, come on Fu lets go." Called the boy as he moved away Fu moving after him an excited little skip in her step as she moved forwards. Soon the pair were out in the village Fu looking around excitedly as she marched through the its many streets. After a time she called out causing Naruto to hold his progress and look back at her.

"So what's it like growing up in a village like this, it must be crazy." Called Fu slightly twirling to look around at the village around her. Naruto in turn couldn't help but smile at the girl's question.

"Hai it was a pretty amazing place." He replied before a call caused the two to look round as two familiar figures approached them.

"Hey Niisan what's up, Hey is that the girl who blew herself up Kyuubi's been laughing about for a while now!" called Naruko waving as beside her Minami gave a small chuckle remembering the story that Kyu had explained to her. Fu at hearing this blushed slightly before looking at the pair crossing her arms as she did.

"So I guess your my fellow jinchuuriki, wow can't walk a block in this town without tripping over one of us. What is Konoha looking to start up a collection?" chuckled the tan girl as Naruko and Minami reached the pair grinning over at the green haired girl.

"Hai we do seem to be multiplying, blame Niisan for that, names Naruko by the way." Finished the blond stretching a hand out to Fu as she spoke. Fu took the hand before grinning back at the girl.

"Well at least we are on the same page." Chuckled Fu as she turned to greet Minami who was still smiling at the girl.

"So did you really try and blow yourself up? Minami by the way." Minami said taking Fu's hand in greeting. Fu gave the girl a small annoyed look, before she smirked at Minami.

"Ya I did, but how would you react to a crazy bug chirping out you for days on end, true I didn't handle it well, but hey there are crazier things I could have tried, Kyu mentioned something about a time you tried to drowned him out by jumping in a lake." Fired back Fu causing Minami to blush as both Naruko and Naruto gave the redhead look of apparent amusement. Fu in the meantime let out a small chuckle as she looked around at the three triplets before her.

"Well it seems all I meet in this village are crazy people, but I have to say better than the assholes I'm used to dealing with." Fu finished her words getting a sad look form the three. The Namikaze's knew of the girls problems, jinchuuriki were rarely seen as anything more than a weapon, and to a small village like Taki it was likely even harder on the girl before them.

"Hey why don't you come home with us for now, the days about over anyway." Suggested Naruto getting a nod from both his neesan's as they looked over at Fu. In turn the Taki Jinchuuriki looked around the three before giving a small shrug.

"Sure I'm fine with that, I have to meet the hokage and his wife at some point but I'm sure I can find them tommorw." Replied Fu as the triplets looked around at one another, with a look that caused Fu to pause.

"What you all look like I just said something funny?" asked the girl as the three siblings looked over at her with knowing grins.

"Don't worry you'll figure it out soon enough." replied Naruto as the four turned and set off towards the Namikaze home.

Soon the group found themselves standing outside the home as Naruto moved to open the door. Fu meanwhile hung back slightly, although everyone so far had been pretty accepting of her she was still a little nervous about meeting anyone else besides her fellow jinchuuriki. Her time as in Taki had made her more than a little hesitant to trust easily, heck the only reason she had been open with the three around her was thanks to their own status…well that and she couldn't help but admit that it was nice to have some people that didn't look at her as a monster.

Just as she was contemplating this point the door began to crack open. She noticed vaguely that the three before her were suddenly tensing, and moving to either side of the door. Alarm bells started to go off in her head but before she could act a red rocket suddenly shot forwards flinging past the three and straight into her, bowling her over with a loud cry.

"Yay you're back I was so bored Kaasan left to have lunch and!" cried out before looking down to notice the girl under her was not in fact one of her siblings. Mito blinked down at Fu for a moment longer before giving the girl a happy smile that Fu answered with a confused look.

"Hey who are you? I've never seen you around? Are you a friend of Aniki's, hey I know you know Juubi! Do you know Kyu he's so fluffy, I know I'll introduce you, wait where's Kyueed you'll like him he's fluffy to" fired off Mito with her usual excitement, this of course gave Fu the equivalent of horror flashbacks to her last few days with Chomei, causing a rather intense reaction to the little redhead.

Without any warning Fu let out a small cry of panic as twin wings erupted form under her back and she shot up causing Mito to roll back head over heal ending up laying down looking up at the sky. Meanwhile the triplets also found themselves looking up to see Fu clinging to a street lamp looking down at Mito with apparent fear in her eyes.

"Chomei has found a way to get out, she'll never leave me alone now, she is inside, and outside, I'm doomed, run for you lives!" called Fu in a panic as Mito picked herself up her eyes sparkling as she looked up at the girl hanging above her.

"You can fly that's awesome, Aniki lets me fly with seed-kun sometimes, but you can do it all the time, that's awesome, hey can you teach me to, please, please! I'm Mito hey come on bug girl!" called Mito excitedly as Naruto held out his hand causing Seekaku to rise slowly out of Naruko's pack and unfolded into the tanuki seedling Its mismatched eyes focused on the scene before it, as it let out a small annoyed mix of hum and huff as it allowed its sand tail to wrap around Mito causing her question to be silenced at last.

In the meantime Naruto looked up at Fu a small smirk on his face.

"Ok Fu you can come down now my ooh so dangerous imoto is taken care of, you won't be harmed and don't worry the world isn't being overrun by hyperactive annoying creatures… just Konoha" Called the blond as Fuu gave the group an embarrassed little glare before hopping down her wings fluttering slightly allowing her to slow her fall, until she landed giving the triplets a slightly embarrassed look before she straightened up.

"Thanks for that, by the way, you could have warned me you lived with a red headed attack dog." Called Fu in apparent annoyance pausing as she spotted Seekaku looking back at her seemingly bored with her somehow. Fu in turn gave the seedling an equally annoyed look.

"you have something to add tanuki boy?" called the girl as Seekaku looked over at her again before turning to walk inside Mito still clutched in its massive tail. Fu gave a happy little snort at this as he left turning to look around at the three with a smirk.

"So what's with tall dark and tanuki?" asked the girl as the rest just chuckled as they moved to enter the home waving the girl to follow after them.

* * *

While Fu was experiencing her indoctrination into the Namikaze home, across the village a pair of cloaked figures were moving through the streets their straw hats pulled low over their faces as they pushed their way through the crowds of the village. The two stood tall the red clouds that decorated their black cloaks cause a few eyes to turn their way, but every eye that did so soon found itself turning away again as though their minds were somehow gently pushed aside. The taller of the pair let out a small chuckle as another pair of villagers who had turned in their direction found themselves suddenly very interested in the nearby contents of a shop window.

"I have to say Itachi you do make walking through a town a bit more relaxing; heck almost makes me wonder why we bother with these blasted hats." Spoke up the larger figure looking down at his fellow a small shark's grin spreading across his face as he did. The smaller of the two simply turned his bright red pinwheel eyes up at his fellow with an annoyed glare.

"My genjutsu's well keep us unnoticed as long as we do not go out of our way to draw attention to ourselves, seeing myself or a large bipedal shark is beyond my scope to keep suppressed, I am a shinobi not a miracle worker." Replied Itachi getting a happy chuckle from his fellow.

"Oh did I make you angry, I swear it's the only time I get more than one word out of you, and the tall dark and brooding is just plain annoying, I swear Hidan is at least entertaining with his madness. Though it was blessing when he ran out of those pamphlet scrolls." Chuckled Kisame as he turned back ahead happening to spy a small restaurant a few yards away, and smirking.

"Hey mind if we grab a bite haven't had a decent meal for the past few days, besides you can't tell me you don't want some home town cooking." Chuckled Kisame, as Itachi once again gave his fellow an annoyed glare, before shrugging and turning to enter into the restaurant with Kisame following behind him a happy little smirk on his face. Soon the two found themselves sitting in an open booth a cup of tea before each. For a time the two simply shared a silent meal until Itachi suddenly stiffened, his eyes swiveling up and around the restaurant for a moment be swinging back around to focus on Kisame. As the Shark looked up he felt a small pulse of chakra, but simply brushed it off as he saw a pair of chunnin a few tables away looking suddenly away from them.

_Yep a handy little trick that Itachi has._ Thought the ex Kiri shinobi as he turned back to his menu not noticing as the women slowly slipped into the booth beside him, nor did he notice as Itachi slowly leaned back in his seat his entire form relaxing as he did an almost physical calm coming off of the man as he did. The women across from him in the meantime turned her bright red pinwheel eyes up to look at her eldest Sochi a sad smile upon her lips.

"Itachi-kun… it has been a long time Sochi… how are you?" sked Mikoto as she stretched a hand across the table a little over towards Itachi, stopping just past hallway making no move to get closer to the red eyed youth. For his part Itachi remained silent just looking across the table at his Kaasan his face impassive and remote. After a time his eyes turned down not able to meet his Kaasan's eyes, and only then did he speak.

"Why are you not rushing to summon Anbu…and why are you not attacking me for the deaths of our clans men…your husbands?" questioned the youth as from across him Mikoto let a small sad smile cross her lips as she looked across at her Sochi.

"Come now Itachi-kun, did you really think that I wouldn't demand to know the truth, you may have fooled those that didn't know you, you may have managed to stop Sasuke-kun from knowing of your true actions, but I know my sochi…you were never a monster…you were and still are a shinobi of Konoha, and if not for our clan's foolishness you would still be living here now. No Itachi-kun all I have to say to you is to beg for forgiveness for not being strong enough to force my child to fix the mistakes of our family." finished Mikoto as Itachi's stoic form shifted slightly his eye's widening in surprise at the women's words. The ex Anbu captain found his usually calm standing shaken slightly. She knew…she knew of his mission and his actions… and yet she was here just speaking to him…apparently happy to see him. Many things Itachi had expected when he reentered Konoha…this was not one of them.

For a time the two simply sat there before Itachi slowly reached his hand out across the table his hand moving over to softly rest against the smooth skin of his Kaasan's, a happy warm sensation coming from the simple contact with his Kaasan once more. Despite himself Itachi couldn't keep a small warm smile off of his face as he looked over at Mikoto, who has small tears forming in her eyes as she looked across meeting her sochi's eyes for the first time in years.

"It was my choice to make Kaasan…how much do you know?" Itachi asked as Mikoto gave a small nod, before speaking.

"I know everything Itachi-kun…after you left I confronted the Hokage and Kushina…after a time they told me the truth. I almost attacked them then and there for asking you to stop our clan… but after a while I was forced to recognize that it was never something that they had any choice in. Your Tousan and the Uchiha council put them in a situation where the only choice they had was to protect their home…I only wish I had been strong enough to stop it before it reached such a level…I only wish I hadn't just agreed with them." Continued Mikoto as she reached up a hand to wipe a few stray tears away. Itachi in turn simply bowed his head listening to the women's words before speaking.

"Di-did it work…are the rest afraid of becoming monsters… are they now afraid to let their power dictate their actions… are they afraid of becoming me?" asked the red eyed boy not looking up from the table his tone laced with an almost pleading note. Only that tone told just how desperately he prayed that his actions had saved his family…that he could be the symbol to keep the Uchiha from turning upon their own arrogance and pride once more. From across the table Mikoto let a few more tears fall from her eyes as she looked at her eldest…the boy who had taken the sins of his clan onto his shoulders to protect the innocent…to become the monster that may keep them from the same end as those he had been forced to slay that night.

"…Hai Itachi…it worked. the little ones…all of those left now fear falling to their own pride…they now find comfort in others…strength through bonds and not their own pride… they will never take the path of your tousan…you saw to that. But Itachi please you've done enough please you don't need to give your life…please my Itachi… not matter what else anyone says I will always love you…and I pray every day that you will someday come back to me. " finished Mikoto as Itachi looked up at her with a sad little smile.

"I hope that to Kaasan…but I still have a part to play in protecting my home…and my family. But someday I will come back to you…I promise." Replied the boy giving his Kaasan's hand another squeeze before releasing her hand and leaning back his eyes turning back to look across from him towards his associate. Mikoto in turn gave a small teary eyes smile before moving to stand moving slowly past the table till she stood beside her Sochi. Then before Itachi could protest had leaned down to wrap the boy in a tight hug, conveying more emotion in the simple gesture than any amount of words could possible do. This was her Sochi…this was her child, and even if he was a villain to the world he would always be perishes to her. Then before she lost control of herself she pushed herself away moving to exit the store holding her head high knowing the pride that comes with having such as shinobi as a child. Itachi in turn forced his own emotions down; fighting to keep the genjutsu he had laid over himself in play so as not to alert his comrade. After at time he was finally able to pull himself back together and breathed a sigh letting the genjutsu fall.

"and I mean come on there is no way that I'm working with Kakuzu bastard stiff you on every bill, by the way I suppose you have this one covered?" finished Kisame as he looked over at Itachi who gave no visible sign of interest towards his words. Still with Itachi this was a common enough response that Kisame simply shrugged it off.

The pair continued their meal for a time, before finally moving back out into the village. The two moved to find lodgings for the night, before continuing their mission the next day. As they moved though the village the pair couldn't help but notice the massive addition to the village in the stadium. Pain had sent the pair to investigate the recent invasion, and the odd rumors of some kind of creature that could account for the location of another Jinchuuriki. At the time the locations of most of the creatures were accounted for but a few including the three and six tails were still unaccounted for.

"I swear being here is such a waist, I mean so far all we have seen is a big tree whatever rumors were going around are probably just that." Spoke Kisame as Itachi simply nodded his mind still focused on the recent encounter with his Kaasan.

* * *

That night when Minato and Kushina arrived home they found Fuu along with their children gathered around laughing with one another. Poor Fu had frozen when she recognized Minato quickly offering apologies even as she shot death looks at the triplets who were smirking at her having been waiting for this reaction for a while. After the introductions had been made the family had after a meal turned in for the night without much incident. The next morning found Minato having to take Fu to the hokage's office for matters of getting her identification to move freely around the village without an escort, while Naruko and Minami had taken Mito with them to visit Hanabi, Kushina mentioning that she and Naruto had needed to take care of a minor mission for the team since Hinata was starting training and Kiba was busy with clan business saying they would be gone for no more than a few days before the pair headed out.

Thus did Kushina and Naruto wind up on the road outside of Konoha the two walking side by side headed for a small village a few miles from Konoha under the presence of a simple delivery mission. As the pair marched down the dusty road Kushina couldn't help smiling down at the boy beside her, his blonde hair so much like his Tousan's blowing lazily in the wind as he surveyed the area they walked with a kind of calm serenity about him. Kushina found herself simply marveling that the boy…no the shinobi, her little maelstrom…had it only been a few years ago that he had been a child chasing after his sisters without a care in the world. Naruto seemed to notice the redheads gaze turning his mismatched eye up along with his happy smile to focus on her.

"Hey Kaasan what's up you've been looking at me like you expect me to bolt on you." Chuckled the boy flashing the women a familiar ear to ear grin he had inherited from her. Kushina in return was snapped form her daydreaming blinking a few times as her mind returned to reality.

"Hu, oh sorry Sochi just daydreaming I guess." Replied the redhead bopping herself comically on the head as she mirrored the boy's wide grin.

"You know for someone who doesn't have another voice in their head you sure do let your mind wander."

"Hey I had Kurama in my head since I was a child thank you very much, I think I am a card carrying member of the voices in people's heads club." Fired back the redhead as Naruto's grin grew larger if that was possible.

"Only you would argue for that position."

"Hey I put in my time." She shot back.

"Since when was having voices in your head a job. And heck if that's the case I get overtime, I'm hosting the biju family reunion in this thing." Chuckled Naruto as he jabbed thumb at his head. Kushina considered this for a moment before having to chuckle at the image of Juubi trying to corral her children to actually attend anything like a family sitting.

"I suppose you would at that sochi." giggled Kushina as she looked down the road spotting a small snack stand maneuvering her walk over to it with Naruto trailing after her, his orange coat blowing behind him as the wind caught it. As the red and orange clad figures approached the building Kushina once again found her mind wandering slightly. This continued even after the pair had ordered and sat on the bench outside of the small sweet shop Kushina's red armored form making a fine contrast with Naruto's own orange and black outfit. After a time Naruto spoke drawing her once more out of her musings.

"So Kaasan what are we doing out here, I mean I know we don't have a mission or anything, so what's up?" asked the blonde as Kushina looked at him genuinely surprised at the boys question.

"How did you?"

"Know, come on Kaasan you always play with your hair whenever you're nervous, heck Mito picked it up from you and once got a chain stuck in there." Chuckled Naruto as Kushina noticed for the first time that her left hand had been ideally playing with one of her crimson bangs. Despite herself Kushina found herself blushing with embarrassment at being found out so easily.

"I…I don't always do that dattebane."

"oh yes you do dattebayo!" chuckled back Naruto pointing at the women's hand that was even then raising up to grab at her bang again. Kushina stopped for a moment looking at her own hand before looking back at her smiling Sochi before both of them let out small spurts of laughter that soon blossomed into a full belly laugh from the pair.

"Haheeh Ho-how did you fig-figure that out?" Kushina managed to say between spurts of laughter as she looked down at the blonde. When Naruto finally managed to regain enough control of his voice he looked back up the remnants of his laugh still clinging to the grin he wore.

"Because I'm you sochi…I'm supposed to know these things." Smiled Naruto as he ideally raised a hand up to scratch behind his head causing Kushina to smirk in return.

"I suppose so, but I guess I still have a ways to go before I can point things out on the new you." Replied Kushina the small sadness in her words apparent even though the smile she wore. However before Naruto could comment Kushina had taken a breath pulling out a scroll from behind her back and handing it over to Naruto with a happy smile.

"Still I do know that this is one thing that you'll be looking forwards to." Smiled Kushina her happy tone returning carrying a bit of excitement with it in turn. Naruto accepting the scroll giving Kushina a small confused look before unrolling it, his eyes flashing back and forth down the words till his whole body seemed to stiffen.

"Ka-kaasan is-is this real?" asked the boy unable to keep the hope out of his voice as he spun his eyes to see Kushina wide smile.

"Hai Chunnin Uzumaki Naruto it is, and as to why we are out here there is a special shop in that village that will help you customize you vest, consider it a gift from me as your" kushina began but was cut off as Naruto flung himself into the women's chest taking the pair back and over the bench they sat at Naruto laughing happily the whole while.

"Kaasan this is awesome! I'm a chunnin! Thank you, thank you, thank you! dattebayo" called the boy as he held himself close to Kushina the women not even bothering attempting to push herself up but simply wrapping her arms happily around her sochi laughing at the boys happiness.

"Hai Naruto but you earned this on your own dattebane" chuckled Kushina.

After Naruto had finally calmed himself down enough the pair found themselves once again on the road naruto excitedly thinking of all the cool new missions and jobs he would be doing as a chunnin.

"This is just awesome! I'm already on my way to changing the world!" cheered Naruto smiling over at Kushina as she returned his smile in kind, before a small thought entered her mind.

"Hey Sochi?"

"Hu what is it?"

"It's just you keep talking about changing the world a lot, and up until now I kind of thought that it referred to our family, I was wondering would you mind telling me what you mean by that?" asked Kushina having been wondering about the boys manner of speech for a time, but never knowing just how to breach the subject to the boy. Naruto in turn shook his head slightly before answering.

"No I don't mind Kaasan, you see I just figured that if the world right now has a lot of problems with it, I mean people like Gato and Orochimaru are running around in it hurting families and that's not the kind of world I want to live in. Since I have the ability to help change this world for the better that's just what I'm going to do, cause I won't have people like that hurt the world that I want to share with the people I care about. It's what I promised myself when I agreed to work with Juubi that she and I would help to make this the best world we could for those we care about." replied Naruto his tone carrying a confidence along with the happiness that caused the words to have a strange kind of weight to them.

Hearing the boy Kushina could not help but feel that Naruto was not just speaking ideally, he had meant every word of what he had just said, and as she thought back to the events in wave particularly what had become of Gato she could not help but feel a little sorry for whoever tried to get in her sochi's way.

"But those are things I have to get stronger to accomplish but I'm on my way now Kassan, and I'm not doing it alone anymore, you, Hinata, Kiba, Naruko, Minami, and everyone else is starting to help, just wait and you'll see us make my world a reality. Count on it." Finished the blonde flashing Kushina another smile that wiped away any doubts she had concerning her Sochi.

Soon the pair arrived and after a brief discussion with the seamstress and a small amount of measuring the pair set off to find a place to wait for the women to finish her work. Soon the pair arrived in a small clearing as Kushina pulled the second scroll she had been carrying from her bag drawing Naruto's eye as she did.

"What's that Kaasan?"

"Well…Minato sent this along with me, and asked me to give it to you… he said that he didn't want his participation to be something to keep you from accepting the gift. He would still like to help you but he thought it would be best for you to be the one to choose if you wanted it." Finished the women as she opened the scroll revealing the necessary elements for Minato's second prized Jutsu the Rasengan.

Naruto stood dumbfounded as his eyes traveled over the document, small flashes of all the times he had seen Naruko and Minami working to master the move as well as his own hopes to be there learning it alongside them. For a moment the memories threatened to overwhelm him before he let them wash past, before he took in just what this scroll symbolized.

_He wants to give this to me…but he doesn't want his own failures to stand in the way of me receiving it… I guess in an odd way that makes since…I guess Minato-baka is serious about trying to make things up to me. _Thought the blonde as his eyes began moving over the details of the scroll. As his eye's passed over the second step Juubi who had been remaining silent up until this point let out a small cry of shock startling the pair enough for Kushina to activate her armor and for Naruto's remaining pollens to rush out around him forming a swirling mass of purple and black leaves that drifted around their pair as if caught in a sudden wind.

"Juubi what the heck you nearly gave me a heart attack!" called Naruto as the pollens slowly drifted back to lay themselves back onto his clothing once more blending with the cloth so that they were indistinguishable to the naked eye. Kushina as well relaxed the golden glow of her seals fading as the hulking form of her armor vanished.

"**Sorry, Sorry I was just…wow who would have thought I'd see something so close to my own technique turn out so different, I mean this really is eerie." **Chuckled the women as Naruto and Kushina exchanged confused looks.

"Um Juubi what are you talking about, it's just the rasengan, come on we've seen it a million times, heck we fought it remember how is this a shock to you?"

"**Naruto just because you see a jutsu doesn't mean you know how it works, I'm not a blasted Uchiha, heck I had no idea how the thing functioned and neither did you." **

"Um sorry but what's the big deal?" asked Kushina just as lost as to what was happening as her Sochi. Juubi in turn let out a sigh before replying.

"**Kushina let me ask you something first do you know how your husband thought this technique up, I mean how he developed it?"** asked the Juubi as Kushina gave a small shrug.

"Sure he saw one of your kids shoot a bijudama I think it was the five tails, and he made the rasengan based on that does that help?" finished the redhead as Juubi let out a small chuckle.

"**hehehahaha oh this is perfect this is just what I needed, Naruto looks like your Tousan has moved down from a total maiming to a simple beating from me next time I see him this is great." **Continued the women as the pair continued to be oblivious to what the women would possibly be talking about.

"Um Juubi mind stopping with the whole half answers and crazy laughing and tell us what the heck is so funny?" called Kushina Naruto smirking slightly at his Kaasan's bluntness.

"**Wha, oh ya sorry about that Kushina look think of it this way the rasengan was created based on the bijuudama right, well the bijuudama was based on my own move which till now I had no idea how to translate to Naruto, but by using the rasengan I think we can make it work, congratulations Naruto looks like you finally get that awesome finisher you always wanted." **Finished Juubi as Naruto broke out into a huge smile he turned to show Kushina who couldn't help but return the look.

"Well Sochi I guess this little mission of ours may have some work to do on it after all." replied Kushina as she fully unrolled the scroll taking a seat as Naruto plopped down beside her eagerly looking over the first step of the rasengan.

* * *

Meanwhile back in Konoha Tsunade was moving through the halls of the hospital until she reached a hospital door guarded by a pair of Anbu. The pair nodded to Tsunade stepping to either side of the door, to allow the blonde sage through the door and into the hospital room.

As Tsunade entered she noted a few things about the room in general, first it was dark, darker than she would have thought it could be on a bright sunny day like today. The shades were drawn on the room, and all the lights had been either unplugged or shut off, so that only the barest of light was able to shin into. Coupled with this there was the figure who sat slightly hunched over facing the closed window with a clearly haunted look radiating from his entire form. Even as Tsunade entered the room Jiraiya continued to remain unresponsive, just sitting there unmoving, his form all but frozen dead to the world around him.

From her point of view the man looked nothing so much like a corpse that someone had set up for some twisted reason that escaped her. However, at the moment she pushed all of this aside focusing on why she was here…what she hoped to accomplish, rather than the madness that had engulfed the man before her… the man she hoped she could pull back from the precipice.

Slowly the blonde moved across the room ideally taking hold of a chair as she stepped forwards until she stood before the still figure. After a moment she dropped gently into the chair not taking her eyes off of the man before her for a second. As she looked she noticed the haggard look on the man's face, the simply lack of light behind his eyes, like he had somehow mentally checked out.

With a heavy sigh Tsunade leaned back in her chair, her eyes shifting up to the ceiling of the room where a fan's blade spun lazily blowing a cool breeze down upon the pair. As she continued to feel the cold breeze on her skin her mind slowly wandered memories of her time with her team…the battles…the celebrations and everything in between. Ideally she rose on hand up to rub ideally at her brow with a slightly pained expression on her face.

"You were always the slowest of the three of us weren't you…I was the princess of the Senju clan, I had all the help I could ask for and more. Heck by the time I entered into the academy I was ready for field work thanks to Aunt Mito's insistence. Then there was Orochimaru well whatever the bastard became he was always a genius…things were just easy for him, heck he and sensei got along so well we all thought he would be the next god professor…remember that we use to call him professor just to annoy the snake…"

"Always go under his skin…"

"And then there was you…Jiraiya just a kid from the orphanage...no support, no training, and not much else working for you." Tsunade half chuckled to herself as she continued to watch the ceiling fan spin, as small flecks of dust caught the small lines of light that managed to push through the close shades.

"I remember when you were first put on our team, Orochimaru and I thought we must have been the most unlucky genin Konoha had ever seen… how could we ever had been saddled with someone like you…and you didn't really help did you, running around perverted and troublemaking always fighting to prove how you were the greatest genin Konoha had ever seen." Continued the blonde as she dipped her head enough so that her brown eyes could look down upon the white haired man that had not moved an inch since she had begun.

"But you just kept trying, just like you kept asking me out, over and over, and over. You know after a while Orochimaru and I thought you were a masochist of some kind… heck you went out of your way to get in trouble with me… all the time…

"Whenever I was angry…"

"Whenever I was running around…"

"Whenever I was lonely…"

"And whenever I was grieving. "

"Especially on those last two…for being some kind of brilliant kunoichi it still took me a great deal of time to figure out that you were always there when I needed you…heck you were even there for me when I met Dan…grinning that same stupid grin you always did." The women finished as she allowed herself to lean forwards on to her knees her arms resting on them as she looked dead into Jiraiya's seemingly dead eyes.

"But you weren't really grinning then were you…you had us all fooled didn't you. It wasn't Orochimaru…it wasn't me, it was you that sensei really taught wasn't it. And you became the perfect shinobi didn't you…you put aside everything…bit by bit every single emotion you had, every single bloody thing that you ever cared about you sacrificed…you kept playing the fool so we wouldn't notice how much you had sacrificed… and not one of us ever figured it out till now…figured out just how much we had destroyed the man you were by not fighting for you…" at this Tsunade leaned forwards her hands reaching up to softly frame the man's face as she looked into his eyes.

"Jiraiya you aren't the only one what has made mistakes… and we have all been running from our mistakes for far too long…I ran from Nawaki and Dan…Minato and Kushina ran from Naruto…Orochimaru ran from life…and you ran from being the man who loved me enough to break my heart when you didn't come to comfort me when I needed it most..." finished Tsunade leaning forwards to plant a small kiss upon Jiraiya's brow before pulling back to look at the man before her.

"I'm done running Jiraiya…we all are…it's time that you do the same." Continued Tsunade as she stood up moving slowly back to the door pausing as she gripped the handle sparing the man behind her once more.

"For what it's worth we will wait for you…we owe you that much for running from you." Whispered the blonde as she opened the door and disappeared down the hospital halls.

Back in the room Jiraiya found himself blinking slightly the warmth from where Tsunade's lips had touched his brow still fresh upon his flesh. Ideally Jiraiya's mind slowly began to start coming back online his first thoughts being ones of sham…guilt…and loss…loss at what could have been. What he could have been. As all of this came to him down upon him a single tear found itself falling slowly from his face.

"Wha-what have I done?" Jiraiya whispered to himself as he found himself slowly sinking to the room floor his body shivering in self-loathing as the sun began to sink across the horizon the darkness robbing the room of what little light remained plunging the man and his grief into darkness.

* * *

As the next day dawned over Konoha Fu along with Naruko and Minami found themselves headed out in an attempt to find something to do before the afternoon reached them and work on some basic d-rank restoration mission would become available. The three girls had been slowly getting to know one another better over the previous few days, and Fu was finding that she enjoyed her fellow Jinchuriken's company more and more. Heck if she was being honest she was enjoying Konoha much more than she had her time in Taki.

When the pair of Namikaze's had insisting on introducing the green haired girl to some of their fellow genin Fu had been prepared for the group to react with fear or hostility. Instead the group had simply brushed off the girl's status introducing themselves and seeming rather pleasant towards her. In fact if Fu didn't know any better she would have sworn that the on wearing the concealing coat and glasses and been blushing the entire time she was present, though that could have just been her imagination. As with the past few days the three found themselves lounging below the shade of what they had affectionately dubbed the Kaasan tree. For a reason they could only assume was connected to the tailed beasts they held, the three always found themselves in a state of peace whenever they rested below the trees branches. Any agitation or emotional stress they might have seemed to vanish from them the moment their feet entered into the shade of that massive tree.

At the moment the three found themselves all walking up the side of the tree chatting between each other as they ascended higher and higher aiming to reach the canopy before taking a break.

"Well if this doesn't prove we have mastered tree climbing nothing will I mean this thing is massive!" chuckled Naruko flashing Minami a grin.

"Hai I guess when Niisan plants a tree he doesn't do it half way, what did they say this thing was bigger than most of the trees in the second exam, and dang it just popped right out of the ground." The redhead said almost to herself as beside her Fu let out bit of a panting breath.

"Re..remind me why I ca-can't just fly up there, I have wings just let me use them." Whined the tan girl as her fellow Jinchuuriki chuckled at her tone.

"Sorry Fu you said you wanted to train with us, old furball doesn't give us wings, or sand…or well anything really but a headache so we have to do things the old fashion way." Called Naruko.

"Kind of makes you think we got jipped on the whole massive chakra beast lottery doesn't it." Remarked Minami with a smirk as Fu and Naruko giggled slightly at the girl's words.

"**Hey that's not true I'm the fluffiest of all my siblings Kaasan said so!" **called Kyu through Minami's seal.

"Kyu for the last time fluffiness is not an ability!" called Minami as Naruko and Fu let out small snorts Fu almost losing her grip on the tree for a moment.

"I think Mito might argue with you on that one sis…Kyueed to for that matter." Chuckled Naruko as the redhead shot her a small smirk.

"Hey that reminds me what the heck are those black things that Naruto kept making I mean Chomei kept cheering about having nephews but that's about all I've got and she's been more scatterbrained than usual after she got here." called Fu.

"Oh ya you haven't really meet the seedlings yet, well from what I know they are like mini tailed beasts, kind of like sentient chakra, little buggers pack one heck of a punch though." Called Naruko just as she reached the lowest branch plopping down on it as she looked down at the other two.

"What? How can Naruto make his own biju? That's nuts." Called Fu trailing behind Minami as she swung herself up to sit beside Naruko her back to the trunk of the tree.

"I guess but you get used to it pretty fast, guess it just comes with him holding Juubi." Replied Minami just a Fu managed to hop up onto the branch beside the pair slightly winded.

The three took the chance to look out over the village their vantage allowing them to just see over the walls of the stadium. Below shinobi and civilians alike were moving in and out of shops, heading to work or returning from missions.

As the three jinchuuriki were preoccupied by the view bellow at the base of the tree two tall figures clothing in red clouded cloaks had just made their way into the base of the stadium their eyes trailing up the massive addition to the leaf.

"Wheeee that's a big tree, I knew you guys in leaf were into trees and all but come on this is just tacky." Chuckled Kisame as she gave his partner a shark's smile from underneath his straw hat. Itachi didn't seem to register his partner's words instead stepping forwards to examine the tree a bit closer his blazing red eyes roving up and down the plant as he did. As his Sharingan blazed he immediately noticed something odd about this tree. What appeared to be small black bits inside the structure were…well blank, missing as though somehow shielded from his eyes…curious.

"So I guess this is where the rumors started coming from, someone during the exams managed to cause this thing to shoot up out of the ground….still can't see why the boss is so worried about it." Chuckled the blue skinned man as beside him Itachi bowed his head in thought.

"No this is something to be concerned about; the only power known to utilize wood was the first hokage's the Senju line. That line also held the power to seal the biju, if that power is back it poses a threat to our plans…."

"Fuck of course it is, Itachi I'm saying it now you and I drew the crap detail here, we already have to go and find number seven and nine, but now you're telling me we have to search for someone else on top of that, there is no way our luck could be that bad." Kisame said letting out an irritated huff at the unfairness of it all. From beside him Itachi's mind was still trying to figure out just what this tree could mean when sudden noise drew the pairs attention up to where three figures were descending the tree two walking down the wide wood, while a third appeared to be hovering just off of the trunk thanks to a pair of insect wings fluttering madly behind her.

"I take it back Itachi maybe luck is on our side." Chuckled Kisame as he moved to draw his blade. Beside him Itachi shot his partner an annoyed look before reaching over to grasp the man's arm drawing the blue man's eyes.

"What Itachi they're right here, heck their practically gift wrapped what's your problem?"

"If you assault them now, it will draw attention to us. The hokage will arrive and at best we can hope to escape with our lives intact, we wait for them to reach the base of the tree, my genjutsu's will not have half the village on our heads." Replied Itachi is voice calm despite the way his red eyes blazed as they looked up at his partner.

"Fine." Shot back Kisame as he wrenched his arm free from his partner allowing the man to guide him off so that they would be in position for when the three reached the bottom.

* * *

As the three girls unknowingly made their way towards the two akatsuki members Naruto and Kushina were exiting the seamstress's building Naruto happily wearing his newly completed chunnin vest. The vest had been dyed to match the black outline of his undershirt, with most of the pockets for scrolls having been removed to leave a more streamline look to the vest. Along with that a small smattering of orange leaves had been added around the vests high neck and sides to match the design of his jacket. At first Kushina had wondered how Naruto could keep both the jacket and vest on his person at once, but as they reached a clearing the answer presented itself to her.

No soon had they reached the clearing then the boys jacket burst into a small cloud of his pollen leaves all except the direct center where the depiction of the tree, along with its seeds ,which moved gently over to affix itself to the rear side of his vest. As Naruto swung the vest on the leaves once more waved gently over affixing themselves together until they had incorporated themselves with the vest to form his sleeves and coat.

"So that's why you didn't need me to fix your coat after the finals were all said and done." Chuckled Kushina as Naruto nodded in agreement. Looking down at his new addition Naruto could barely keep the smile off of his face.

"Well I guess we head back to Konoha now."

"Well there's no real rush, we can get some work done on what Juubi mentioned. You already completed you mission looking after Fu before we left so we can take a day off to work on the jutsu, especially if you want to keep this one close to the chest." Finished Kushina as Naruto seemed to consider her words for a moment.

"**Oh come on Naruto spend some quality time with your Kaasan and learn to blow some stuff up." **

The pair of Uzumaki's couldn't help but chuckle at Juubi's words before Naruto looked over at Kushina still carrying the residue from his last laugh.

"Well Kaasan what do you say want to help me blow stuff up?" asked the blonde as Kushina pulled out the scroll from the day before a fox like grin spreading across her own face.

"Do you even have to ask." Replied Kushina as the two set to work studying the scroll while Juubi added in her modifications as they worked through it. Finally after reviewing the scroll several more times Naruto was ready to give it a shot, Kushina standing a bit back watching her Sochi's progress.

"**Ok Naruto suit up we don't want this thing blowing up in your face, something tells me Hinata-chan may not be very happy with me if I return you damaged." **Juubi spoke her voice carrying a slightly mocking tone. From a small distance away Kushina adopted an annoyed look.

"Hey she's not the only one Juubi try not to blow up my Sochi will you." Called the redhead as Naruto allowed two of his seeds to flow over his skin and face covering him in a layer of tightly compacted black chakra. As Naruto turned the pair of now glowing eyes that were the only markings on his face down be brought his palm up before him his entire body tensed with concentration on the dead center of his palm.

As Naruto and Kushina watched pail bits of purple chakra began to gather around the boy's palm little wisps of chakra slowly moving around flowing closer and closer to the center of the boy's palm. As more and more wisps gathered the chakra began to glow slightly a pail purple glow starting to shin out.

"Oh Naruto good that's the first step, the chakra is swirling, just be careful not to try and force it or it'll fall apart!" called Kushina as Naruto's masked face nodded slightly never taking his eyes off of his hand as he did so.

"**Good Naruto that's enough chakra for now, the point is to get down the timing first, no need to get the full blast working yet." **Called Juubi as Naruto slowly began to turn his palm to the side even as he pulled his other hand up to cup the small glowing ball so that the light shown dimly between the boy's blackened figures.

As Kushina watched Naruto's hands slowly began bringing his hands apart as the wisps and shining ball of light began to stretch slightly as the palms continued to get farther and farther apart. By the time that Naruto had his hands at shoulder length the small shining orb had elongated itself until it was about the shape of a senbon with wisps of chakra continuing circling around it.

"**Ok good, now carful move your hand over to grab it." **Instructed Juubi as both Kushina and Naruto let out a small breath a reaching the first step of the technique. However this momentarily loss of focus caused the needle like chakra to fall suddenly unsupported point down into the grassy surface below.

"Oh crap!" called Naruto as the point contacted with the ground below him. The next thing that Naruto knew he was flying back through the air until two arms caught him and swinging round slightly to keep from allowing the blast to blow the figure over. Naruto managed to shake himself enough to quiet the bells going off in his head and noticing Kushina smirking down at him.

"Well Sochi how was the flight." Asked the redhead as Naruto's black mask slowly slid away from his face revealing a small dizzy smirk.

"Oh it was great…could work on the landing." Replied the boy as the pair looked back towards where the boy had been standing. There where he had been standing a moment before there was now a small hole about the size of a Ping-Pong ball that seemed to be surrounded by a small concave of earth that formed an inverted cone with it at its center. The pair couldn't help but blink at the small distortion before looking back at one another in apparent confusion.

"Um Kaasan, what exactly happened that last thing I remember was dropping it at stage one, and then well I'm here." finished the blonde as Kushina shrugged.

"Sorry Sochi all I saw was a flash of light before I was moving to catch you. Hey Juubi what was that?" called the Uzumaki as she helped Naruto to stand, before the pair moved over to look down at the small impact sight. As the two reached the edge of the impact zone no larger than a couple feet in diameter Juubi spoke up.

"**Well Naruto you dropped the technique before it was stabilized, when the point hit the end activated and all the chakra shot back driving it down and the wave blasted you back…nice job butter figures." **Chuckled Juubi as Naruto blushed slightly at the Juubi's words.

"Juubi stop picking on Naruto. Don't worry about it Sochi just focus on mastering the first step, heck using the chakra in that way has to have some kind of advantages." Said the redhead looking to keep her Sochi's spirits up. Her words seemed to work as Naruto flashed a piece sign before moving back to attempt the first stage once again.

* * *

As Naruto went back to work back in Konoha the three girls had finally reached the bottom of the tree the pair of Namikaze girls giving Fu a slightly jealous look as she effortlessly alighted upon the grassy ground.

"Yep its official we got the short end of the tailed beast gene pool, I mean come on!" called Naruko gesturing over at Fu's wings before they slid effortlessly back into the girls tan skin. Minami in the meantime have Naruko's shoulder a small pat shaking her head.

"It's ok Naruko, we'll figure out what Kyuubi has hidden sooner or later, just let it go for now."

The blonde was about to fire back at her sister telling her that it wasn't fair when two figures made their presence known by moving out from the opposite side of the tree. As the three looked over they had only a moment to take in the pair's odd dress before all three suddenly felt a sudden pulse before their entire view was obscured by was appeared to be a pair of giant red swirling eyes.

Before either the girls or the beasts within them could blink all three found themselves falling suddenly into a dreamless sleep, their forms collapsing gently onto the grass.

"Well I have to hand it to you Itachi that was easier now how do we the these three out of here without all hell breaking lose?" asked Kisame as he started to march forwards towards the three downed figures. From behind him Itachi seemed not to have noticed his partner's words as his eyes began slowly circling the arena focusing on one particular point, before swiveling back towards his partner.

"Kisame!" called Itachi causing the taller figure to halt his hand instinctively traveling up to grasp the bright yellow handle that protruded from the mass of wrappings that he carried on his back. As the shark man began to turn back towards his partner he suddenly became aware of several chakra signatures from around the arena, his jagged teeth twisting up into a fierce smile.

"Well so much for playing in quiet!" called the ex Kiri shinobi as with a tug the massive blade swung off of his back pointing towards the where he felt the largest concentration of chakra signatures. As if that was some kind of signal over a dozen masked figures suddenly flickered into view all draped in Anbu gear their porcelain masks set facing the pair before them. Among the group one Anbu stepped out his uniform white signifying him as a captain his tiger mask swiveling around to face Itachi in particular.

"Itachi Uchiha, you are surrounded, you and your partner are to surrender immediately or be killed." Called the figure as around him the Anbu shifted into ready stances a few gripping the hilts of blades, or focusing on building the chakra for an opening Jutsu. Itachi in turn simply looked at the man before gently reaching up to pull the straw hat from his head showing his long black hair framing two bright swirling eyes. From beside him Kisame let out a bark of laughter before shooting a sideways look at Itachi.

"I have to say Itachi you really leave an impression if I didn't know any better I would say that they weren't happy to see you." Mocked the blue skinned man as he turned back to face the Anbu squad. Tiger was about to call out to the pair once more when Itachi reached up with one hand gesturing over towards the group of Anbu. The next moment the stadium was filled with howls of agony as Anbu found their bodies covered in wounds. Arms lying feet away from their owners in crimson pools even as a few dragged themselves over to comrades who were choking on their own blood kunai thrust to the hilt into their thoughts letting out a crimson rivers staining the green grass around them.

"Now where's the fun in that Itachi you didn't let me play with any of them." Called Kisame as he thrust a thumb over to where the Anbu were writhing captured in one of the Uchiha's genjutsu's so wracked with their own pain that they were unable to break free.

"We are not here for games Kisame, have you forgotten we have a job to do, indulge yourself later." Replied Itachi turning to move towards the three downed girls. However, before he had taken a handful of steps an odd sound reached his ears causing him to turn round his eyes focusing on a figure standing among the fallen Anbu, who still writhed in flash pain.

The figure looked nothing so much like a shrunken Anbu clothed in complete black down to the Neko mask it wore, its glowing purple eyes looking around at the mass of Anbu in apparent concern. Before Itachi could even begin to guess what it was he was looking at the mini Neko bent down beside a purple haired Anbu its hands reaching out shaking the figure while a series of slightly alarmed sounding hums escaped its masked face. To Itachi's shock as the creature laid its hands upon the women her writhing suddenly halted, as she turned to regard the black figure for a moment, before her porcelain face turned round to focus back on Itachi.

Just as he was about to comment he saw the purple haired Neko giving the creature some instructions before it raced off towards the closest Anbu falling beside it and once more shaking them. As the second Anbu seemed to come back to reality understanding flashed across Itachi's face as he called out to Kisame.

"Kisame take that thing out it's dispelling my genjutsu!" called Itachi as he spun around to parry an incoming blade from Neko. As Itachi turned the blade aside and buried a kick into the women's chest causing her to fly back across the field he was forced to jump back as a spear of earth shot up under where he had just been standing. Looking round Itachi' saw tiger flying through another set of seals his mask pulled low so that he could no longer see the Uchiha's eyes. As Itachi began to engage the pair Kisame was shooting forwards his serrated blade swinging round to catch the black Anbu before it could reach the next of its fellows.

With a satisfying crash the massive bandaged blade smashed into the figure taking it off of its feet and flinging it back into a nearby wall, Kisame following after the figure drawing back his blade for a second blow while massive blue black spins erupted along the bandaged length small daggers all aimed at the stunned figure before him.

Kisame's blade crashed down once again ripping chunks of the stone wall with it as it tore down into the black Anbu before slamming it into the ground. Then with a terrible jerking motion the blade was ripped back the teeth like blades digging long black chunks out of the downed figure as above it Kisame's shark teeth shown in a visage of primal fulfillment. That grin didn't last.

No sooner has his blade cleared the last of the creature did there came a horrible shuddering motion form his blade as the bandages around it fell away the narrow form expanding swelling out a sickening gurgling accompanying the shift.

"What the fuck!" cried Kisame as the blades end opened wide its own mouth exposed as a shrill cry of inhuman pain shot out across the arena drawing the other parties eyes despite their battle. Although in the midst of battle Itachi and his two opponents couldn't help but pause at the display playing out only a few yards away from them as Kisame's blade continued to writhe in apparent agony accompanied by a hacking sound. A moment later, accompanied by a truly vial sound the blade seem to convulse before a solid glob of pure black sludge seemed to fall from the blades open maw, as the color of the sentient blades scales suddenly took on a paler hue. Before Kisame could do more than look down at the bile he felt a sudden pull as the blade he held began to drain his chakra at such a rate that it almost took the man off of his feet.

This opened him up to the blow that came next. The only warning being an agitated humming sound before Kisame felt a sudden bite of pain from his right leg. The man spun rage filled eyes down to find what was left of the figure he had torn, its back a mass of shredded blackness rags of what he could only assume were flesh and cloth intermingled both legs seemingly crushed by the stone dragged down from the wall. Yet despite this the whatever it was had managed to pull out one blade broken though it was and thrust the blackened thorn into the man's leg its bright purple eyes flashing in apparent anger as it gazed up at the man.

With a roar of pure rage Kisame ripped his now bleeding throbbing leg back from the creature the blade coming free form its grip as the man swung his other leg around to crash into the creatures head with enough force to fling the creature free of the rubble and out to impact against the massive tree with a sickening crunch, before it fell down flopping limply upon on of the unconscious girls.

* * *

Back with Naruto and Kushina Juubi suddenly cried out in rage as a voice rang out clearly enough for the Uzumaki's hear.

"**KAASSAN! KAASSAN! HELP FU AND OTOTO ARE INTROUBLE!" **called out a panic choir of voices as the three listeners eyes bulged with the words. The next second both Naruto and Kushina had turned towards the leaf village shooting off as fast as their legs could take them; their minds blazing with what Chomei had said to them as those words meaning sank into the pair.

Imoto…Naruko and Minami were in danger.

* * *

Back in the stadium Kisame had just yanked the broken blade out of his leg fighting through the horrible burning pain it left behind as he flooded his system with chakra dulling his pain as he turned to assist his partner not noticing as the figure he had broken began to stir along with the tan girl beside it.

_Wha-what happened? _ Thought Fu as her addled mind fought its way back to consciousness. Ideally she could hear Chomei calling out in apparent panic, but the words were somehow fuzzy to her like they were coming through some kind of broken radio. Blinking some of the blurriness out of her vision she suddenly noticed the scene before her, over a dozen masked figures apparently unconscious or writhing in unseen pain scattered across the open grass before her, even as two cloaked figure push another pair of masked figures back.

As Fu looked around she also took note of the passed out forms of Naruko and Minami lying face down not a few feet from her, but before she could properly digest everything she had seen there was a movement on her back that alerted her to the figure collapsed on top of her. Shifting herself slightly her orange eyes meet the slightly dulled purple ones of the Neko seedling who even then was attempting to push itself up, but failing to do so thanks to the damage it had sustained.

Suddenly the Seedling's eyes flared its hum becoming more panicked as Fu turning followed its gaze to see Neko being thrown back thanks to a blow from Kisame that had shattered her blade into shining bits jagged metal that dug into her mask sending cracks along the surface. From inside of Fu's mind Chomei yelled out again, this time coming through clearly.

"**FU! FUUU! HURRY FU HELP HIM, HURRY!" **called Chomei's voice as Fu felt her mind waking once more.

"Cho-Chomei...what's going on?" Fu managed before Chomei's voice drowned her out.

"**NO TIME KASSAN TOLD ME WHAT TO DO HURRY GRAB SEEDKUN! HURRY!" **Chomei called again her chorus of voices almost causing Fu's head to vibrate thanks to their intensity. With a small effort Fu reached around her back finding what felt like a hand oddly cold and grabbing hold as she felt Chomei's chakra flooding through her, faster and purer than she could ever remember it being. Meanwhile on her back she suddenly felt a pulsing movement like something was shifting around some area's becoming somehow harder, while others lengthened stretching out. Ideally the girl noted that small black shadows were extending to either side of her as something smooth and black stretched out from whatever was occurring on her back. Then as suddenly as it had begun the shifting stopped and the chakra flowing through her fell away as an oddly metallic sounding hum came from behind her, reverberating against her even as a small cloud of sparkling purple powder fell across her exposed cheek oddly warm to the touch before its light seemed to simply fade away. Fu was about to look round when the pressure upon her back suddenly vanished accompanied soon bye an alarmed shout from across the field.

Across the filed Neko had been pushed back into a corner Kisame towering over her with his shark like grin showing in full force.

"Not bad, you would almost have been something impressive in Kira's standing, but your blade leaved much to be desired." Chuckled the man as he brought his blade up the scales still dotted with pail splotches form when it had unknowingly eaten the seedlings chakra. With a savage motion the man brought his blade crashing down towards Neko intending to shred the women with his massive blade before moving to support his partner.

Suddenly Kisame's instincts screamed at him to move, the ex Kiri shinobi turning suddenly as something black shot past him making little to no noise to land directly before the downed Neko, a sudden metallic humming coming to his ears. Kisame spun to see what had dared to attack him pausing as his eyes fell on his attacker.

His attacker was a mix of metallic looking parts that held a resemblance to Anbu equipment. In fact as Kisame noted it was as if an Anbu's armor had simply wrapped around sealing itself closer to a body overlapping where it meet itself giving he vision of some kind of armor like that worn by the samurai. However, this took a back seat to the six large wing like structures that decorated the creatures back three to each side looking like some kind of hybrid between a dragonfly wing and a scythe each ending in a sharp curved point. Even as the man watched the bladed wings relaxed folding together so that he could see they attached to a pair of slightly armor shoulders just where an Anbu vest would have connected over the shoulders.

On the other side of this Neko found herself looking up at the creature front the same mix of armor and smooth cloth like material dominating its front, as its wings slowly closed around it. As Neko looked up she found herself looking into a face unlike the one she had become use to seeing upon the creature. While one eye still carried the bright purple glow, its fellow had shifted to an orangeish light that blazed out of his face. Her vision was drawn down as a small metallic hum released a small cloud of purple shimmering dust that flickered out a few inches from the creature before dispersing. This drew the women's eyes to the creature newest facial addition. Where before there had been a simple black smoothness the new area now resembled a something like a medieval knights mouth guard with several vertical bars holding in what looked to be some kind of purple glow from which flecks of the same shining dust fell slowly fading as it reached a small distance from its face.

"I-is that you?" Neko managed as the transformed seedlings eyes focused down on her and a happy metallic hum escaped it grinning vent along with a small cloud of the dust, before it turned to face Kisame, Neko noticing as it turned what looked like some kind of short ponytail draping down from his head that seemed to waved gently along with its six wings.

Kisame for his part took in the creature's face noting the similarities just before the six wings spread themselves wide again swinging round their pointed ends flying towards him causing him to swing his blade up to parry the attack. To the shinobi's shock the points of the wings were not turned away by his blade but instead bit into it causing the blade to shriek once more in pain and horror. Before Kisame could act on this he noted a sudden gathering of some kind of shining purple dust vaguely blinking around him before there was a sudden flash as the light caught the speck each suddenly blazing like miniature suns forcing the man to screw his eyes shut against the blade and allowing for the seedling to swing its head around bringing its final addition around to lance out at the Jonin's unprotected face.

Just as the whip like appendage was about to crash into the shark man's face Kisame found himself pulled back landing a few yards away still cursing as he blinked the pain out of his eyes, and limbs.

"Damn it! Itachi what the hell is going on!" called the man as beside him Itachi helped him to his feet his red eyes scanning over to the odd figure that stood before them its mismatched eyes training on the two even now. Ideally Itachi noted Tiger pushing himself back to his feet from where he had been momentarily disabled by the Uchiha. Giving the battlefield one last scan Itachi looked over at his partner who was just then managing to get himself back to his feet.

"Kisame we are leaving, reinforcements will be here soon and there is an unknown element at play, we'll finish this another day." Finished Itachi turning his red eyes over to cut off Kisame before the man could voice an argument. Begrudgingly Kisame nodded as the two disappeared in a small flicker of leaves and wind. Neko began to push herself up when Tiger moved over to halt her looking around at the Anbu still shaking and convulsing before training his eyes over to the modified seedling who's wings had moved back to hang limply from its back while it turned the pair of mismatched eyes around at the pair with a small hum of apparent happiness before it began moving around poking at the fallen Anbu darting back and forth between them like some kind of a hyperactive child. As the pair watched this tiger turned over to Neko his voice attempting a small amount of humor.

"So um is he supposed to do that?" asked the tiger as Neko let out a small stiff chuckle at the scene before them.

**Ok so this chapter came out a little faster than I had really intended and I have no idea why, like I said sometimes the chapters just come together faster than others, and well this is one of those times. To try and answer a few questions I can see people asking let me start by laying out a few things. Yes Kisame is powerful, heck I'm inclined to say he is the most overpowered guy in the show, next to the Uchiha, as he is immune to almost everything and can take down a jinchuuriki like he is picking up a gallon of milk at the store. So why did he have trouble here, easy his ability relies on him being able to feed off of his enemy by eating their chakra, now true this isn't his only move but it does account for his best offence and defense, and well as I have established Naruto's and by extension the seedlings chakra is basically toxic to normal chakra. So when his sword ate it, the seedling's chakra attacked all of the other chakra in the blade, and by extension the man attached to it…not good. Ok now with Jiraiya no he is not forgiven not even close, but Tsunade wants to see him fix himself, people don't just walk away from someone they see that is destroying themselves, like an alcoholic they are looking to try and save him from himself…will they ever fully trust him, that remains to be seen. With Mikoto yes she knows but it is reviled then the remaining clan, i.e. the women and children will be the target of hatred and scorn from the village, and so she will stay silent to protect them, and in her view the actions taken while horrible were unavoidable. **

**Small point here but I would like your opinion on my change in Chomei it is the first time I have drastically altered a tailed beast outside of Juubi and I wanted your take on it if you wouldn't mind. Thanks again to everyone who followed, favorite and reviewed the story, you are why it is still going and growing so thanks for keeping the little guy alive. **

**Songbird out.**


	26. Chapter 24

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

To all of my reviewers, followers, and favorites I can't even begin to describe how amazing this is that so many of you have found my story enjoyable thank you…thank you thank you thank you! I hope that you continue to enjoy my work; I know that I had a shaky start, and sometimes you wanted to punch me in the face over cliffhangers, and flashbacks, but thanks for sticking with it for so long. Also noticed a small boom in Neglect fics recently that I am seeing a few similarities to my own work and I have to say that it's awesome to see it, just the added effort on so many stories makes me really happy and I'd like to think I had some kind of influence on a few of these.

Well it took some time for this chapter sorry about that, as some of you might have noticed I put up a little response to a challenge by Coduss. Believe it or not that kind of thing is easy to write as with a new idea you can do whatever you want, so I figured I'd offer the same service to any other person who has Followed, Favorite or Reviewed my story. I won't promise that I will work on your challenge but if you call attention to it I can at least give it a look and see if I can't give you something back.

Ok onto the events of this story, glad you enjoyed Fu and the new seedling design, and I hope you like what is on the horizon for the story. As some of you may have noticed this past chapter I kind of dropped the ball replying to reviews, for that I'm sorry really usually I just sit down and pound them out, but for some reason I missed it this last time so my bad .

Also here's a shout out to JB a reviewer who has always been commenting just wanted to say thanks, I can't respond to you on a PM so here it is thanks for always commenting and glad that you enjoy my work, hope you like what comes next. I wish I could do this for every guest but usually it is not possible to identify you, still if you want to point it out to me I'll do my best.

Ok on to a final point, looking back through my story there are some issue with grammar and the like that were left behind as I continued forwards and well my soudo beta already does enough trying to keep up with the work I shoot out without diving back to look over every single chapter I put out, so I'm putting the call out, I would like to ask if anyone is willing to be a beta for this story alongside my current beta so that my previous chapters can have a touch up….also I am not above bribery lol. Thank you. Now enough about me onto the next chapter it's been long enough as it is.

**Chapter 24**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-So time for a trip -**

Kisame for his part took in the creature's face noting the similarities just before the six wings spread themselves wide again swinging round their pointed ends flying towards him causing him to swing his blade up to parry the attack. To the shinobi's shock the points of the wings were not turned away by his blade but instead bit into it causing the blade to shriek once more in pain and horror. Before Kisame could act on this he noted a sudden gathering of some kind of shining purple dust vaguely blinking around him before there was a sudden flash as the light caught the speck each suddenly blazing like miniature suns forcing the man to screw his eyes shut against the blade and allowing for the seedling to swing its head around bringing its final addition around to lance out at the Jonin's unprotected face.

Just as the whip like appendage was about to crash into the shark man's face Kisame found himself pulled back landing a few yards away still cursing as he blinked the pain out of his eyes, and limbs.

"Damn it! Itachi what the hell is going on!" called the man as beside him Itachi helped him to his feet his red eyes scanning over to the odd figure that stood before them its mismatched eyes training on the two even now. Idly Itachi noted Tiger pushing himself back to his feet from where he had been momentarily disabled by the Uchiha. Giving the battlefield one last scan Itachi looked over at his partner who was just then managing to get himself back to his feet.

"Kisame we are leaving, reinforcements will be here soon and there is an unknown element at play, we'll finish this another day." Finished Itachi turning his red eyes over to cut off Kisame before the man could voice an argument. Begrudgingly Kisame nodded as the two disappeared in a small flicker of leaves and wind. Neko began to push herself up when Tiger moved over to halt her looking around at the Anbu still shaking and convulsing before training his eyes over to the modified seedling whose wings had moved back to hang limply from its back while it turned the pair of mismatched eyes around at the pair with a small hum of apparent happiness before it began moving around poking at the fallen Anbu darting back and forth between them like some kind of a hyperactive child. As the pair watched this Tiger turned over to Neko his voice attempting a small amount of humor.

"So um is he supposed to do that?" asked the Tiger as Neko let out a small stiff chuckle at the scene before them.

Meanwhile a ways outside of the village Naruto and Kushina were still racing forwards when Juubi's voice rang out.

"**That's right you better run you no good shark bastard!" **she called causing both Uzumakis to suddenly halt Kushina looking round to the black orb that was the source of the declaration.

"What, are Naruko and Minami ok what's happening!" fired off the redhead the concern evident by her tone.

"**Ya they're fine the two who were attacking are running for the hills. Looks like the girls are just unconscious the Anbu are taking them along with Fu to Tsunade now and it looks like things are calming down. From what I managed to get from Chomei they were hit by some kind of genjutsu that caused them all get knocked out. Looks like one of your seedlings fell on top of Fu waking her up; Oh looks like the Hokage has arrived, they are at the hospital now, looks like they are going to be alright." **Replied Juubi as Kushina and Naruto let out sighs of relief as they looked at one another.

"Oh thank kami." Muttered Kushina as she allowed herself a moment to catch her breath. Her legs shaking as she leaned back against the trunk of the tree she had landed on, as she allowed her racing heart to begin to slow.

"Juubi what about the one's that attacked them? What happened to them?" called Naruto panting slightly from the speed the pair had been moving, falling to a crouch on his own branch as he looked down at his aching legs.

"**They were headed out of the village a few Anbu were in pursuit but they could be anywhere by now. I swear I get my hands on those two and I'll tear them limb from limb for hurting my kids!" **shouted the angry Kaasan, Kushina giving a fierce smile of agreement with the Juubi's words.

"Anything else?" asked Kushina.

"**Besides their general appearance nothing much, but they seemed to be wearing some kind of uniform according to Chomei, still we may want to wait for Kurama's take on this my little firefly was never much for observation." **Added Juubi giving a small shrug inside of Naruto's mindscape.

"Uniform?" asked Naruto as beside him Kushina felt a small shiver run down her spine.

"**Ya both were wearing long black cloaks with bright red clouds on them, besides that one looked like a shark of some kind and the other had the Sharingan, from what he looked like I'm guessing it was that older brother your sisters teammate was always brooding about." **finished Juubi as Naruto looked towards Kushina noticing the woman's distress as he did.

"Kaasan?" started the blond his words causing Kushina to snap out of her momentary daze and look over to see the concerned look on Naruto's face.

"Come on Naruto we need to get moving back to the village." Kushina called her words causing Naruto's thoughts to shift momentarily away from the events in Konoha and towards the woman before him.

_Kaasan seems off once she heard who attacked them…but why, I mean I know she's concerned about Naruko and Minami but she almost seems scared of those two Juubi described? _Thought the blonde as he pushed himself up beside Kushina. As the pair prepared to depart Naruto let a single seed fall from his back cracking open to reveal Kyueed who blinked up at the pair with a welcoming hum.

"Better safe then sorry, come on Kyueed you're on point ok!" called Naruto as the fox seedling nodded his head before bouncing off ahead of them the two following along in his wake.

* * *

Meanwhile not too far from Konoha the pair of red cloud wearing shinobi dropped out of the tree's one wobbling slightly and having to slam a now sickened sword onto the ground to keep himself from falling himself. As his partner turned to him the shinobi spat a curse his eyes blazing as they turned to look down at his mangled blade.

"Damn it Itachi what the hell was that thing, look what it did to Samehada." Called the blue skinned man as his blade gave a shuddering gasp the broken scales and paled completion giving the blade a sickened look. Itachi in the meantime was looking over the blade his own mind racing at what he had seen trying to understand just what had happened during the fight. That black creature, whatever it was seemed to have been killed early on, Samehada had seen to that, and then it had been thrown back onto…onto the jinchuuriki.

_Wait…six wings…a tail…seven…could that be it, wait does that mean Konoha has somehow created sudo jinchuuriki…if that's the case then Akasuki's job had become easier if there are now more targets…still they seem strong enough maybe my mission will still be possible. _Thought the red eyed shinobi as he looked around his eyes scanning the surroundings as his partner continued to curse.

"Itachi, what the hell are you looking at, and why the hell was you genjutsu falling apart like that, what happened?"

"I don't know…we should report this to leader soon, it would seem that the rumors about a new power in Konoha is correct, and we may need to move slower so as not to be caught like this again." Replied the stoic shinobi as his partner scoffed.

"Figures; still telling leader the whole mission went Fubar isn't something I'm looking forwards to, hell just listening to the others will be a pain in the ass." Muttered the swordsman as he pushed himself up.

"Only if we manage to escape, can you move?"

"What me, don't make me laugh Itachi I'm not some genin who can't look after himself." Muttered the man steadying himself as he turned to continue forwards. As the pair was about to head out both stiffened noting a sudden appearance of chakra near them. The two turned back towards the line of trees a few yards off their eyes narrowing as they did.

"Well shit, I guess they are faster than we thought." Chuckled Kisame as he started to turn towards the source only for Itachi to step in front of him his red eyes looking back at Kisame.

"What's the big idea?"

"As you are you would slow me down… I can handle Anbu alone go ahead or I will make you." Finished Itachi his sharingan spinning dangerously as Kisame gave a predatory grin.

"Hogging all the fun to yourself Itachi, that's not like you."

"I simply would prefer not having to explain to leader why on top of failing the mission I had to leave you behind because you were injured and captured. Or I can kill you now if you prefer?" This caused Kisame to shiver slightly despite himself as give a small shrug wincing as he did.

"Hai, Hai just know that sword cuts both ways just make sure you meet me at the border. I'm not getting paired with one of the new guys." Replied the swordsman as he hauled himself out of the clearing and off into the forest leaving his fellow behind. Itachi in turn stepped into the center of the clearing his eyes scanning across the tree's that were swaying gently in the breeze scattering a few leaves to the winds as they did. As the chakra signature neared Itachi prepared a layer of genjutsu's to capture the targets as soon as they entered the clearing. It would be quick, and then he would go to join Kisame.

However, like most well thought out plans they rarely survive contact with a seedling. Without any warning on his senses a black mass of tails and fur shot out of forest crashing through all of his carefully laid genjutsu's coming to a stop his bright glowing eyes focused ahead on the cloaked figure. Itachi for his part was rather non pulsed at the new arrival his mind taking in the nine fox tails coupled with the ear's and the overall similarities this creature had with his earlier encounter in the village.

_There…there are more of them? _Managed the teen before the fox creature seemed to take notice of him cocking its head to one side as it did letting out a small hum of apparent confusion. For a moment to two just stood looking at one another as Itachi wondered just what he was supposed to do with the thing before him. At the same time Kyueed was having his own thoughts as to the figures before him.

…_.red eyes….red eyes…..enemy?... no tall one has red eyes but is friend of little red….but father said to be on watch….wait for father?...hmm. _Continued Kyueed his mind shifting slowly between the interactions it knew attempting to find just what to do here when Itachi decided to make his first move.

…_Never mind if there are more than its likely the Anbu aren't far off I just have to take care of it. _Decided the shinobi as he raised a ringed hand forward one finger raised higher to direct his chakra into a more focused genjutsu aimed at the fox creature, whose eyes turned towards the hand with sudden interest. The fox creature seemed to stiffen as Itachi allowed a small sigh to escape his lips believing he had finally put one of these things under a genjutsu. Before the Uchiha could react, however, the fox creature sprang forwards a sudden noise accompanying its motion as the creature rushed towards him.

* * *

While these events were occurring outside of Konoha inside the village, in a particular hospital room three very irate girls were having it explained to them why they were not being allowed out of the particular room, or indeed out of their beds.

"COME ON NEKO, TOUSAN LET US OUT OF HERE THOSE GUYS ARE STILL OUT THERE!" called Naruko as she tried and failed to push herself up from under a small mass of sand that Garra had helped to provide. The two present Anbu in turn looked from the gathered Jinchuuriki and then back to Garra who was absentmindedly rubbing his head in apparent irritation.

"Naruko; how many times to I have to repeat myself we Jinchuuriki were the target, the prey does not go chasing the predator…also Kurama, Shukaku asks you exercise a bit more control of your vessel." Added the redhead as Naruko's face took on an annoyed look as she tried to protest again only for a small hand full of sand to move to cover her mouth.

"Thank you Gaara-san for your assistance." Spoke Minato as the redhead turned his teal eyes over at the blonde haired man given him a small nod in reply. Minato had already finished checking over Naruko's and Fu's seal and was just finishing up checking over Minami's turning around with a relieved smile on his face towards his other musume.

"Naruko stop struggling my teams are already scanning the village you, Minami, and Fu are in danger until we figure out if those two are still in action, so please just relax for now." Called the Hokage as Naruko's eyes focused on Minato for a moment before she allowed her head to thump back down on the table apparently muttering under the pile of sand as she did drawing small smirks from those present. Turning from the jinchuuriki Minato focused on a pair of Anbu as well as the newest addition to his Sochi's abilities.

As Minato moved away from the girl's beds he approached the three figures still standing guard at the door his eyes scanning his two Anbu before settling on the mismatched eyes of the newly transformed seedling. Without any conjecture Minato bent down so that he was eye to eye with the newly armored creature speaking up as he did.

"Thank you for looking after my family Seed-kun."

In response the armored seedling straightened up in mirror of the other Anbu present snapping out a salute even as a happy little metallic humming escaped its vented mouth. The sound caused Minato to smile as he stood repeating his thanks to the Anbu who like their fellow simply snapped out salutes before Minato turned back to the Jinchuuriki present his eyes traveling across them for a moment as he allowed his mind to consider the situation at hand.

_Akatsuki is moving….if Itachi and seed-kun hadn't been there the girls even Fu may not have made it back safely….damn it things are moving forwards to quickly…what should I do. _Wondered Minato as he looked across as Minami who was speaking to Naruko who had calmed down enough to allow the sand to recede. At the moment Naruko was busy shaking bits or rock out of her hair while shooting small glares at a smirking Garra even as Fu chuckled behind the pair shooting Gaara a thumbs up as she did.

_They are still so young…to tell them they are being hunted…what's the right choice. _Wondered Minato even as a small metallic hum announced itself beside him. As Minato looked down he noticed the transformed seedling looking up at him its six bladed wings twitching slightly as it looking from the Jinchuuriki to Minato before holding out its armored hand to the man. For a moment the pair looked at one another until the Seed-kun hummed in apparent impatience poking at the man's leg reminding him vaguely of his smallest musume. With a small shrug Minato allowed his hand to be taken by the seedling before he felt a familiar tug on his mind before a voice suddenly came into clarity.

"**About time you picked up!" **called a familiar female voice that cause Minato to blink in shock for a moment.

_Juu-juubi? _

_Minato is that you, the girls are they ok, wait Juubi how are you? _Started another voice obviously Kushina's.

_Kushina, hai the girls are fine the seals are safe and so are they, but how are we talking where are you? _Called Minato.

_Wait Juubi is this you?_ Called Kushina.

"**Hai Kushina this is for both of you. Look I don't know what's going on with these new cloak guys but I'm not as young as your kids, both of you know something, I've seen the looks on your faces when they were mentioned. Heck even Naruto picked up on it when you mentioned that Itachi guy." ** Stated the Juubi, causing Minato to stiffen slightly even as Kushina's voice seemed to go silent.

"**Don't bother trying to brush it off, I know you're hiding something you know aren't you."**

…_hai. _both voices replied.

"**Well then it's time for a choice now isn't it, you either get to start making secrets again, and we both know how well that turned out, or you can come out and explain what's going on to both your family and mine…I'm giving you a chance to do the right thing now but if you don't then I'm going to point this out to your children and mine. Don't make me regret this…this is just between the parents for now." **finished Juubi her voice cutting off abruptly leaving only the presence of both parents still connected.

_Minato.. _Began Kushina before Minato's voice came through clearly.

_She's right Kushina I'm telling them …you can wait till you get back or tell Naruto now, but she's right….they need to know about the Akatsuki. The girls are here with the others….I'll handled them… you and Naruto get back to the village as fast as you can…..and Kushina….it was Itachi. _Finished Minato as the connection faded the seedling shaking slightly before looking up at Minato humming as it did. Meanwhile the four jinchuuriki in the room all of them noticing the small shift in the blondes behavior.

"Shukaku said you just got a message from his Kaasan, mind telling us what it was about?" asked Gaara as the three girls looked over at the redhead before turning back to Minato with apparent confusion.

"Tousan what's wrong are Kaasan and Naruto ok?" called Minami, Naruko looking agitated as well until Minato raised his hands in a slightly placating manner.

"Hai, Hai they are all ok." started Minato looking around at his Anbu for a moment before looking back at the four before him.

"Anbu I need you to secure this room from the outside silencing seals and barrier, now." ordered Minato the Anbu snapping to attention before disappearing a small pulse of chakra announcing the completion of their task.

Turning Minato looked around at the now concerned group of genin pausing for a moment on the faces of his daughters in particular before letting out a heavy sigh and moving back to take one of the open seats by the door.

"You all may want to sit down there is something I need to tell you….all of you Shukaku." Added Minato getting some concerned looks from the group before they turned back towards the man settling themselves onto their beds.

"**Well it seems the blond has figured it out…that's Kaasan for you." **Chucked Shukaku as Garra gave a small shake of his head even as Minato began laying it all out for them.

* * *

Back on the outskirts of Konoha Naruto and Kushina were racing through the forest following behind Kyueed's path before they leapt out into a clearing spying their two figures that caused the pair to draw to a sudden halt.

"…..what?" managed Naruto as beside him Kushina managed to stifle a small chuckled as in Naruto's head Juubi was simply speechless.

There a few yards away was Kyueed gently rubbing his head against the outstretched hand of Itachi, who for all purposes look almost as confused about the situation he found himself in as those who had just arrived. As the newly arrived pair looked up at the red eyes shinobi he seemed to come out of his daze focusing first on Kushina and then towards Naruto who had shaken himself free of his thoughts as was even then allowing his remaining seeds to flow out around him his form already half covered in a blackening skintight armor. However, before Naruto could make a move Kushina took action.

Without any hesitation she stepped forwards grabbing one of Naruto's arms causing him to look around in time to see Kushina looking up at Itachi her face relaxing into a gentle smile as she did. Before Naruto could even begin to understand what was happening Kushina's voice rang out across the clearing.

"So Itachi-kun you look well…and you've grown it seems….Mikoto would be happy to know that."

From both Naruto and Juubi there was complete silence only broken when from across the field Itachi let out a small cough bowing his head slightly.

"Hai Kushina-sensei, I was fortunate enough to see her while in Konoha….thank you for looking after her after I departed." Replied the Uchiha as Kushina gave the boy a small happy smile.

"I'm glad…I'm sorry that you can't see her more often…I take it you were the one who was selected to go after my musume's…was that by chance?" called the redhead Itachi straightening up to look across at the red-haired woman shaking his head.

"No sensei, I volunteered, I will not leave your family or my home in the hands of criminals…your daughters were unharmed…though I did not reconnect with Jiraiya as instructed, I was forced to improvise our retreat, what may I ask was the reason." Called the Uchiha, as Kushina let out a heavy sigh letting her head drop slightly as she did. During this Naruto was continually looking back and forth between the pair completely lost as to what to say at what he was seeing. Finally Juubi managed to sum up his feelings quite accurately.

"**Ok now I'm confused what the hell is going on here!" **called the woman's voice audible from one of the seeds drawing Itachi's eyes around as Kyueed let out a small humming whine scooting behind Itachi and away from the angry voice even as Kushina turned towards the seed that was floating just behind Naruto.

Kushina looked from the seed to Naruto seeing the obvious confusion on his face as he looked between her and Itachi, as Kushina began to explain.

"Well I suppose this kind of makes it necessary to explain it now doesn't it." Chuckled Kushina as Naruto gently nodded his head the blackened armor falling away from him as he did.

"Um ya, like why you're talking to an S rank criminal like a friend, or why you're not letting me attack him for what he did to Naruko, Minami and Fu, have you gone crazy or something?" started Naruto before Kushina raised a hand gently causing the boy to fall silent.

"Easy, easy Naruto I'm not crazy. The reason I'm talking to Itachi like this is because he isn't a criminal…he's a spy. Konoha's spy to be specific and he was sent undercover to infiltrate an organization and help protect the village." Spoke Kushina Naruto looking from his Kaasan to Itachi and then back again with an expression that made it clear he was past confused at this point.

"Wait what? Itachi, the one who killed off the Uchiha clan is a spy! Any you knew? Then why did he attack Naruko, Minami and Fu?" asked the boy even as Juubi added her own question to the mix.

"**Or why not tell me why he decided to use those damned eyes on my KIDS!" **added Juubi her anger clear despite her means of communication. From across the field Itachi oddly enough had a mental image of his own Kaasan when she was angry flash through his mind letting out a small shiver at the thought even as Kyueed moved to keep himself behind the red eyed stranger who had been petting him just like Mito and Hanabi would sometimes. As Kyueed shifted he jostled Itachi slightly reminding the teen of his presence and allowing him to come to a sudden realization as his eyes fell on Naruto.

"Wait…Sensei is your Sochi responsible for this?" called Itachi drawing the groups attention around to him as he stepped to one side showing Kyueed who let out a small yip before skirting back behind him once again. Kushina looked from Itachi to Naruto before sighing once again rubbing her head in annoyance as she did.

"Darn this is complicated, where to begin…" started the redhead as Juubi chimed in her tone thick with sarcasm.

"**How about at the start?" **

"Not helping Juubi…fine well do this simply. Naruto this is Itachi my first student, he was selected for a dangerous mission after he had to stop an uprising in the Uchiha clan and is now a spy working inside a threat that formed in Rain. Itachi this is Naruto he is now more involved in this than is believable, and that would be because this," here Kushina gestured over at the seed that had been acting as the voice of Juubi, "is the Juubi, or the mother of the tailed beasts and at the time lives in my Sochi's head making him possibly the most powerful jinchuuriki since the sage of the six paths." Finished Kushina looking around at the group her hand now on her hips waiting for someone to start asking questions.

"….The Juubi…as in that Juubi?" managed Itachi as his eyes focused on the seed before shifting around to Naruto and back to Kushina.

"**Hai that Juubi, and you better have a good reason for that stunt you pulled on my Kids!" **called Juubi, Itachi for his part looking a little nervous at the beings obvious anger. Luckily for him Kushina was there to act as a mitigator.

"Wow, easy Juubi, Itachi was looking after both of our kid's right!" called Kushina looking around at Itachi who looked blankly across for a moment before nodding his head slightly.

"Hai they were not harmed, I simply put them to sleep while I awaited Jiraiya's appearance…Sensei just what is going on here I didn't know your sochi was a jinchuuriki and of the Juubi why was I not informed?" asked the red eyed youth.

"It's too much to explain just know that he is now a potential target if word gets out…I will explain it later but for now there just isn't time." Replied Kushina right before Naruto spoke up.

"Wait you mean you he did that to protect them? Wait I don't understand why where you even there?" asked the blond. Itachi looked over at Kushina who gave a small nod before he turned to Naruto and the Seed representing Juubi.

"This was to be included in my report, however the simplest terms of it is that the organization I have infiltrated, Akatsuki, has set its sights on attacking Jinchuuriki so that they can extract the tailed beasts. The reason I was in Konoha was to make sure that none of my associates would get to your family or the Kyuubi." Finished Itachi. A brief silence hung in the air at the teen's words as Naruto looked around to Kushina who picked up where Itachi had left off.

"We only guessed at their true motives right before the exam began, I was going to tell you now that you had become chunnin, but this incident stopped me from getting the chance. Minato should be informed the girls as well as Garra and Fu back in Konoha…I'm sorry we didn't tell you as soon as we knew Juubi was here, but we weren't even sure that was the real target until Itachi just confirmed it." Finished Kushina her face showing obvious worry hoping that she had not taken another step back from her sochi after all of the heart ache she had recently been through. For his part Naruto just stood there his mind racing even as Juubi let out a small scared whimper.

"**..hu…hunted…wh..why?" **managed the woman before Itachi turned his eyes around towards the orb his monotone voice speaking up once again.

"I am afraid so, as for why it is for their power from what I have uncovered…I am sorry but that is all I know. At this moment the organization is sending out teams to identify Jinchuuriki." Finished Itachi as Juubi began to get agitated only for Naruto to step into the conversation.

"You said scouting how long until this organization of yours starts moving?"

"From what I can tell at least three years, it seems the villages have been consolidating their control, even Mist had apparently moved to pull their Jinchuuriki back within their borders. Sensei I can't stay here long or I risk discovery." Finished Itachi looking down to where Kyueed was gently brushing up against his and once again letting out a small humming purr as he did. From across the clearing Naruto had a sudden bolt of inspiration directing a single pollen to shot out of his sleeve and over towards Itachi halting just before the teen. As Itachi looked at the small marble Kushina gave a small smile down at Naruto before turning to Itachi.

"Itachi take that, it will allow us to communicate, don't worry its untrainable even to a Hyuuga." As Itachi looked back up he spied Naruto's eyes focused on his.

"**Keep that on you, I still want answers." **Called Juubi as Itachi gave a small nod turning to rush back into the forest leaving Kyueed and the other seeds to collapse back into Naruto's coat as he turned around to Kushina who was looking anxious at what Naruto was going to say after their little revelation. A few heartbeats passed that stretched on into an eternity for Kushina until Naruto turned around his eyes focused onto hers a quiet power radiating behind them that had not been there since the bridge in wave.

"….So….we have an enemy…Kaasan I need to get stronger…a lot stronger." Naruto spoke his voice coming out deep and hard carrying with it a twinge of Juubi's in every word. Kushina for her part could only nod gently at the boys words before he looked out to where Itachi had left Juubi picking up the speech as the boys words hung heavy in the air.

"**Akatsuki….a red dawn..." **Finished the Juubi her words being picked up by the gentle breeze that was gently blowing through the clearing causing a few stray leaves to whistle softly in the noon day sun.

* * *

As the sun found itself dipping below the horizon Naruto and Kushina had long since arrived back in Konoha, rushing to find the girls safe as reported, as well as Fu and Gaara all having being informed of the situation by Minato. As time had worked its way on the group had continued to debate and thrown back Ideas and suggestions on what could be done both between each other and in the mental link between those present. Unfortunately all that could be decided upon was that without any new information there was little they could do except to prepare for what was to come next, and try and get word to the other's like themselves…still even that they knew would be a dangerous venture at best.

So it came to pass that Naruto found himself sitting below the Juubi's tree looking up through the branches that the nights sky his mind still full of the information he had learned. After a time he allowed his eyes to close his mind falling in to find himself in the same position on an equally star filled night only now accompanied by a familiar figure who sat beside him on the grass.

"Didn't think you could make it a starry night in here, not doing any damage to my head I hope." Chuckled Naruto as Juubi showed a small smile her black eyes catching the starlight as she looked out over the mindscape.

"**Not much to damage really…still I'll do what I can." ** Replied Juubi looking down at Naruto as she spoke seeing the obvious worry on his face as she did.

"**You can't control the world Naruto, this group Akatsuki…they are a danger, one we are going to have to face…but you can't let that shake you." **Whispered Juubi causing Naruto to snort slightly looking out over the scape of his mind.

"I know that…but…damn it it's not fair why does it have to happen to my family, to yours why can't we just be safe, and happy!" growled the boy as he shut his eyes tight as if trying to shut out reality as he did. Juubi in turn looked down at the boy her face softening further as she did. With a small motion Juubi reached down to gently stroke one hand through the blonde's hair as she let out a small knowing sigh.

"**I know Naruto…kami I know, but the why will not change the truth we face… there is only two things we need to worry about." **spoke Juubi Naruto blinking up at her as she did.

"**We need to make sure that no matter what you and I are strong enough to protect our family…everything else is second to that, the world can wait for now, so just be ready for what you need to do and remember that what we are fighting for… if we do that you and I both can make sure our families are safe from this red dawn." **Finished the star eyed woman as despite himself Naruto found himself mimicking the smile upon the others face.

"Hai Juubi, your right we'll make sure that none of them can ever hurt our family dattebayo!" called Naruto to the starry night. Juubi herself couldn't help but smile as well both of their mind set on what work now lay before them.

After a few more moments of silent acceptance Naruto' leaned up looking over at Juubi with a slightly inquisitive look on his face pushing past the remnants of the smile he still wore.

"Wait Juubi that's only one thing. What's the other thing I have to worry about?"

"**Hum…oh right well Mito, Naruko and Minami just found you and if I'm not mistaken then you should be feeling impact right about now." **finished Juubi with a wide smirk as Naruko looked at her puzzled for a moment before with a small look of surprise he faded from the mindscape leaving Juubi alone upon her star covered night.

For a time she simply sat looking out over the nights sky smiling slightly as she watched Chomei out dancing with the lights in the sky as a ways off she saw Kyu and Kurama both resting pulled close to one another even as a small heavy sigh made her final child's presence known even as a small pool blossomed on the edges of her eyes.

"…**It will be alright Kaasan… I promise you none of us are going anywhere."** Spoke the slow heavy tone of Shukaku as he slide up to sit beside his Kaasan his sand covered fur glinting slightly in the starlight even as a small cloud of sand swirled gently around his gold and blue body. From beside the tanuki Juubi tried and failed to conceal a small choking noise as a few tears found their way to her eyes as she turned to her eldest son.

"**Shukaku-kun… bu-but I failed once…I failed you." **She tried to start before a small waft of sand gently wiped her tears aside as the massive Tanuki bowed his head down toward his Kaasan.

"**No Kaasan, you never failed us…never, and you never will we will weather this storm just like you have weathered the world, after all we are your children. Even if some of us still need some time to grow up." **Chuckled the massive tanuki as the pair turned their eyes up to see Chomei had arranger her golden insect lights to spell out a mocking call to Kyu and Kurama both of whom where now yelling up at her to stop, only getting more and more words in the sky in response. The sight was enough to force Juubi to smile over at her eldest.

"**I suppose so Sochi…I suppose so, I just have to make sure to be there for all of you. Still if anyone lays a hand on any of you I'm going to tear them apart!" **added Juubi flashing a dangerous smile up which Shukaku mimicked as he looked down at his Kaasan.

"**I would expect nothing less from my Kaasan." **Replied Shukaku even as Chomei came racing towards the pair two massive foxes in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile back in the real world Juubi's warning had given Naruto just enough time to reenter his body just in time to see Mito flying headlong towards him. This was not such an unusual situation except for that fact that usual it was not so literal. It seemed the youngest Namikaze had taken to her newest playmate with her usual amount of enthusiasm and thrown caution to the wind in favor of pure uninterrupted fun. To that effect the newly flight capable armored seedling was acting as a kind of flying backpack its arms hocked gently under the little redheads own even as she directed it into a nose dive towards Naruto the wind causing her long red hair to billow up as they raced towards their target all narrated by a rather distinct battle cry.

"THERE HE IS HOMEED! GO GET HIM!" cried the little redhead as behind and below her another pair of girls raced forwards their expressions torn between amusement and worry as they watched the little acrobat's antics as well as her final decent.

"Oh crap NARUTO DODGE SHE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO LAND YET!" called Minami and Naruko as they spotted the little girl's intended target.

Naruto had just enough time to roll out of the way before the identified Homeed seemed to recognize the coming impact just in time to spin itself extending its blade like wings to try and slow its impact putting its own back to the ground turning Mito towards the sky just before impact. With a small detonation that kicked up a small cloud of dust the pair crashed into the ground Mito flying out in a small ark before landing in the combined arms of Minami and Naruko who looked from their giggling imoto to the crash zone.

"Hey Niisan you alive in there, or did Mito finally do you in?" called Naruko as she heard a small snarky cough coming from the dusk cloud as Naruto walked out looking over at the three with a slightly exasperated look.

"Ha ha Naruko you're hysterical." Shot Naruto as his blonde sister just gave him a happy little smirk as Minami shook her head looking up at the sky as if praying for patience.

"Honestly Naruto this is your fault, you keep giving her new playmates with powers, we're lucky she hasn't blown up the village with Kyueed yet." Called Minami looking around to fix Mito with a slightly disappointed look. Mito herself had the decency to look embarrassed as she look over at Naruto and back to her sister her head drooping slightly.

"Sorry Aniki Homeed and I just wanted to show off…" started the girl before Naruko let out a small chuckle ruffling the girl's hair as she did.

"Relax Mito, we've all done worse to each other at one point or another, sad to say an aerial attack is probably pretty low on that list anyway." Commented the sister as beside her Minami let out a small snort even as Naruto reached them a smiling a bit despite himself as Mito grinned up at him through a mop of messy hair.

"So what's with the search party?" asked Naruto before Naruko leaned forwards catching Naruto in a headlock even as Minami and Mito started to laugh happily.

"What's the occasion, come on Naruto you made chunnin and thought we wouldn't want to celebrate, if we don't hurry you're going to be late for your own party back home." Smiled Naruko as the boy looked up and around at the three smiling faces his mind slowly digesting what he had just been told.

"Pa-party?" he managed before Minami walked over to pull Naruko off of her niisan giving him an exasperated look as she did.

"Yes a party what you thought we would let you getting a promotion go unremarked give us some credit, now come on or we will be late. Hey Mito go get Homeed, and no flying you two are grounded for the time being." Instructed Minami as Mito gave a small pouting huff but marched over to where the seedling was pulling itself from the ground with a small metallic humming.

Naruto in turn was looking from his two neesan's before his mind finally caught up with his body, but by then the three girls had dragged him off towards the party. As the four's feet padded their way home Naruto couldn't help but smile as he just enjoyed the walk with his family back home…it had been a long time since they had celebrated anything as a family…and Juubi was right this was his concern… soon enough he would be fighting to protect moments like these, but just for this night he would let himself cherish these moments, after all Juubi was right about something else as well…a red dawn was coming.

* * *

A day later found Naruto in the familiar training field with Kiba and Hinata waiting patiently for Kushina to arrive, as they chatted idly between one another.

"Man it figures you get promoted, and Hinata gets the fast track to becoming a special Jonin in her training, I feel like I'm falling behind everyone." Called Kiba in a good natured tone drawing a smile from both Naruto and Hinata as below them Akamaru let out a happy bark.

"It's ok Kiba you'll do just fine, just watch in no time you'll be getting your own vest." Called Naruto looping an arm around his friend's neck as the two smiled at one another before Kiba sigh pushing the Uzumaki's arm off.

"Hai, Hai I guess, still kind of stinks that the team won't be able to stay together." Added Kiba as the others shrugged with a slight edge of sorrow in their own faces.

"Ya seems like team eleven only just got started, still it's not like we doing get to still hang out and train, you don't get off that easy." Chuckled Naruto as Kiba shot back a challenging smirk towards the blond as Hinata let out a small giggle at the two's antics.

After a short while Kushina arrived in a swirl of water smiling around at the three her red armor absent in place of a simple working kimono her face in a wide smile as she looked around at the three.

"Sorry about the wait but I was finishing up something and it kind of ran later than I thought it would." Smiled Kushina giving herself a playful little bob on the head as she did.

"Well first let me say congratulations again for all of your work during the exams, and especially in the invasion, I have to say I haven't seen a team so promising in years, and I'm sure that all of you will continue to grow as time goes on." continued Kushina as the three smiled at the woman's praise before Kiba spoke up.

"So Kushina-sensei what now I mean with Hinata and Naruto advancing am I being transferred or what?" In response to his words Kushina looked over at the Inuzuka boy a small smirk on her face as she did.

"Oh are you so eager to loss me as a sensei Kiba?" Her words causing Kiba to splutter slightly as Kushina let out a small laugh before shaking her head.

"In answer no Kiba our team isn't done just yet, sure Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan are going to be busier, from now on, but we are still a team, we may not be official but I don't intent to let this team end until I see all three of you having teams of your own, and to that end I brought some help with me." added Kushina turning as a small whirl of fires showed a tall women with black hair step out her eyes soft as they looked around at the three gathered teens before looking over at Kushina.

"So I see you started without me, honestly Kush-chan I'm hurt one would think you didn't care." Mocked Mikoto as Kushina gave her friend a slightly annoyed look before giving her a small poke in the side that Mikoto returned with an annoyed glare.

"Huh why is Uchiha-san here?" asked Kiba as Mikoto turned to look at him.

"So you're Tsume's kid huh….wow you are a lot like your mother, kami help me if you start trying to set yourself up as alpha like she used to." Chuckled the matriarch as Kushina let out a small chuckle at the memory of Tsume in their younger years. Kushina after her laugh stepped up to speak once again.

"Sorry about that I'm sure you all know Mikoto here, and it was decided that we would be working to help and improve Hinata's and Kiba's jutsu arsenal now that you have reached a level where we think it can help, I have enough water for Hinata, but I'm afraid there aren't many wind users that aren't already teaching, so I asked Mikoto to help out, she has a huge library of justus and should have a few that can help you out." finished Kushina Kiba looked over at Mikoto who was smiling at the boys obvious excitement.

"Well he seems enthusiastic if nothing else." Chuckled Mikoto as the group began to talk discussing what would becoming their new training schedule. After the others had taken their leave Naruto stood with Kushina waiting for another figure to arrive. As the two began to wonder if he was ever going to show there was a flash of yellow as Minato Namikaze dropped lightly to the ground before them looking between the pair as he moved forwards to get to work on fixing all that he had come so close to destroying. He had set about what he could to start protecting the Juubi's family…and now it was time for him to try and fix his own.

* * *

It took a full week before the combined sweeps of the Anbu and barrier teams identified the breach in their security finding a small area of their protective line literally burnt away, and in some cases still smoldering with blackened flames that seemed to have eaten right through the protective seals that acted as the boarder. During this time those inside the village had been slowly returning to what passed for normal in a shinobi village. At the moment we could find a particular pair enjoying a small brake in the noon day sun both seated on the Cliffside overlooking the village their legs gently swaying as the smaller of the two rested her head lightly on her partners shoulder.

"So sounds like Tsunade and Shizune are putting you through the grinder bunny-chan." Whispered Naruto as Hinata let out a small hum of agreement as she let her eyes close and her body to lean a little more into Naruto's form.

"Hai…but it's worth it; I'm advancing faster than I ever thought I could." Replied Hinata her own voice gentle and full of a quiet happiness as she took this small break from her new training. At her words Naruto's face broke into a small grin as he gently laid a hand on the girls head allowing his fingers to gently move through its silky folds.

"Knowing you bunny-chan you'll make it to Jonin before I do, I better start stepping up my game." Chuckled the blonde as Hinata ignored his words preferring instead to simply give him a small squeeze as the pair settled back letting the small bustle of the village to drift its way up to where they sat. After a small time Hinata lifted her head up to blink up at Naruto who was looking out over the village a small smile still present on his lips.

"So when do you leave?"

"Hum, oh ya, we head out today, looks like getting Garra and his siblings back home is a pretty big importance…with the whole Akatsuki thing and all they aren't taking any chances, besides just team seven, they are also throwing in Kaasan and me."

"Isn't that even worse putting all of you out there?" asked Hinata clear worry in her voice as Naruto looked down to give her another comforting smile.

"It's not like they can't get into the village if they want to bunny-chan, besides four Jinchuuriki and two high level Jonin all together makes it less likely we'll be hit, from what we understand they like to hit their targets when they are isolated, and surprised, in a group like this prepped for an attack it's unlikely we'll run into any trouble, besides just because its dangerous out there doesn't mean we get to stop being shinobi." Finished Naruto as he bent down pushing back a small bit of hair as he planted a gentle kiss on the girls cheek causing her to blush scarlet for a moment her head dropping slightly.

"….ok Naruto-kun….but you better come back safe…or else." Murmured Hinata given him a small push which only caused him to pull the girl even closer his own smile mirroring the one now tracing her lips. For a few more minutes the pair sat there, till it was time for Naruto to depart, and for Hinata to return to her lessons, the two shared a final parting embrace before Naruto headed off towards Konoha's gates, where the party would be waiting.

While Naruto set off from the Hokage monument in another part of the village Fu was sitting up in a tree her eyes such even as she continued to mutter an almost silent mantra to herself as she attempted to remain clam.

"I will not run away…I will not run away…I will not run away from my mission….I will not run away from my mission….even if my mission is looking after children like some D-rank GENIN TEAM! AAAAHHHHH I CAN'T TAKE IT!" the orange eyes girl cried as she threw her arms up as he leaned forwards a slightly manic look on her face as beside her a small metal hum issued as causing her to turn her fearful expression around at Homeed who was perched on the branch beside her.

"AND NONE FROM YOU, GET BACK TO WORK ON HOVERING AND USING THOSE!" called Fu pointing at the single blade and six scythe like wings that the creature had before the seedling snapped out a salute before stepping of the branch to drop to the ground where an excited amount of cries intermingled with happy greetings reached it. With a heavy sigh Fu leaned over her perch to see the seedling soon surrounded by Mito, Hanabi and a few other children who had seen the creature's appearance from the treetops.

"Ugh I know I'm here to help Konoha, but there has to be something better than this, I mean couldn't they send me on a suicide mission or something." Muttered Fu before an excited voice called up to her.

"HEY FU-CHAN, COME DOWN AND TRAIN WITH US HOMEED WAS SHOWING US STUFF FROM THE ANBU!" called Mito's unmistakable voice as Fu let her head droop further.

"**Come on Fu-chan let's do it, we never get to be with people back in Taki, please, please, please!" **started Chomei before Fu managed to put up some form of mental mute button.

"Fine, fine I'm coming!" called Fu as two wings sprouted allowing her to gently drift down drawing excited cheers from the assembled children, along with a small smattering of applause, that managed to bring a small smile to her face as she looked around at the little ones. Whether she liked these babysitting missions or not at least Chomei was right about one thing, it was nice to be accepted.

"OK squirts line up if we're doing this we're doing this right!" called the girl as the kids rushed to obey even as Homeed moved to stand behind Fuu his arms cross as he turned his armored face back and forth as if inspecting the troops, causing Fu to snort slightly at his attitude.

"Oh no you don't mister, get in line with the rest of them!" called Fuu causing Homeed to drop slightly shuffling over to stand between Mito and a young Uchiha boy who looked up at the armored figure with stars in his eyes before flashing a few of the other kids a wide smile at his good fortune. As Fu was about to get started a small pulse of chakra informed her of another presence as she turned to see Neko walking out looking between Homeed and children before returning to Fu.

"Neko-san?" started Fuu before the Anbu waved a hand reaching up to remove her mask as she stepped forwards to stand beside Fuu her black eyes looking out from a framed face of purple hair.

"Yugao, will do Fu-san. Though if you are going to be instructing both the future of Konoha and the Anbu mascot you might want a little more assistance." Spoke the woman showing the barest hint of a smile as Fu gave a small smirk of her own.

"Oh course Yugao-san, hear that Homeed looks like your boss is here so better try hard!" called Fu getting a metallic hum as the seedling gave another salute the surrounding children mimicking that action much to the amusement of those onlookers.

* * *

Across town near the main gates a pair of teens were making their way forwards as a small white haired pup trotted along ahead of them his tail wagging back and forth as he pushed towards their destination. Behind him Temari and Kiba walked both in a slightly awkward silence as Kiba had his head turned pointedly away from the girl his hand shoved into his coat the entire time since they had left the compound. When Tsume had suggested Kiba walk Temari out she had notice an slightly reproachful body language in the boy as he had slouched out with her as though it was some kind of burden to walk her to the gates.

Temari had wanted one last time with the pups that were now old enough to start actually being let out before she headed out. Over the past few days she had stopped by the compound a handful of time, the last time even bringing her older brother who had ended up getting chase up a tree thanks to his particular dress preferences.

Despite her first reactions to the boy Temari had found herself enjoying Kiba's company over these past few days. Something about the bluntness of how he acted she found comforting, there just wasn't any deception with him, if he said he respected her strength it was because he did, heck the two had even taken to sparing every now and the, Temari herself deciding to give the boy some instruction in wind manipulation on some occasions. So at the moment his standoffish behavior was slightly distressing to the girl.

_Darn it Temari what they heck is wrong with you…he's from another village, and your leaving today so stop worrying about it. So what if he's acting weird in a few minutes it won't be your problem….just cause he was nice to you doesn't mean anything…or that he made you laugh…or that you kind of liked his family ahhh, stop it who cares if he's ignoring you it's not like you care! Stupid dog breath should have known he was just doing what he was told, well if I'm such a bother he won't have to see me anymore and good riddance I say. _Continued Temari as they reached the gates spying the gathering group her two brothers standing beside the recently arrived team seven and Kushina all of whom seemed to be chatting about the upcoming mission. As they spotted the group Temari turned she found Kiba looking off slightly to one side causing her to glare slightly as she spoke her own annoyance leaking out into her voice as she did.

"Well we're here, you don't have to walk me here anymore, you're off the hook." Said the girl turning to leave only to find a small tug on the end of her battle fan. Looking down she spotted Akamaru tugging at her fan slightly jerking his head slightly as if to indicate something.

"What?" muttered Temari as the pup released her fan turning to let out a few small barks at Kiba who turned to face the pup showing Temari for the first time that his face held a small blush.

"Oh shut up Akamaru I'm going to do it gah your worse than Neesan." muttered the boy turning towards the blonde girl who was completely lost as to what was happening as the boy before her slowly began to unzip his coat. Just as she was about to start asking questions or slamming the perverted boy before her with a fan a small little bark drew her attention as Kiba's jacket opened showing a small pup with a mix of white and sand colored fur nestled in the boys hands. Before the confusion had left Temari's face Kiba stepped forwards placing the pup into the girl's hands where it nuzzled happily against her chest letting out a small happy whine as its little mouth lolled open into a doggy grin.

"Look her name is cola she's the pick of the litter, and she'll look after you, so take care of her alright! And…well we'd like to see her every now and then so just make sure and stop by some time….ok." stated Kiba his eyes turning away even as Temari looked down at the little pup nestled close to her before she looked back up to Kiba a bright twinge of red working its way up her face as she did.

…_.he….he….puppy….but Tsume said they don't trust anyone with their pups that they could only….but he…. _Managed Temari before the little fluff ball known as Cola let out a small bark causing Kiba to turn his eyes wide as the blush grew along his face.

"Hey I'm not going to just kiss her!" called Kiba before he seemed to realize what he said freezing as he looked up from Cola to Temari his mind completely blank. For a moment the two just looked at one another before Temari bowed her head slightly mumbling something as she did that even Kiba couldn't quite make out.

"Huh what?" he managed before Temari stepped forwards her head raising as it did so that before Kiba knew what was happening he found his lips caught up in a soft embrace as his wide eyes looked into the face of the blonde girl from Suna. The Kiss lasted another heartbeat before Temari broke the kiss leaning back her face red, but a look somewhere between annoyance and happiness upon it.

"Baka I said if you won't I will….see you." Finished Temari as she turned Cola peeking out over her shoulder as she moved away her face glowing red even as she marched over to join her brothers Gaara taking notice of the pup as they neared but simply offering a small smile as it let out a small bark at Kankuro getting a few chuckles from the surrounding group.

For his part Kiba just stood there staring after the group till they had departed his own mind still trying to figure out just what had transpired before he looked down to where Akamaru was still giving him a wide doggy grin.

"I was right boy first rule of Konoha blonde women are crazy." Mumbled the boy as the pup let out a small snort.

* * *

It was a day later that found team seven along with Kushina, Naruto and the Suna siblings all camped out in a small rock side overlooking the desert beyond that they would soon be expected to cross. At the moment there had been no run ins with any enemies and the group was allowing itself to relax if only a little as they made a fire and prepared to take a small rest before beginning the desert trek once the sun had set. While Kushina and Kakashi moved out along with Naruto to make sure that the perimeter was secure Temari was busy playing with Cola, Minami chatting with her as the small pup excitedly chased a small stick that Kankuro had grudgingly agreed to animate with his chakra strings.

Meanwhile Naruko was currently walking over to where Sasuke sat looking out over the desert his eyes cast out over the dunes as he made a point to separate himself from the rest of the group. He didn't seem to react as Naruko moved over to stand beside him.

"So see anything interesting or just practicing the anti-social routine again?" chuckled Naruko as Sasuke remained silent. For a few moments Naruko waited for a reply before the smile slowly slipped from her lips as he looked down at her friend.

"Hey aren't you going to call me baka or something? What's wrong?" asked the girl as Sasuke let out a small huff his mind still focused out over the sandy dunes of the desert. Soon Naruko let out annoyed huff crossing her arms as he looked down disappointed in her teammate.

"Honestly is this you steaming about your loss to Gaara, or that crap with your brother a week back, I told you me and Minami are fine the Anbu and Homeed drove him off. Sasuke you're starting to worry me honestly you haven't been the same since you got out of the hospital." Continued Naruko before Sasuke pushed himself up turning to push past Naruko before she caught his shoulder.

"Hold it Sasuke, I don't know what's been happening with you but something is wrong, what is it? We're teammates damn it you can talk to me." finished the girl as Sasuke continued to look ahead until Naruko's arm fell away allowing him to march slowly away. However, just as he was getting out of earshot Naruko heard him call back to her softly.

"….thank you Naruko." His words causing Naruko to look after her the boy with no small amount of worry on her face. After the tournament Sasuke had been closing himself off to everyone, even his Kaasan Mikoto wasn't able to get through to him. It was like he was just cutting every link he had to the village, and it was starting to get Naruko truly worried. Worse possibly was that he seemed to be almost obsessed with getting stronger now demanding training and sparing almost constantly before Kakashi finally had to step in and put a stop to it before the boy hurt himself. Idly she noted that as the boy marched steadily farther away he reached up idly to rub at his shoulder where the cursed mark still lay.

Once the boy had disappeared over a small outcropping of rock he allowed his shaking legs to give out from under him slipping down to his knees even as he reach up to grasp either side of his head biting down hard enough so that the coppery taste of blood filled his mouth as he struggled to hold back to voices even now pounding away inside of his mind…and in this private moment he allowed himself to fear for what the future held for him.

Out at the edge of the Desert Naruto had stopped for a moment at the start of the great sea of sand looking out with an wide smile on his face at the massive expanse before him.

"Wow I have to say that's something new." Chuckled the boy as inside his mind Juubi smiled looking over to see where in her mindscape Shukaku was resting in his own miniature desert.

"**Hai I have to agree Naruto, my little Shukaku sure knows where to make his home." **Laughed Juubi as a small grumble from her eldest made it clear he still wasn't a fan of his Kaasan's pet names.

"**Yes Kaasan it's a very nice desert …. Come to think of it why don't you have him try out your new move here, after all can't very well make the place much more hostile." **Muttered the great sand tanuki as his Kaasan let out an approving sound beaming around at her Sochi.

"**Good plan, well Naruto you wanted to see what kind of a punch it packed." **Chuckled Juubi as Naruto felt a small rush of exhilaration as he slowly feel into the familiar stance.

"Hai, after all, what was all that work with Minato-baka for if I'm not going to use it." Added the boy as his skin became coated in a blackened shell his vest and coat also turning black as the pollens there hardened for the coming attack as well.

A few yards off Kakashi had just finished his surveillance of the area happening to spot a small burst of purple chakra as he was about to start heading back to camp. As he turned he noticed Kushina not far away, also looking over to the source of the chakra spike.

"Kushina-san is that Naruto?" called Kakashi as Kushina turned to spy the silver haired Jonin as he jumped down behind her.

"Yep that's him alright, looks like he's getting in some work before we turn in." replied Kushina as the chakra spike suddenly vanished causing Kakashi to turn back towards the source just as there was a small rumble around them as if the very earth was suddenly fearful of what it knew was about to be unleashed. Then there was the sound or rather the complete absence of it. Kakashi suddenly noticed that everything had suddenly become muted just before he heard the almost gentle sound of something being released before the sound suddenly flooded back as he heard a sound like tearing wind before a great distance off he spotted a sudden burst of sand before all the color and sound settled itself back. From beside him Kushina let out a small whistle turning a wide fox like grin towards Kakashi as she did.

"That's my sochi alright." She smirked as Kakashi looked around dumb struck at what had apparently just occurred, true he didn't know just what the Sochi of Minato had done, but on an almost basic level he understood that he never wanted to be on the receiving end of whatever had caused the world around him to seemingly stop turning for a moment. Not long after this Naruto made his appearance looking rather pleased with himself as Kushina gave him a small bop on the head as they headed back to camp lecturing him about possibly revealing positions, even as Kakashi leapt down to where he could only guess was the ground zero for the attack.

What he found was a solid hole no wider than a bottle of saki, though what surprised him was that the whole was made of glass and happened to run clear through a massive sand dune that stood on the edge of the sandy expanse. After a few moments taking this in Kakashi managed to shrug it off before turning to get back to the camp. After all if nothing else whatever Naruto had done, was at least going to be pointed away from him…he hoped.

That night the group could be found moving slowly through the desert Gaara in the lead silencing the sand around them to such an extent that even the occasional sink holes seemed simply unwilling to try and grab them as they passed. The group pushed their way to the village finally arriving Naruto letting out a whistle as the massive cliff sides that acted as Suna's natural defenses.

"Wow and I though Konoha's walls were impressive, I can't wait to tell Hinata-chan about these." Chuckled Naruto as behind him Kushina let a small smile play across her lips as she saw the wonder in all three of her children's eyes.

Before long a group of Suna shinobi and Kunoichi arrived, and after a brief discussion with Kushina and Kakashi the group was slowly led into the village to find housing for the night. Soon the groups were divided into their sleeping arrangements all allowing rest to come, before the dawn broke over the horizon. As Naruto settled into bed he noted that Sasuke seemed to have already turned in, but was shivering slightly, still he seemed alright and besides the night air had been quite cold during their trek across the desert. What the young Uzumaki couldn't know, was what was the true source of the Uchiha's convulsions, and wet sweat that were now his constant companions?

* * *

As the group settled in together across the land in a small underground bunker another blood curdling scream echoed out through the tunneled lair in the land of rice. Down that corridor came a scared pale man his spectacled face turned towards the sound of wailing even as the small tray of surgical instruments rattled lightly as he turned down a final hallway just in time to see a bloody body fly out of an open door to splat sickly against an opposite wall it's now hollowed eye sockets looking blindly towards the man as he turned into the room where a figure lay stretched out on a bed whose sheets were died crimson.

Stepping up to the side of the bed Kabuto set his tools down looking over at the bloody state of the room before catching the now black eyes that stared up at him from the bed. Slowly as he watched the shine in those eyes darkened before with a roar of furry and the bed bound man reached up to tear the now darkened eyes from his head crying out in fresh rage as he did.

"DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM! MY EYES THEY TOOK MY EYES!" howled Orochimaru as his maddened voice echoed throughout the room carrying with it a clearly manic rage, that ran down to his very soul. From beside him Kabuto let out a small sigh before he reached forwards his hands glowing green to seal up the small furrow that Orochimaru had dug into his own face when tearing out the most recent failure.

"Orochimaru-sama if you are not careful you will only damage your body further, these spurts of anger are doing nothing to improve your condition." Spoke Kabuto as a wave of killing intent surged out from the sage before slowly dwindling away before Orochimaru allowed himself to lean back and allow himself to be healed.

"Kukukuku oh course I need to be lectured like some fresh genin…kukukuku report Kabuto, what is the damage." Spoke Orochimaru, his sudden shift alarming to anyone who hadn't seen the clear madness that had taken the man over the past weeks. The loss of his eyes on top of his other crippling injuries had taken what few strings of sanity that still held the man up and severed them with a single precise swipe. For his part Kabuto seemed either to not care or simply to not notice as he continued his work.

"The invasion cost us some sixty percent of our forces, still they were only fodder so the overall damage is manageable. However, the snake clan apparent lost enough summons to need time to sire a new nest before they will be back in action." Stated Kabuto as the green light faded and Orochimaru let himself lean back on his bed his hollow eyes staring blindly forwards as he continued with his mad little laugh.

"Anything else kukukuk?" asked the snake sage as Kabuto let out a heavy sigh before leaning looking around at the bloodied room idly.

"Hai it seems you're link with the curse seal is having some unforeseen affects with your recent….injury."

"kukukuku, oh and what might that be?" questioned the sage as Kabuto leaned back in his chair rubbing his head as he did.

"It seems that your link to them has resulted in increased aggression, along with some manic episodes in a few isolated incidence…it seems Orochimaru-sama that being connected to your pain is driving them mad." Finished Kabuto as Orochimaru's face broke into an inhuman smile his voice rising several octaves as his mad cackling continued to ring throughout the base even as the stale sent of blood continued to perforate the madman's room.

* * *

The dawn broke over the tops of Suna the first rays turning the village into a city of gold like some kind of legend even as the inhabitants began to make ready for the day ahead of them. Among them was the group from Konoha, who found themselves meeting outside of a larger tower that apparently served as their central command. There stood a collection of robed figures, who along with a handful of Jonin welcomed the Konoha shinobi before taking Kushina and Kakashi to finish up the final points on the new treaty between their respective villages. Meanwhile the rest of the group was free to wander the village parting as something would catch their eyes until Naruto found himself standing in a small playground beside Gaara as the latter looked out over the playing children spotting a few concerned looking shinobi and parents but ignoring their presence for the time being.

"So I guess this is your home Huh." Naruto started a bit lamely as beside him Gaara allowed his eyes to droop shut as he gave a silent nod. Naruto picked up on a few of the whispers now directed towards the pair hearing a few mutters about "dangerous" and "monster" noting how uncomfortable the words seemed to be making Gaara.

With a small shrug Naruto gave the red-haired boy a small shove causing him to turn his teal eyes around to the blond a confused expression falling over them as he spotted the fox like grin that was spreading across the boy's face. Soon Naruto seemed to wave slightly before he was suddenly replaced by a cross between himself and a mad scientist, complete with lab coat and manic hair style who gave a final smirk before moving forwards.

"**I am suddenly very concerned." **Muttered Shukaku as Gaara couldn't help but feel himself agreeing with the tanuki even as a small smile crossed the sand figures face from where she stood not far from the massive form of the one tail.

As the boy watched Naruto marched out into the playground spotting a few kids playing happily stopping only when they noticed him walking past his unusual dress drawing their attention before he came to stop in the center of the playground spinning to face Gaara and striking a pose that Gaara could only interpret as something that belonged in a children's TV show. As the now fascinated children watched the boy's face was slowly covered in a familiar black mask his eyes transforming into a blank mask even as a single orb exited his body setting ling itself before him before breaking open to reveal a seedling that looked around confused before humming slightly as it looked over at Naruto before mimicking his exaggerated pose as the children present now were looking at him with large stars in their eyes thinking they were seeing some kind of super hero.

Gaara for his part, along with Shukaku were wondering if the sun might have already gotten to the boy, but before they could vocalize the concern Naruto called out in a cartoony over blown voice pointing towards Garra as he did.

"SO YOU GAARA OF THE SAND WISH TO STOP MY REIGN OF EVIL, HA I WILL NOT BE STOPPED BY THE LIKES OF YOU, JUST WATCH AS I TURN THIS VILLAGE INTO ANOTHER PART OF MY EVIL EMPIRE!" called Naruto as the children suddenly looked shocked looking between Gaara and Naruto most moving over to climb onto the nearby playground equipment for a better look, as those parents and Shinobi couldn't help but face fault at what they were seeing. For his part Gaara looked like he had just been clubbed over the head several times from his expression, as Naruto continued to pose pointing at him.

"Naruto what are you doing?" stared the red haired boy before Naruto's voice overshadowed him.

"NARUTO I AM NOT NARUTO I AM THE EVIL MASTERMIND DR. MADNESS! AND NOT EVEN YOUR POWERS CAN HOPE TO STOP ME!" called Naruto even as unnoticed to the watching children a second seed dropped from Nartuo's back rolling over to rest beside Garra before inside his mind something clicked with Shukaku as he let out a heavy bellow.

"**HAHAHAAH misdirection, and the young, I see your game now boy, not bad. Gaara it seems we have a game to play." **Chuckled Shukaku as Gaara felt a small pull from him as the seed beside him cracked open and Seekaku took shape beside him drawing several gasps and excited cries from the watching children.

"HA NOT EVEN YOUR PARTNER SEEDKAKU CAN HOPE TO STOP ME GARRA SURRENDER YOUR VILLAGE NOW! NO HERO'S WILL STOP ME!" called Naruto as the children looked around to Seekaku who was mimicking Gaara's stance even as black sand began to rise around him even as a small bit of humming escaped his form to the excitement of the children a few letting out small cheers as they saw it. Then it happened just as Gaara was starting to think the world around him was going mad a small girl seated on top of a jungle gym called out in a powerful little voice.

"COME ON GAARA, SEEDKUN YOU CAN DO IT!" came the small voice even as others began to cheer for the boy causing him to look around at the now cheering kids even as he felt a small warmth at the cheering faces.

"WELL GAARA WILL YOU SURRENDER!" called Naruto the happiness in his voice clear to Gaara as he turned back towards Naruto a small smirk on his face as despite himself he raised a hand up, a few of the older generation becoming nervous as he pointed towards the blond, until his voice came out.

"NOT THIS TIME DR. MADNESS, SUNA WILL NEVER BE YOURS, COME ON SEEDKAKU!" called the boy to a sudden increase in cheers as both black and golden sand rushed forwards to Naruto and his Seedling who jumped dramatically to dodge the telegraphed attack before springing forwards into the mock battle, even as the crowd gathered to watch as the children cheered or gasped as the two put on their battle production. As the battle came to an end Naruto and the seedling laid face flat on the sand covered ground as Gaara looked down at him with a genuine smile as the cheers grew.

"CURSES FOILED AGAIN, BUT YOU CAN'T ALWAYS BE HERE TO PROTECT SUNA GAARA I'LL COME BACK!" called Naruto as he pushed himself up the seedling falling back into an orb as the children gasped looking around towards Gaara who paused for a moment before Seekaku stepped up to strike a defiant stance its massive pawed hand reforming into a hand so that it could point at the blond as beside him Gaara mimic him.

"THEN I'LL BE HERE TO STOP YOU THEN, I WILL ALWAYS BE HERE TO PROTECT SUNA FROM YOU OR ANY OTHER DANGER!" called Gaara as the kids exploded into cheers as Naruto dropped a smoke bomb disappearing under the excited clapping of children as they rushed forwards at Gaara those parents watching starting to move, but stopping as they saw Gaara's sand simply flowing back into his gourd as the children raced up to meet him chatting excitedly as they jumped up around him excited to meet a real hero. From over with the parents a few were looking between each other obvious concern as they saw the blood thirsty Jinchuuriki that they had long fears apparently speaking and being cheered by their children.

"It looks like they are willing to give him a chance…I wonder if you can do the same?" came a voice causing many of the shinobi and parent to turn to see Naruto standing behind them a small smile on his face as he saw Seekaku let out an annoyed huff as he was pulled down so that the children could pet his ears and play with his tail. Idly the older generation turned from the scene around to Naruto and then back one mother letting out a small gasp as her daughter the one who had first cheered reaching up to yank at Gaara's pant leg drawing the boys attention before starting an excited sting of questions that culminated in the redhead allowing a small bit of sand to exit his gourd that the children tried to catch as it dance among them.

As the day continued the children's parents went over to collect them, each pausing for a moment at Garra, a few still unsure of what to do, but more than one greeting him before heading out their children excitedly chatting about the boy, until only Naruto and the boy were left in the playground Gaara turning to Naruto with his usual expression on his face. Naruto in turn gave another fox grin as despite himself Gaara gave a small smile as the pair turned to head back to find the others.

"So may I ask where that particular plan came from?" asked Gaara as they made their way through the streets towards the tower. Naruto in turn just shrugged as he continued forwards.

"Nowhere really, Jinchuuriki are cast as the villain so often to the older generation, I just though what would happen if you were the hero first… it may not be much but there's no reason that we can't try and make a better future…a better world." replied Naruto as from inside Gaara's mind Shukaku let out a small chuckle.

"**Seems Kaasan chose wisely after all, small things can build into a massive power over time…we should know that most of all." **finished the tanuki allowing a few granules of sand to fall from his fingertips looking around to see Juubi smiling over at him.

"I suppose so..." replied Gaara as the two continued forwards.

* * *

While Naruto and Gaara had been busy putting on their production Minami found herself walking around aimlessly giving the surroundings a small look of curiosity. Suna had a completely different feel than Konoha, and even thought the two villages were allies she hadn't quite gotten the feel for the place with its heat. She found herself walking the streets just wasting time till she could head back to the hotel and meet up with the rest of the Konoha exchange group. As she walked down the streets she found herself in a small park like area where the sun beat down mercilessly causing the people present to head under what shaded areas they could find. Minami continued on getting more and more tired as she did, the sun beating into her and zapping what strength she had.

After a few minutes in the heat Minami had to agree with the rest of Suna and started looking round trying to spy an open bit of shade. Her eyes finally found a small spot beside a narrow tree that had a bench beside it. She took off towards the bench, but right as she was about to manage a sit, another figure came out from the other side of the tree plopping down on the seat letting out a happy little sigh.

"Oh come on!" Minami called throwing her hands up in the air before falling into the sand before the shady spot causing the figure there to turn his head and take notice of her.

Minami awoke to a cool feeling against her head as she blinked her eyes open barely able to see the light of the sun through the branches of the tree she had been heading for. Idly she noted that she was lying down, and that her head seemed to be resting on something cool as well. With a groan she closed her eyes letting the headache she felt coming be eased away by the cold something pressed into her forehead.

"You know it isn't smart to be out in the desert like you were, you could get heatstroke or worse, even with your Uzumaki stamina." It said causing Minami to open her eyes and look up into a familiar female looking face. Haku blinked down at her his face set in a way that made it clear he was lecturing the girl currently propped up on his lap. Minami noticed the boy's posture, and also realized that it was his hand that was resting on her forehead creating a small layer of ice that was acting to cool her off. In fact the boy's whole body seemed to be radiating a small pulse of cold that kept the heat around them at bay.

Once Minami realized her position she felt a small twinge of red touch her cheeks recognizing how the two must look to anyone walking by. Meanwhile in her mind Kyu was happily speaking loudly about the nice cold boy that was helping her out, and suggesting that she curl up with him to keep cool in the weather, causing her already forming blush to intensify. With a little force of effort Minami sat up and away from Haku looking anywhere but at the boy.

"Th-thanks, I'll keep that in mind….and thanks for taking care of me." she said to the tree still refusing to look back at the boy. Haku in the meantime was at a bit of a loss as to why she was acting as she was. Being raised by Zabuza for most of his life he had learned every survival tactic and battle form that Mist had to offer, but the actions of girls was still a mystery to him. So he simply sat there looking into the bright red hair covering the girls back.

"Hey, wait a minute what are you doing here in Suna?" Minami asked turning enough to have only one rosy cheek facing the boy, who looked at her for a moment before letting out a small sigh that sent out a cold air that sent shivers up Minami's arm as it fell across it.

"My team and I are here to work on getting an alliance between Suna and Mizu given our mutual relationship with Konoha, I was just taking a look around the village when the heat began to get too much, and I saw this spot, you collapsed a few feet in front of me and well, here we are." Haku finished Minami turning again to look at the tree with apparent interest as her cheeks glowed almost bright enough to match her eyes.

"Oh, hai I see." Minami responded a little too fast her mind still racing about the situation she was in. The two sat in silence for a few more moments before Haku spoke up again.

"Well now that you're doing better I suppose that I'll be on my way." Started the boy moving to stand up. Minami found herself not wanting the boy to leave suddenly.

"**Minami don't let cold boy go, he feels nice to curl up against!" **called Kyu excitedly as Minami tried to ignore what her teenage mind was showing her. However, her body seemed to have decided to make a move for self-preservation, and reached out to grab the boy. Minami's hand closed around Haku's as her lips parted words flying out before she could think about them.

"Um please stay." she half whispered still facing the tree. Haku in turn noticed the warm feeling of the girl's hand against his own cold skin feeling a touch of that warmth in his chest as well. Haku turned to Minami's back leaning in to hear her better.

"Um excuse me Minami-san I didn't quite her you." Asked the boy having been unable to truly hear the girl's words. Minami was meanwhile in a mental battle at the moment and didn't hear the boy.

_Wha-what the heck is wrong with me "please stay?" what was I thinking and just grabbing him like that, ahhh what am I going to do, but his hand feels so nice….no NO bad Minami stop letting your body think for you, just because he's cute, kind, and went out of his way to help you out doesn't mean anything right…RIGHT! _The poor girl kept saying to herself even as she zoned out still looking at the tree.

Haku in the meantime had leaned in starting to think that she had somehow fainted again, while that strange warmth in his chest continued to pulse, as she started to take notice of the softness of the girl's skin against his own, a small happy feeling spreading out from that spot.

"Minami? Are you ok?" Haku asked leaning in closer to the girl his cold breath falling across her neck and ear causing her to shiver slightly and spin round suddenly. With Haku's close proximity what she ended up doing was spinning her lips around half open in question that was never uttered as the two teens lips crashed into one another both of their eyes wide. For a moment both teens just stared eyes wide at each other the warmth of Minami's lips pressing against the coolness of Haku's, idly both noticed the softness of each other's lips, their minds racing as red looking into black wide as red spread across both of their faces. With a small sound of surprise Haku leaned forwards his eyes closing as he went limp against Minami slowly sliding down till his head was resting in her lap, Minami still looking ahead as if frozen.

_I-I, h-he we…cold _her mind fired off apparently just as lost as he was. However before she could follow Haku into unconsciousness she looked down to see Haku's face turned slightly with a look of contentment upon it. Minami found herself just looking at the boy's face for a few moments before she summoned a shadow clone to move the boy so that it was now his head resting on her lap, her hand resting on his head….and it had very little to do with the comforting cold that was still radiating off of the boy's body.

"**Hey good job Minami now you can stay cool!" **called Kyu happily as Minami looked down at the boy resting on her lap, her mind slowly coming back to functioning.

"Hai Kyu I guess I have." Minami said in a slightly dazed voice as she just looked down at the boy in her lap.

* * *

At the same time Minami was having her private time with the living ice pack Naruko was at this time standing on top of the massive wall surrounding Suna looking around more than a little frustrated at the moment at the disappearance of a particular duck haired youth.

"DAMN IT SASUKE WHERE DID YOU GO!" called the girl wondering just how things had gone so wrong so quickly. She had only been trying to talk to her teammate before he had seemed to flip out for a moment before racing off into the village losing her along the way. Now an irate Naruko stood looking out over the village as her clones raced through the streets looking for any sight of the Uchiha. Sure he could be a prick on most days but after the events in the forest something had been slowly changing with the boy, and seemed to have been getting worse and worse recently. Naruko had slowly begun to notice his more aggressive personality, he was snapping at random things, heck this particular outburst had happened when she had asked him if he wanted to grab a bit to eat while they were in Suna.

"Just what the heck is going on with him…I mean sure his brother showed up and all, but even that doesn't account for this behavior…darn it what kind of idiot won't let other people help them when they obviously need it." Grumbled Naruko as she kicked a small stone off the side of the wall before turning to go and start searching anew for her teammate. Meanwhile un noticed to her the stone she had kicked was currently resting on top of a small lump that was then forming on a particular duck headed teen, who was silently curse as he pulled himself up onto the lip of the wall after his blonde teammate had departed.

"Ouch, figures she just had to kick the stupid rock, still she never was very good at genjutsu detection, small favors I guess." Muttered the boy as he looked out over the village, as he attempted to stifle the pain in his head.

"Baka I don't need her help….ah stupid I should just get rid of her…wait what?" spoke the boy suddenly looking down at himself as he reflected on what he had just said.

_Wha…why would I say that, damn it what is happening to me, first the forest and now here, damn it what am I becoming….is this what happened to Itachi?...am I becoming some kind of monster? _Wondered the youth trying and failing to understand just why his mind seemed to be pulling itself apart, and why his suddenly felt an almost constant rage boiling just below the surface. Idly he scratched at his neck thinking of the curse seal there, remembering what he had learned about it from Kakashi. Whatever this was it wasn't from the curse seal that was only supposed to affect one if they used the chakra there, and he hadn't touched the stuff.

_What am I becoming…damn it what am going to do? _Thought the boy as he looked out over the village his mind showing him a small scene where he had woken in his home only to find his hand closed upon a blade as he stood before his Kaasan's room. His fear then had been enough to cause him to run out into the yard flinging the blade into the lake even as deep in his mind there was a mad cackling that didn't even sound human. What had he been about to do? That question had haunted him for days upon days, and the strain was quickly building along with the episodes. Just the previous night he had felt an urge while walking along with everyone towards Suna to spring forwards and attack Naruto for some reason…true he didn't really like the baka but why the hell was he suddenly behaving like a maniac.

Worse he couldn't bring himself to tell anyone, he just couldn't deal with the thought of being a monster like is elder brother…if they knew…they'd lock him up, away from everyone like some kind of wild animal…they were all against him…

_NO damn it now I'm getting paranoid. _ Thought the boy trying to shake the thoughts from his mind as another voice spoke up with that same maddening voice.

"_Oh no you aren't, they are against you, all of them your team your family they'll kill you if they know, all you have to do to be safe is kill them first." _Taunted the voice as Sasuke shook his head trying to clear to other him's voice but only succeeding in aggravating his already sizable headache.

_Shut up, SHUT UP…_ the boy shouted inside his head as that same vial cackle continued to play out even as the Uchiha sank to his knee's his body racked with violent shakes as his mind crumbled to pieces in his hands.

At the same time Naruko had started to become more than annoyed at the situation as she stumbled across Naruto and Gaara returning back to the tower. As she ran up to them both boy's turned seeing the slightly out of breath girl wondering just what was causing her obvious distress.

"Hey Naruko what's up?" called Naruto as his Neesan stopped in front of him pausing momentarily to catch her breath.

"Hey Naruto any idea where Sasuke is, I can't find him anywhere?" asked the girl as Naruto took a thoughtful look letting his pollen network take a quick check for the boy before shrugging slightly.

"Sorry no idea, he must be out of range or something, why what's wrong with him?" asked Naruto remembering the previous night. In response Naruko let out a heavy sigh scratching her head as she looked over at Naruto with a shrugging motion.

"Nothing I guess, he's just acting weird is all , he has been for a while at first I thought it was just about you running into that bastard Itachi, but its seems like something more than that." Replied Naruko as Naruto listened.

"**So I guess Minato didn't share that bit about Itachi…I suppose that makes sense after all if too many people know he is compromised." **Commented Juubi as Naruto mentally nodded.

"Ok well I guess we just keep looking if I see Minami I'll get her to help to." called Naruto as he turned heading out in search of the missing Uchiha. However, what Naruto could not know was that he was putting events into place that would nearly cost the lives of those he wished to protect more than anyone.

* * *

While this was taking place back in Konoha Fu was currently resting against the side of Juubi's massive tree the purple leaves providing the perfect shaded spot for the girl to catch some much deserved rest after her most recent "training" session with the local red headed devil and company. It hadn't taken Fu long to recognize that although she couldn't officially give instruction due to the nature of their treaty with Taki there was nothing stating she couldn't have some instruction in helping to complete a simple D rank mission. So with that excuse Yugao had become the girl's unofficial sensei working along with Homeed to develop new tactics for their fighting style and even given Fu some work in mastering her own bladed fighting style that took full advantage of her wings.

On top of that Fu couldn't deny that she was enjoying the time in Konoha, not being discriminated against due to being a Jinchuuriki was a nice change of pace for the girl, and she was starting to wonder if she might be able to get an extension on this particular stay in Konoha.

"**Hey Fu, Fu….FU FU FU!" **chirped up Chomei causing Fu to let out an annoyed grown as she leaned up ideally rubbing her head as she did.

"What Chomei, I swear you seem to only do that when I'm really relaxed." Grumbled the mint haired girl as she blinked around at the area of the tree before turning her mind inwards.

"**Hey FU Oniisan's here, really, really you should say hi, oh he'll be happy to see me, I just know it, hurry up FU!" **called the excited swarm as Fu's mind started to kick in comprehension slowly falling into place as it did.

"Oniichan…wait Gaara and them headed out a few days ago….which means." Fu muttered turning to see a tall man who was walking into the stadium pointedly heading for the massive tree at a gingerly pace. As he neared Fu took in his appearance noting a few interesting things about the man. For one he was wearing what looked like a cross between a maroon bodysuit and samurai armor that continued up over his bearded face up to the helmeted like headband that was emblazoned with a pair of stone signaling him as part of Iwa. His hair was heavy red that did nothing to disguise the obvious lines in his face as his eyes shifted lazily from side to side pausing where Fu knew her own escort was concealed.

With a small shiver Fu recognized that whoever this was, and whoever he held he was no stranger to combat, and despite her partners insistence she couldn't help but worry as he reached the edge of the three taking in the size of it for a moment before lazily turning to lean against its base slipping down to the ground where he pulled out a small bottle of saki all while presenting no opening that Fu could spot. After a moment Fu edged closer till the man's hard eyes swiveled slowly around to focus on her taking her in before dismissing her with a small huff, returning to focus on his saki.

For a moment the two stood in silence before Chomei once again made her presence know calling out to Fu a little less excited as she did.

"**Um Fu….I can't hear my Oniisan..."** called the swarm as another shiver ran down the girls back as the man seemed as though he could detect the tailed beasts words turning to give the girl another slow look setting down his bottle as he did. After a few moments of just being stared at Fu decided to try and speak but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what to say…until finally she just settled on something simple.

"Um…hi…" she managed awkwardly as the man seemed to consider her for a moment before looking back to his drink. After a few more moments of silence. Fu finally decided to shrink away from the man who continued to sip out of his saki dish apparently uninteresting in acknowledging this girl any further. As Fuu moved away the man allowed one eye to crane around to follow the girl on her way out of the stadium his mind putting the piece together as he did.

…_.hum it would seem that there are other Jinchuuriki in this village…still with Goku sealed I can only speculate and guess….still being in the middle of Konoha Onoki was right there was something at play here…he just didn't know what. _The man concluded as he stood up feeling a slight pulse from behind his seal as he idly raised a hand to his chest right in the center of his chest quirking an eyebrow as he did.

_So the Yonbi is acting up… _Thought the bearded man idly looking around at the massive tree he was moving to leave behind. For a moment he simply looked at the impressive structure before shrugging it off, maybe the ape just liked the tree shrugged the man as he turned the reinforced seal keeping him from grasping the significance of where he had enjoyed his drink as he set out towards his diplomatic housing.

* * *

Back in Suna Naruto had been padding along the outside of the village wall, still looking for the missing Uchiha having exhausted the village possibilities and had taken one side, while Naruko had taken off in the opposite direction. At the moment Naruto was beginning to wonder if someone might have simply kidnaped the Uchiha, but before his mind could show him that possibility he spotted the black haired boy crouched a few yards away in the shadow of the massive walls of stone. With a small sigh Naruto sent a mental message to Naruko letting her know he'd found him as he hefted himself over towards the boy calling out as he did.

"Found you, man Sasuke what was with the whole hide and seek act, Naruko was starting to flip out." called Naruto as he neared the boy noticing an odd feeling surrounding him as he drew closer noticing as he did that the crouched boy seemed to be muttering something as Naruto neared. Just as Naruto was about to reach out for the boy Juubi's voice cried out through Naruto's mind.

"**NARUTO GET AWAY FROM HIM! NOW!"** cried Juubi her tone causing Naruto to spring back on instinct just as a kunai cut through the air just where Narutos outstretched wrist would have been moments before.

"Shit!" cried Naruto as he skipped back of the sand his clothing hardening as a pair of seeds shot out raising his armor in time to block a pair of large shuriken that tinged off his armored neck a second later as a horrible broken laugh continued to issue out from the boy that was only now coming to his feet, turning to show a series of black markings covering his form as two spinning red eyes glared out at Naruto's masked face.

"What the hell are you doing?" called Naruto as he threw out a pair of bars allowing two more seeds to take up position behind him as he stared down the Uchiha who stopped, adopting an almost comical look of puzzlement before his face broke into a horrible smile that show a maddening glee.

"What, I was just trying to kill you is all, what's wrong with that, after all that's what you were going to do to me, cause I'm like Oniichan…heheeheheh" finished the boy his voice breaking into a hysterical laugh that sent shivers up Naruto's spine.

_Kami what's wrong with him? _asked Naruto as he watched the boy swaying slightly that maddening smile never leaving his face.

"**Damn it, he's practically leaking out corrupt chakra…what in kami's name is causing this?" ** Muttered Juubi as the swaying boy sprang forwards flinging out another set of shuriken that forced Naruto to bring up his bars to deflect the projectiles. As the sparks shot up from the weapons as Naruto threw himself out of the way of the mad man's dash. However, as Naruto stepped aside he found his arms bound to him as he looked to see the wire that had been connected to the previous assault held tight pulling him back towards the cackling Uchiha.

As Naruto was pulled back Sasuke spun throwing out a leg to crash into Naruto's chest only to find a flattened shield seed in the path forcing him back from the blonde again. The two teens flew back from one another Naruto managing to break the encircling wire scanning around to find Sasuke who seemed have disappeared. That was until a sudden blossom of heat caused Naruto to swing his head up in time to see a series of blasts of first screaming down towards him. Just as the flames were about to connect Naruto threw up his shields that deflected the flames aside where they crashed into the sand turning large splashes of it into shimmering molten glass.

As the shield came down Naruto's ears picked up an alarming cracking sound as he looked up to see Sasuke charging down Suna's wall cackling manically as his hand incased in lightening carved a trail down towards the blond.

"Sasuke snap out of it!" cried Naruto even as he let his final two seeds fly free cracking open as the red eyed boy threw himself forwards off the wall to rocket towards Naruto his lightening incased fist pointed ahead like a spear. However, before he reached his target the newly reformed Kyueed let out a small roar spitting a blast of darkened chakra forwards to crash into the black haired boys form as open shock registered on the Uchiha's face for a moment.

_Got him! _thought Naruto before the red eyes found his as the boy disappeared into a cloud of smoke a cracking sound alerting Naruto to the one behind him.

"hehehehee missed me!" cried Sasuke as he thrust his lightening fist forwards only to have his arm suddenly bound in a black mass of sand as Seekaku's sand yanked the boy forwards off his feet swinging him around in the air for a moment before slamming him into Suna's wall with a resounding crash. Naruto in turn took the opportunity to jump back as both Kyueed and Seekaku took up position on either side of him as Naruto look across at the slightly shifting Uchiha.

"Juubi, how long until Naruko gets here?" called Naruto as he saw the red eyes boy pushing himself up still with that sickly smile on his face.

"**Soon Naruto, just keep him occupied."**

"Occupied no problem but any more and I'll have to use lethal force to keep from letting him kill me." muttered Naruto as the boy across from him finished pushing himself to his feet turning back to face the blonde haired boy.

"Stupid seedlings do I have to burn you again." Mocked the Uchiha as Kyueed let out a humming growl as its nine tails bristled out. Without any instruction the fox seedling mouth dropped open spitting out a series of chakra blasts that carved massive hole into the wall as Sasuke weaved in and out of the blasts his red eyes blazing as he did so. As Kyueed's assault died down the boy shot forwards sprinting in between the oncoming waves of black sand as he reached closer and closer to Naruto who was seemingly building for some kind of assault.

From around the end of the wall Naruko came sprinting just in time to see Sasuke both hands incased in crackling lightening rushing forwards just as Naruto threw out his hands towards the oncoming boy. For one heartbeat Naruko thought that Sasuke's attacks would tear into her niisans flesh as the world seemed to slow for a horrible moment. However, as that second passed Naruto's clothing exploded out into a wave of black and purple leaves that slammed into the boy throwing him back. Before the Uchiha could even register the first impact Naruto spun gathering the leaves into small blasts that he hurtled forwards one after another against the Uchiha's arms, legs and face sealing themselves onto him before washing him back into a wall holding him there suspended as Naruto let out a small spit of air gasping for a moment as his seeds reverted off of him leaving the now shirtless blond standing beside his two seedlings looking across at the struggling Uchiha.

"Naruto!" called Naruko as she ran forwards to check on her niisan who offered a small smile as he gave her a slightly exasperated look.

"So now you show up.." chuckled Naruto as Naruko looked from him to the now sealed Sasuke a small muttering still audible from the mass of purple and black leaves.

"Are you ok, what happened?" asked Naruko as Naruto offered up a small shrug Juubi taking over the explanation as Naruto worked on making sure that the boy was well and truly confined. After a short while Naruko was looking completely shocked at the still bound Sasuke as a pair of her clones shot off to find Kushina or Kakashi.

"So what do you think happened to him…I mean he was acting crazy, like really crazy even in the forest he wasn't like this." mentioned Naruto as beside him Naruko shook her head a mix of anger and concern fighting for dominance over her mind. She may have wanted to tear the boy apparent for trying to hurt her Niisan, but even she could see that something was really wrong with the Uchiha, something that was apparently getting worse.

"No idea, I suppose that seal could be doing it, but this is something completely different…maybe Kaasan can take a look." Suggested Naruto as Naruko nodded slightly a sudden horror dawning upon her as she looked at the still bound Uchiha. Beside her Naruto notice the girls look deciding to leave it for now, just focusing on maintaining his hold on Sasuke for now.

Soon enough Kushina and Kakashi arrived the group moving back inside the village to hopefully get some idea as to what was happening to the boy, Naruto deciding to keep the details of the fight between just himself and Naruko for the time, or at least until they found out just what was happing to the red eyed boy.

* * *

Even as this was occurring back in the dark underbelly of the land of rice a group of six figures stood accompanied by a small force of Shinobi all milling around as they waited for the reason they were gathered here. Among the elites a particular figure stood tall his pale skin and hair setting apart as his eyes slowly scanned the others present pausing on his fellows for a moment as he did.

"Damn it why are we here with the rest of these trash." Muttered a foul mouthed girl as she looked over at the rather large boy man beside her dressed in the same standard white rob and purple rope that was the groups' uniform.

"Oh shut up, we are ordered to wait so we wait." Muttered the large man his narrow eyes looking across to where a hunched over member of their group smiled out from under a mop of then white hair muttering lightly under his breath as he looked around the group apparently speaking to himself. Beside him a six armed figure was ideally carving a small golden dagger out of what looked to be a small black of some golden material every now and then casting a look around the group but saying nothing. The pale skinned figure turned his bare forehead showing two red dots side by side as he turned to face the final member of their small group a youth in tattered rags with a mess of spiky orange hair who was shivering slightly his eyes darting around the room in obvious agitation. With a small move the pale skinned man moved over to rest a hand on the orange haired figure's shoulder causing him to look around at the source of the contact.

"Calm yourself Jugo Orochimaru-sama will be here shortly." Spoke the pale figure as the orange haired boy nodded slowly looking around as the rest of the group eyed the pair.

"What Kimimaro did you get a boyfriend or something? Who's this wimp?" called the red headed girl as Kimimaro turned hollow eyes upon her causing her to give him a predatory scowl.

"Tayuya silence yourself or I will kill you… only Orochimaru-sama's word keeps you breathing, do not tempt me to request his view change." Replied Kimimaro as the girl spat before turning away the rest of the group giving the two a small look before their attention was drawn to the appearance of Orochimaru who stepped out above them on the balcony his face wrapped in bandages, but otherwise able to stand under his own power as his head scanned back and forth as silence fell over the assembled forces. After a pause Orochimaru's voice echoed out filling the area with a heavy aura that commanded attention from everyone present.

"It would seem that an opportunity has presented itself to me thanks to our recent conflict with Konoha.." started the sage as a few of the group looked at one another wonder just what might have gotten into their leaders head, after all the operation was an abject failure. One particular shinobi was foolish enough to actually mutter this before he found an odd pressure in his head moments before he fell to the ground with an unceremonious thump blood leaking out from the shuriken buried into his face. Looking up the assembly notice Orochimaru's hand out stretched as he continued to address the group as though he hadn't been even notice the man's death.

"It seems that the Uchiha that I desire is going to become available to me soon, Kabuto has already been dispatch to be ready to lead the boy to the extraction but after recent events won't be allowing for any further mistakes, your task will be to return the Uchiha here to me no matter the cost, if you have to burn the very forest of the land of fire to ash you will do so…because if the Uchiha is not in my hands by the end of this operation you will pray to have died in battle." Whispered the snake sage his words hanging over the group as he turned slowly to leave the assembled group who gave each other slow looks as their leader left them to themselves…it seemed that their war was only just beginning.

* * *

Back in Konoha Minato found himself seated across from a harsh looking man he remember seeing a handful of time during the war, his face drawn with lines of age but none the less showing a clear strength that did not bear testing. Idly Minato looked down at his desk meticulously cleaned of the enemy of paper work, as he collected his thoughts for what he knew at best was a longshot…and at worst could spark a new conflict…but still his choices were limited now that the Akasuki's was one the move…and he owed it Naruto and Juubi to at least try. With a small sigh the blonde looked up from his desk to the armored figure that sad relaxed before him ideally fooling with a cigarette that was clutched between his teeth as he examined the man before him.

"I assume that you are here in response to my message to the Tsuchikage?" started Minato the bearded man across from him giving him a bland look for a moment before replying.

"Hai, Hokage, he wishes to know just what you could possibly want to share with him…though your promise of safe passage interested him slightly, what could have the great fourth hokage so afraid as to be willing to offer such a thing to a possible assassin." Pointed out the man never taking his eyes off of the Hokage as he spoke. For his part Minato seemed to hardly register the words before he let out a small sigh fixing the man across from him with a hard look.

"Understand this Roshi if you attempt to harm anyone in my village I will show you what a true demon looks like…and Goku will be of little comfort to you if you give me cause to tear you limb from limb." Finished Minato causing Roshi a moment's pause as he registered what the man had said before his eyes went slightly wide at the implication of what he had said.

For the people of Iwa it was known that they held the four and five tails, but that wasn't what had him unnerved it was the casual manner in which Minato had revealed that he knew his beast's name. Even He as a host had only heard the beasts name once, when it had first been sealed within him. _Now how did he know Goku's name…something doesn't feel right here. _Thought the Iwa shinobi as he looked left and right scanning for any concealed forces, but finding nothing.

"I can assure you that you won't find anyone here, and before you try and insult me know that next to what I have seen you hardly match up as a bad dream." Spoke Minato causing Roshi to look up into the Man's eyes and seeing that he was not simply posturing. So after a moment Roshi relaxed leaning back in his chair his body language telegraphy no hostility as he began speaking once again.

"So, why am I here?" asked the man as Minato closed his eyes praying that what came next would not turn out to be a mistake.

"Because it has come to our attention that you along with every other Jinchuuriki are being hunted by an organization your village is very familiar with….the Akatsuki. To put it bluntly you are being played by them, they have already made attempts to grab over four Jinchuuriki, and I'm guessing that they have made sure to work with you and your associate on at least one occasion." Finished Minato as Roshi's mind began to spin showing him his encounters with the cloak wearing group, and that uneasy feeling he had continual gotten around them…

"And why should I believe a single word of this, Akatsuki is a strong mercenary force that Iwa employees from time to time, this could just be a stupid plan to rob us of a potential weapon, you'll have to do more than throw some fancy words to convince me." challenged Roshi as Minato sighed, well he supposed there was nothing for it, if you can't convince the man go to the only other option.

"I didn't honestly figure you would take my word for it…so I guess I will just have to talk to my other guest." Spoke Minato as Roshi froze for a moment before he felt a small tingle from behind him. As he spun he caught a glimpse of what looked like a blackened armored figure with seven bladed wings reaching out for him. His last thought before the hand clamped down on his head was to wonder just what he had gotten himself into.

The next thing Roshi knew he was blinking awake in a large wasteland that looked like a mountain top. With a bolt of surprise he recognized it as his mindscape seconds before a shifting drew his attention around to the massive creature bound in chains a short distance away from him. It's giant ape like arms bound to the ground along with the four octopus like tails, leaving only Its broad shoulders and Head to turn towards him the golden crown on its brow glinting slightly as he saw the remaining seals that held its head in place.

"What, how am I here?" started the man before he saw to his horror Minato striding past him towards the massive creature his hands moving in an introit set of seals, and he suddenly knew what the man planned to do.

"NO!" yelled the man rushing forwards only to find his arms and legs already bound by similar seals to what bound the massive creature, looking up just in time to see the seals around the creatures head fall shattering to the floor as it turned its massive head towards the Hokage. After a small creaking of joints the creature settled its massive white eyes down onto the man before him taking note of the blackened creature beside him who was waving at the massive creature in apparent excitement.

"**Hum I suppose thanks are in order… but I would know human how do you come to know my name…and what are you doing with that!" **called Goku as his mind began to work unimpeded by the seals, as he took in the scene as well as the fact that it appeared his Imoto had somehow shrunk.

"I am Minato Namikaze fourth Hokage of Konoha, and the answer to both of your questions is simply…I know because your Kaasan Juubi-san told me them." Called Minato beside him the seedling letting out a metallic humming causing Minato to look over at it for a moment before adding "oh and I guess you're an uncle." Finished Minato as the Massive ape turned between the two for a moment before speaking.

"**So you say that you Know of Kaasan, but seals can bind our minds and body why should I believe you do any more that this to find this information from one of my siblings… tell me human how do you converse with my Kaasan?" **called the beast as Minato took a moment to consider it before deciding on the honest answer.

"Usually she is hitting me to be honest. Still, with Kurama, Kyu and Chomei running around like they do its only thank to Shukaku that I am not dead. Ironic that the eldest has to make sure to help keep your Kaasan's temper in check. Still she does get angry when Kurama and Kyu start pulling pranks on Chomei." Called Minato the Massive ape pausing for a moment before bursting out into a deep bass of a laugh. Oh this sounded too much like what he knew of his family to be anything but the truth.

"**HAAHAHAHAH SO SHE IS ALIVE AND WELL I THANK YOU FOURTH HOKAGE IT IS GOOD TO KNOW THAT SHE AND MY SIBLINGS ARE SAFE!" **called the ape happily as Minato inclined his head slightly.

"I am not the one to thank Goku, that belongs to another, one who should be arriving in a day, I hope you can convince your host to wait until then, otherwise I'm afraid at what Juubi might do to me if she figures out she missed her chance to talk to you." Finished Minato the massive ape nodding as it looked over at Roshi for the first time.

"**From what you say It would seem beneficial to stay and find out just what this Akatsuki group is up to… I will do what I can, until we meet again Hokage." **Finished the ape as the mindscape swirled and Roshi found himself sitting once again in the office chair the blackened figure now standing beside Minato facing him as Roshi's mind was slowly catching up with what he had just witnessed. Before he could start to speak Minato raised a hand gently.

"I suggest you take some time to think about what I have told you Roshi…you may hate me, you may hate Konoha and your own burden, but the fact is you can trust me on this for one simple fact…my motives are entirely self-motivated, I only want to make sure that Son Goku and his younger sibling is safe in Iwa…nothing more." Minato's words caused Roshi to stop his worlds dying in his thought as he blinked across at the man, before he pushed himself up to head out of the room even as inside his mind another voice spoke up.

"**You may do well to listen if you care for Iwa at all, if someone is looking for the power of all of my family then they can only be a danger for this whole world." **called out Son Goku within the seal even as Roshi headed out of the office and off into the town.

* * *

Meanwhile back in Suna the Konoha team sat outside of their room waiting for Kushina to finish her work on Sasuke. Kakashi was in quite the state his head held in his hands as beside him Naruko and Minami were silently looking at one another all while Naruto stood off to one side his own thoughts thinking back to the fight with the Uchiha.

_I just don't get it Juubi I mean what would cause him to go nuts like that…he was acting insane… _Thought Naruto thinking back to that early smile that Sasuke had worn all throughout the fight.

"**During it that same chakra was there Naruto…it was tainted…but something else was there as well, I just don't know what exactly." **Agreed Juubi as the door opened causing those gathered to see Kushina walking out looking around at them with a worried look on her face.

"Kaasan…is he?" started Naruko before Kushina shook her head leaning against the door as she looked over at her daughter.

"He is resting now Naruko…but something else is at play here, the seal has grown…but it wasn't from this side of it." Started Kushina as those present looked momentarily confused.

"Orochimaru?" asked Kakashi as Kushina nodded her head gravely.

"Hai it's all I can figures out looks like the seal is moving on its own now, it's a completely different monster than the one we pulled out of Anko." Replied Kushina as he looked over at Naruto with a measured look before she let out a heavy sigh.

"As much as I hate to say it Naruto it looks like Sasuke isn't to blame for this... something is eating away at him. I know it doesn't mean much but it's unlikely he would have attack his own Kaasan if she had been there…he's running almost like a wild animal." For his part Naruto took in the woman's words for a moment before he raised a hand in a small wave.

"I kind of figured he wasn't himself when he attacked me…" called Naruto as Minami let out a small sigh looking over at Naruto.

"Ya instead of just being a pompous self-righteous ass with an ego problem he was a bloody psychopath…never thought I'd miss the old Sasuke." muttered Minami as Naruto cracked a smile at her words.

"Still I owe him one once we get this thing taken care of…he's not getting off to easy for this one, he could have attacked anyone like that." Called Naruto as beside Minami Naruko looked over at her niisan obviously conflicted before Naruto let out another sigh.

"Still I suppose that can wait till he's better, after all no point in getting back at a nutcase." Chuckled Naruto as despite herself Naruko grinned a little in thanks at Naruto's understanding. Kushina for her part moved over to sit beside Kakashi considering her words for a moment before looking over at him for a moment letting out a heavy sigh.

"Kakashi looks like I need you to take him back to the village, we can't risk him going nuts in Suna during these talks, I'll stay behind and finish the mission, you take Naruto as added security and get him back to Minato and Tsunade, they should be able to keep him stable enough until we can figure out what's going on. If I try anything here I could end up killing the kid." Finished Kushina as she looked around at the room her children each nodding understanding what was to come.

"So when do we head out?" asked Minami looking over at Kakashi as he pushed himself to his feet.

"We'll head out first thing tomorrow, we travel light, we will need to get to Konoha as quickly as possible, anything that can be left leave it." Called the man as the two genin and chunnin nodded gravely giving the closed door a final look before moving to prepare for the coming day.

As the group moved out one by one from inside the room under a number of seals and wrappings Sasuke was listening, his madness causing him to fall deeper and deeper with every second…but what little of him remained understood one thing very clearly….we was becoming a monster…and a monster didn't belong in Konoha.

_Yes that's right, you're a monster just like Oniisan was, we can kill everyone! Kaasan the little ones oh I know Naruko can be first after all I can't wait to see her pretty face screaming! _Chuckled the boy's mind as he forced it back his own will managing to push it down long enough to force one clear fact into the forefront of his mind.

…_.I…I won't let you…I won't let me…I have to get out…I have to get away.. _He managed before the mad cackling in his mind plunged him back into darkness were it began again to tear him apart.

* * *

**Ok well that's where I'm leaving it for this chapter, first let me say sorry again for taking so long, between work and school I have very little time and I kind of lost focus on the story for a bit. This chapter is mostly build up for my take on the retrieval arc which will be starting next time so I tried to focus on character moments. Now some people have been wondering what I would be doing with Sasuke and I hope you now see what I have planned, and I hope that it makes for an enjoyable read.**

**Little last minute notes here that I've been meaning to put up for a while but never really got around to. First a big shout out to the major influence on this story belongs to three particular stories that inspired me to write the kind of story I have and if you haven't already taken a look I encourage you to give a look each is a nice story in its own way.**

**The Prodigal Namikaze by SoulReaperCrewe**

**I won't say much except a really good story, and my inspiration to make Mito the character that she became so if you like her send your praise to their writing for inspiring her.**

**Naruto: prince of hell by That dude you know**

**This one helped me to get ideas for mental scenes as well as the first place I saw the idea of neglect handled in a more developed since and really helped me to make sure I build the world I did, you may notice some similarities and that is because I really was a fan of this work. **

**Namikaze Family redemption by devilzxknight86**

**This is the one that gave me faith I could try out new powers and abilities and make them my own, you may notice I few nods to this as well as the other story's in some joking comments about his powers and relations to people. Really good take a look.**

**All of these along with others helped me to build the story I have now, so I encourage to take a look at all of them. **

**A final point but as I've put up many times I write with a song playing in the background to help get the tempo I want for the story, well this song happens to have me really wanting to write a particular scene, and well I decided to indulge, this is a little bit of a preview for a chapter to come, so I guess it's a trailer consider it a gift for sticking with me for so long, and I hope you enjoy it. Also if you want a silly little fic try out my other two stories for just a fun distraction, neither take themselves too seriously.**

The overcast sky through the now barren valley into a shadowed den as small swatches of light pushed their way through the clouds casting momentary shadows across the figures that were emerging all around the small group in the center, all three still standing panting and battered from their recent battle. With a small growling hum Kyueed turned his head around to look back at Naruto as the boy's eyes scanned over the injured forms of Naruko and Sasuke both beaten within an inch of their lives, and in no shape to do more than bleed at this point.

"Well this is just great." Chuckled Naruto as with a small pulse Kyueed and Seekaku paused before rushing forward the fox wrapping Sasuke up in its tails even as Seekaku's sand incased the surprised Naruko who looked across at Naruto.

"Naruto what the hell." She managed before a small metallic humming greeted them as Homeed landed behind them looking between the pair before moving over between the two contained genin. As Naruko's blue eyes turned to face Naruto's mismatched ones she saw a small smirk on his face even as a trickle of blood ran down his face.

"Sorry Naruko, looks like your Niisan's being selfish this time…still you'll have to forgive me this one time." Spoke Naruto as Naruko's eyes went wide, as Naruto turned his coat already in tatters scattering into a sea of pollens that hardened around him slowly climbing their way up his body incasing it in that same blackened armor.

"You three get them back to Konoha you got it!" called Naruto as the blackened armor finished moving up his face and his remaining three seeds moved to coat his arms adding the same blackened armor he had worn in the chunnin exams to his already blackened form.

"No Naruto!" called Naruko as she tried to struggle free from the sand, but it was useless as the three seedlings shot off towards the riverbed exit. She was still fighting as Kyueed cracked open his mouth firing off a series of blasts at the walls causing stones to fall cutting off pursuit, and as tears fought their way clear of her eyes her last sight was of Naruto standing there in the valley as shinobi charged him from all angles having no hope in returning to Orochimaru, and wanting only to carve a piece of the one who had damned them.

"**So we go down swinging is that it… not much of plan." **Chuckled Juubi as she watched the oncoming hoard of shinobi.

_Like that's going to happen we just hold out till reinforcements…besides they are out of danger. _ Finished Naruto as he spun to face the charging forces his armored arms raised as the first salvo of weapons shot forwards at him.

"…**.ya you're right, so you better not die on me seedling." **Spoke Juubi privately thinking of Kurama traveling away from this battle and finding that Naruto was right…it was just fine this way.

The weapons reached them a moment later slamming into the boy one after another a few managing to make their way through the armor, but not stopping him as he charged forwards slamming a blackened fist in the first enemies face sending him flying back in a spray of blood, even as he spun a length of chain shooting out to grab ahold of a second attacker that he yanked into an uppercut that threw the figure up and away even as more charged in towards the boy.

As the group closed Naruto let out a howl of anger throwing his fists up allowing the seeds to expand around them so that two massive fist came crashing down sending a wave of chakra and rock out throwing the next wave of attacker back even as another salvo of weapons and justus pelted down upon him drawing a growl of pain, even as he forced himself forward his fist returning to their regular size as he slammed another attacker back even as the part of his mask covering his purple eye cracked and fell away.

As his mask cracked Naruto saw another score of shinobi pushing forwards down the embankments almost like madmen rushing him headless of those than already lay beaten around him. Idly Naruto registered the pain in his arms and legs his own breathing coming in gasps even as he threw himself left before spinning to bury a fist into another attacker slamming them into the ground sending bits of rock up from the impact as he saw an incoming wave of fire falling like rain towards him.

"DAMN IT!" screamed the boy as he threw all of the pollens covering his body forward into a sea of leaves that intercepted the flames detonating the blast above him even as his reaming seeds had to flatten around him to keep up his defense, as he swung back into the fight, now with only his arsenal cut down once again.

Behind the blast of fire they came again waves of them practically hurtling themselves forwards over each other to get at him…and for a moment he felt his heart stop…but then a small flash of Naruko's smiling face crossed his mind, soon followed by Minami, Mito…Kaasan…Minato…and Hinata..

"DAMN IT I'M NOT GONNA DIE! YOU HEAR ME!" roared the boy as he shot forwards as justus and weapons slammed into him even as they continued to rain down upon him.

**And that's your preview….lol either you want to kill me right now or your excited to see more either way I hope you enjoy that little sneak peak at what is to come. I am wondering if anyone can place what scene I am paying tribute to with this one, so have fun trying to figure it out. **

**Ok well that's the end for me, hope you enjoyed the chapter and the preview, and as always thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited, I am glad that you enjoy the story.**

**Songbird out.**


	27. Chapter 25

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Well here we are again. As always, thank you for all of the support in the reviews, favorites and follows. I am excited to announce that I have a new beta joining the team who will be helping to make sure that my work comes out how I want and not how my sometimes trips lol. (BETA NOTE: I wish I knew what to correct between "how I want" and "lol" xD)

Anyway, big thank you goes out to MightyNo8409 who has agreed to help me out. At the moment he is going back and fixing my earlier chapters and I hope that it helps everyone enjoy the story more. If you can, drop him a PM helping me to thank him if you enjoy the change.

Small note here before getting onto the story: I promise it is short. Ahem. Read Uzumaki Naruko: Exile on the run….no I'm not kidding, go and read it now…. Yes, Alex, that means you. I am not a big fan of gender benders but I gave this story a look and was really impressed with its work. If you enjoy my dramatic writing at points then you will like this story, so go and take a look and support this new writer.

Okay, this chapter has a lot…a lot of fighting. The last few have been mostly fluff and filler and this is why. I've been building to a big blow out before the timeskip and here it is. I hope you enjoy it.

**Last point, at one point in the story this will appear (Option 1.) when it does if you play this song "Babel" by Mumford &amp; Sons. That is the song I was listening to as I wrote those sections so I think it adds a bit to the work, so give it a listen and see if you agree. I hope it helps you enjoy it.**

Okay, on to the chapter. Enjoy!

**Chapter 25**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-Tears in the Rain-**

The sun was only cresting the horizon when the four figures could be seen racing across the desert, their footsteps lasting only seconds as the first winds of the morning swept the sand covering them. As they padded silently over the dunes Naruto looked back across the others, his eyes settling for a moment upon the bound form of Sasuke, wrapped head to toe in seals that held him in place as Kakashi carried him forward with one red eye visible as it flicked left and right focusing on him for a moment. After a moment Naruto looked back ahead and away from that bright red gaze of the Uchiha.

_Well that's just great. I'm traveling across the desert with a psychopathic red eyed crazy guy stuck to the back of a one-eyed Cyclops…being a shinobi is a lot weirder that I thought it would be, _thought the boy, even as Juubi snickered slightly inside his head.

"**And the part about the living creatures of chakra, the mother of which lives in your head, wasn't enough...really?" **

_Fair point…though this ranks pretty high on weird crap, even for us, _replied Naruto as they continued to race forwards across the desert. After a few more dunes Naruto found himself looking around at his other companions, his eyes drooping as he saw the obvious discomfort in their faces.

_H…hey, are you two ok? _called Naruto over the mental link, causing Naruko and Minami's heads to turn towards him as his voice reverberated inside their own.

_What? Oh yeah, Naruto, I'm fine. It's just…well, you know, _replied Minami as she gave a small shrug, even as Naruko remained silent beside her. After a few moments, both Naruto and Minami turned their focus to her as they continued to race towards the steadily nearing forest.

_Naruko? _called Minami, not liking her Neesan's silence. _Hey Naruko, can you hear me? _

_Easy Minami…she's a little out of it. You know she and Sasuke have been friends forever. Just… just give her some space, kay? _Naruto spoke as Minami gave the boy a small nod before casting a small frown around at her Nee-san, who hadn't taken her eyes from the bound Uchiha the entire time. What Minami couldn't know was just how much it was bothering Naruko as she looked ahead at the bound figure of Sasuke.

Sure he was a jerk sometimes….well, most of the time, but they had been competing with one another since they first entered the academy... heck, he was the first one to not treat her like some kind of stupid princess and as an actual rival…

_Damn it, if I hadn't been too weak stop that damn snake this wouldn't have happened! _thought Naruko as she remembered the second stage of exams, flashes of her fight with the snake sage swimming through her head even as she could hear his own cackling laughter still ringing in her ears…

"**Honestly, are you still going to be that stupid?" **muttered Kurama as Naruko continued to lay blame upon herself.

_Hey, shut up furball! What do you know!? _Fired back Naruko as the massive fox snorted within his cage, his tails swinging back and forth in apparent agitation.

"**I swear, I must have gotten the dunce of the litter or something when I got you. Even Chomei's host is practically a step up from you," **Sneered the fox as Naruko let off a scoff ready to reply. Before she could, the fox's massive voice boomed out again cutting her off.

"**You sound just like Shukaku. 'It's my job, I have to do this,' looking at every one of us like we were some pathetic children that needed him to look after us… Guess what, runt? You have enough problems on your own without looking to take on that headcase's on top of it," **continued Kurama as Naruko let out a small snarl before shouting at the massive fox.

_Shut up! He's not a head case! It's that damn snakes that's messing with him! _called Naruko as Kurama let out another snort before lowering his head to the grassy surface of his cage as he forced his eyes shut as if trying to close out some irksome fly.

"**You can't even see it can you? And you call him a friend. Tell me Naruko: what was his goal back when you became Genin, or don't you remember?" **called Kurama as Naruko's mind showed her a flash of Sasuke, staring out from behind his hands clasped together as he announced his plans to kill his brother. With a small shake, Naruko focused back on Kurama's words.

_So he wants to avenge his family that was killed by that bastard Itachi, what's wrong with that!? _called back Naruko as Kurama raised a paw up to his massive face, rubbing idly at it before letting out a tired sounding growl.

"**Ugh, you're so thick headed it's a wonder I'm even still alive. Dammit it, Kaa-san, can you help? I'm getting nowhere with her!" **called Kurama as Naruko's mental vision swiveled to see Juubi sitting against the bars of Kurama's cage not far from where she stood. As she watched, Juubi gingerly pushed herself to her feet, her flowing purple hair waving around her as she moved over to look down at Naruko with a sad little smile on her face.

"**Hai Kurama-kun, I'll take it from here. Just keep an eye on the outside and try to make sure she doesn't trip on anything. This may take a while," **Called Juubi as she beckoned Naruko away from the cage.

Meanwhile, outside of the girl's mind, Minami noticed Naruko's eyes shift taking on a red hue as she continued to race forwards. She was about to mention this when Naruko's eyes shifted to hers, giving her a small shrug before jabbing a thumb over to Naruto's back while mouthing the word "Kaa-san". As Naruko's eyes turned back forwards Minami put two-and-two together, letting out a small sigh.

_Figures. Let's hope that Juubi can help Naruko before we get back…and that we can do something about Sasuke when we do. _

"**It's ok, Minami-chan! I'm sure your Tou-san will be able to help!" **Called Kyu, causing Minami to smile slightly.

_Thanks Kyu. Let's just get back home. _

"**Yeah, I want to hang out with Nee-san some more! She's fun!" **called Kyu as Minami smiled wider, even as she wondered just what kind of trouble Fuu would be getting into.

At the same moment, in the head of the bound figure still draped upon Kakashi's back, a different stream of thoughts were pushing their way across the memories as a grotesque leer spread across his lips. Oh Konoha…so many people….so many people….

* * *

Back in Suna, Kushina was seated in a chair, routinely looking out the window towards the desert and tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the Suna council to finish discussing the terms of the treaty she was tasked with delivering.

_Come on, you dusty old farts, just finish up! Gah, I wish I could have trusted Kakashi to stay here…..but that pervert would have just showed up late and then embarrassed the village….I just hope they are ok, _thought the woman, even as the council announced a brief recess as they discussed the treaty in private for a moment. Summoning her self-control, Kushina pushed herself up and headed out of the meeting room to await their decision.

As the redheaded woman moved out into the open area she spotted a familiar figure leaning against one wall idly looking out the window as he did. With a small shrug Kushina moved over towards him, causing the boy to turn as she approached.

"Kushina-san, I did not expect to see you here," called Haku as Kushina moved up beside him, giving the boy a small shrug as she did.

"I could say the same about you, Haku-san. What is Kiri doing in Suna?" questioned the woman as Haku nodded towards the council chambers.

"I would suspect the same as you. Mei-sama has asked that I deliver a possible treaty to the council. At the moment, I am waiting for a reply."

"I see. Looks like we are both waiting on them. Still, you can't be here all alone?" Questioned Kushina as Haku gave a small nod as he reached down to pull out an official looking Hunter's mask.

"After the invasion I was promoted, and after the revolution a full team for a delivery is a waste of resources. Though I am surprised to see you here alone. I thought you had a team with you?" Added Haku as Kushina nodded slightly.

"Hai, but they had to return. As you said, it would be a waste for them to stay for a simple treaty, and I think we both know that I can look after myself," replied the woman with a small smirk that caused Haku to shiver slightly.

_Zabuza-sama was right: women are scary. First Mei-sama and now her… though I guess not all of them are so bad, _thought the boy as his mind showed him a small flash of the previous day, where a familiar redheaded girl had been looking after him since he suddenly passed out. As this memory surfaced, Kushina noticed a small blush covering the boy's pale face and she found herself smirking slightly.

_Hello now, what could he be thinking of? _wondered Kushina as she decided to probe a bit further. After all, it was better than simply sitting out in a lobby waiting for those relics to finish their work.

"So how is your team fairing? I would have thought we would have heard something about Karin by now?" asked Kushina as Haku seemed to shake himself, the blush disappearing as he turned his focus back to the woman.

"Oh yes, I will be heading to Konoha after this to discuss our terms. Mei-sama has decided to enter into negotiations with the Hokage."

"Well I suppose we will see each other again in the future. Maybe we could even arrange another tournament? After all, your match was cut short before you could compete. I mean most of the participants didn't get a chance," remarked Kushina as Haku shrugged, apparently not interested in such things before pausing as his face seemed to darken slightly before he moved to hide the blush.

_Gotcha…so it was someone from the tournament…let's see if I can narrow it down. _chuckled the redhead as she probed further.

"Let's see, if I remember you were just after my Sochi and Musume's fight, correct?" asked the women as Haku shrugged his face remaining impassive.

"No wait, you were after Sakura's and Minami's weren't you?" remarked Kushina, smiling as she saw the blush creep back over the boy's face.

_Too easy! So either Sakura or my little Minami-chan, huh? _

"So did you run into anyone from my team yesterday? You didn't seem surprised to see me," finished Kushina, Haku turned, his face practically on fire as Kushina let out a small mental giggle at the boy's actions.

_Oh Minami-chan, you little heart throb! He has it bad…huh, I wonder what might have happened between you two? Guess I'll just have to wait to find out, _thought the woman as the massive doors to the council opened and a voice called for Kushina once again. With a small smile she turned to Haku.

"Well Haku-san, I suppose I will see you in Konoha. Take care of yourself until then."

"You too Kushina-san. I hope to see that you're able to help Karin in the future," replied the boy as Kushina marched away. Just as she was about to enter the room, however, her pranking nature took ahold of her as she flashed a wide grin looking back at Haku, who froze at seeing the woman's expression.

"Oh, and I'm sure Minami will happy to give you a tour of the village if you need one!" called Kushina just as the doors swung shut, giggling as they did from the look of shock and embarrassment that now decorated to poor boy's face.

Haku was left confused and sputtering as he looked at the closed doors, his mouth opening and closing several times, showing shark-like serrated teeth as they did, as his mind continued to fire off confused questions.

_What…? But she…I ….how? …Zabuza-sama, I think I just made a horrible mistake….Zabuza-sama, help me…_ whimpered the boy as he imagined an enraged redheaded Uzumaki.

* * *

While Kushina was marching back into the Suna council, a small force was shooting though the forests of the land of fire with a single-minded purpose. At the head of the company were seven figures, the elite that Sound had to offer, and each one hand-chosen and recognized by Orochimaru for this mission. As the company came to the edge of the forest, they found themselves at the edge of a long valley that wound its way up until it reached a river that flowed between two giant statues a ways off in the distance. When they broke from the tree line, the figures ahead halted, signaling the others to do the same as the lead figure turned towards them adjusting his spectacles before flashing them all a wiry smile.

"It appears our intelligence was good. It seems there is a party of shinobi not too far from us headed towards Konoha," called Kabuto as the Sound forces looked at one another, relief flashing across a few faces at the prospect of actually succeeding in their mission.

"Whoa, no shit four eyes! Besides the cannon fodder, we can sense them too," called out Tayuya in a mocking tone that Kabuto ignored as he looked over at her.

"My apologies, Tayuya. Though if we want to talk about fodder, we could look no further than you. After all, you ARE the weakest of your companions," Kabuto mocked as the redheaded girl snarled at him. She took a single step forward only to be halted by a hand from Kimimaro who flashed her a blank look.

"Enough, our mission is to capture Sasuke Uchiha. If either of you endanger that, I will kill you personally," spoke the pale teen as Tayuya gave an uncomfortable shiver, stepping back as she did. Kabuto merely smirked at the boy's comment before raising his hands in mock surrender.

"Hai hai, we have a mission here. Anyway, we are leaving the main force here. The six of us should be more than enough, and I don't want to risk you getting in our way. Your job will be to delay them if we need to fall back past here, is that understood?" called Kabuto, causing the standard Sound forces to nod before moving back into the forest as the remaining six figures turned towards Kabuto.

"So what's next, or are you planning to wait for them to just walk on by before we tear them apart? I mean, there's no harm in playing with them for a bit, is there?" Sakon asked, licking his lips and pushing a few stray hairs out of his face as he learned over at Kabuto.

"Enough Sakon…Ukon, hold him in check. Now is not the time to indulge him," muttered the larger of the figures as he turned his larger frame over to look at his fellow.

"Oh shut it, Jirobo! Your fat ass is going to slow us down enough!" fired back Tayuya, causing the larger figure to fix her with a glare until the final figure stepped forward, all six of his hands raised in a placating manner.

"Hey now, you two! You're going to ruin the fun. And Tayuya, you might want to shut that mouth of yours before someone realizes you're just a whore's daughter not good for anything except blowing on her stick," Sneered the dark skinned shinobi as he pointed over at the angry girl.

"You son of a-!" started the girl before Kimimaro spoke up again.

"Enough! Speak again and you die…all of you."

At the boy's words the group fell silent, looking around at one another as the orange-haired boy in rags moved behind Kimimaro, peeking out from behind him as he did and looking around at those gathered. Kabuto gave a small sarcastic clap of his hands, drawing all eyes to him.

"Very nice, Kimimaro. Now if you're done playing with them, shall we follow Orochimaru's order?" called the spectacled man, causing the pale boy to nod.

"Excellent. Now the mission is simple: we get in and Jugo carries this," continued Kabuto as he unreeled a scroll, causing a cloud of smoke to pour out before revealing a barrel covered in sealing markings now standing between them.

"Anyone else is of no consequence. Kill them if you want or simply delay them, it makes no difference, as long as Jugo makes it back to our ranks. Is that understood?" finished Kabuto as the assembled shinobi nodded, Jugo moving to heft the heavy barrel onto his back. Once in place, Kabuto gave the group a final look over before shooting off across the valley followed by the other six.

* * *

At the same moment as the Sound forces began to move across the sea of trees, a white haired figure was slowly moving through Konoha, his eyes sunken as he pushed one foot in front of the other until he reached a familiar pair of posts standing in an open clearing. As he reached them, he found his feet failing him as he leaned against the center one. Letting his legs slip out from under him, he sat with his back gently resting up against it. A small gust of wind pushed its way through the trees as it ruffled his hair, feeling oddly familiar as he looked up into the sky, his mind showing him memories of what seemed like a different life.

~Flashback-~

"Kushina! Hey, Kushina, where are you? The girls are getting some work on seals and I need your help!" called Jiraiya as he moved his way into the Namikaze home, the glass sliding door snapping shut behind him.

The man looked around the sitting room, not spotting anyone. _Huh, that's odd. I thought that she would be in? She's usually so excited to get to work with the girls, _the man thought as he heard the faint sound of voices coming from the front hall. As he moved down the hall, the voices slowly came more into focus.

"Ok sochi, are you ready?" asked Kushina as an excited voice beside her called out, practically vibrating with apparent excitement.

"Hai hai! This is going to be great, Kaa-san!" called a voice Jiraiya was only able to place as Naruto's when he moved around the corner, spotting the boy dressed in training gear standing beside Kushina, who seemed equally prepared for a day of training. However, these details did not seem to register with him as he stepped out to speak up.

"Oh Kushina, there you are! I was wondering where you had disappeared. Come on, the girls are working on their sealing and we could use your help," called the white haired man as he began making his way back until he noticed that Kushina wasn't following him. As he turned back towards the pair, what he hadn't noticed at the time was the devastated look on Naruto's face as he heard the man's words…or the way the practice kunai he had been holding slipped from his hands, gently clattering to the floor as he looked between Jiraiya and Kushina, a note of actual fear in his eyes.

Kushina, on the other hand, was looking towards Jiraiya, her face a mix of emotions as she looked torn on what to do. Unfortunately for Kushina, that confliction showed on her face enough for Naruto to see it. Before either of the adults would have thought possible, the boy had begun to back away from them, his eyes showing that some kind of argument was brewing in his mind that the others were not privy to. Still oblivious to this, Kushina managed to shake herself before looking over at Jiraiya with a steady gaze.

"I'm sorry Jiraiya, but I have something else planned today," Replied Kushina as Naruto seemed to hesitate behind her. However, Jiraiya pushed the point, still ignorant of the harm he was helping to commit.

"What? Come on, Kushina, we both know that's not true. You promised to help me with the girls on their sealing. Heck, we talked about this last week," Jiraiya replied, his words plunging into the blond boy like daggers as he started to move away again, his eyes now turned up to Kushina, a look of absolute betrayal etched across his face. As Kushina reached up to rub her temples while remembering the conversation, she noticed Naruto's absence as she began to respond.

"Jiraiya, look I nee…Naruto?" called Kushina, halting her reply half way as she turned to see Naruto dashing out of the front door, his eyes watering. The scene caused Kushina to stiffen before she threw Jiraiya an angry look, tearing off shortly afterwards to find the boy. Her face had contorted in fear for a reason that didn't quite register with Jiraiya, who was left standing in the entryway looking out after them.

"What the heck was that about?" wondered the sage before he shrugged, moving back into the yard to get to work with the girls…Kushina would be back in time after all. Maybe she was just spending some time with Naruto? As the day stretched on, Jiraiya continued his work with the girls, not knowing or caring what kind of damage he had been doing to those he claimed to care for.

~Flashback end-~

As the memories settled, Jiraiya felt a disgusting feeling swelling up inside of him as he recalled those looks before the two had run out the door…

_H…how did I miss it….? Damn it, I did the same damn thing to him, _muttered Jiraiya as he cast his eyes forward, seeing memories of his own younger self chasing after his teammates Orochimaru and Tsunade, pulling perverted jokes just to be noticed by them….trying everything to get their approval and attention…

As he watched his own younger self fail yet again, he saw the same sadness he had inflicted on Naruto mirrored in his own eyes as his Genin self-turned away, broken from another failed attempt to connect with others before returning to his home alone…But before his younger self moved too far, Sensei had arrived to take him out for some barbecue, smiling as the younger child grinned back up at him. As the memory's faded, Jiraiya found himself looking out over the field, his mind casting back to the smiling face of his sensei as he did.

"You were always there for me, old man…. always looking after me… and I want to be just like you… Guess I screwed that one up… couldn't even tell the woman I loved how much she meant to me… and look at me now… nothing but an old toad who turned into the very thing I hated all those years ago," Muttered the man as he bowed his head away from the ghosts of his past.

As time passed, a shadow fell across where he sat, causing him to look up to see Homeed perched above him on the log, its bladed wings folded back as its armored form seemed to shine from the light that glinted off of it. For a moment, the two just looked at one another until the Seedling allowed its ponytail like appendage to reach down, idly tugging at the man's own main of white hair gently.

"What the heck?" muttered Jiraiya as he pulled his hair free from the creature only to have it wrap the appendage around one of his arms and begin tugging lightly again, this time adding in small pointing gestures as it did as if indicating something. After a moment, Jiraiya seemed to catch on to what was happening.

"What, you want me to follow you…? Why?" asked the man as the creature let out a metallic hum, nodding its head in apparent happiness as it finally managed to pull the sage to his feet. Once up, Homeed turned to start pulling the man away from the training field, causing Jiraiya to skip along from behind until his feet began to move again as the two headed off towards Kami only knew where.

* * *

The Konoha team had been forced to halt after a day's progress to recharge before pushing forwards once again. At the moment they were taking time to swallow a few soldier pills and take a quick check on their bearings.

"So…how much further do we have?" called Naruto as he took a swig from his canteen, looking over at Kakashi who was checking over the seals holding Sasuke in place. Idly, the blonde boy flicked a few stray bits of dirt and forest off of his orange vest and coat, still being a little meticulous about the newest addition to his mostly black outfit.

"About half a day more if we keep up this pace. We've only just passed the border so it will still be a while before we reach Konoha territory," replied Kakashi as he pushed himself back up, looking around to see the three moving to mimic him, sealing away their supplies as they prepared to move out.

"I still don't see why we have to take the Northern path," called Minami as she placed her sealing scrolls back into her belt, brushing a few strands of hair back from her crimson battle kimono. As her black clad arms fell to her knees helping to push her up, Naruko let out a small growl as well, pushing herself up beside her Nee-san.

"Cause the South is still not secured. Could be anyone's forces there, so let's just get moving," Naruko replied, dusting off her black Anbu style pants before sealing her own supplies into her yellow battle vest and adjusting it so that it covered her under black bodysuit without obstructing her reach to her twin kunai pouches on either leg.

Just then, Naruto stiffened before spinning around to look out into the forest from where they had come from, his coat fluttering slightly at a small pulse of chakra seemed to emanate from it.

"Oh crap! Everyone, INCOMING!" Naruto shouted, even as four of his Seeds shot out to form blackened shields that threw themselves in front of each of them. No sooner had the black walls fallen into place then a shattering noise that sounded like a storm of rock struck the walls. As the team huddled behind their shelter, Minami looked over to see one of the projectiles lodge itself into the earth beside her, which appeared to be some kind of gold stone-looking object.

"Naruto, how many?" called Naruko as she edged to one side of the shield, looking out to see if she could get a line of sight on any of the potential enemies.

"Shoot, I have six in the Pollen Net. Wait, seven now! Damn it, they're headed this way!" called Naruto as the hail of attacks died down, allowing his Seeds to shoot back behind him as Minami and Naruko fell in beside him, seals glowing as their hands were suddenly full of weapons readied for whatever was to come. They didn't need to wait long.

"Hahahah, very impressive, Naruto-kun! I didn't expect to see you here of all places," called a mocking tone as Kabuto emerged from the forest flanked by six others, all of whom were sporting similar cocky expressions as their eyes traveled across the group before them.

"**Naruto, they all have those seals on them!" **call Juubi as Naruto's eyes narrowed, noting the Sound headbands that each of the figures was wearing.

"Well now, how about you hand over the Uchiha and maybe we will let you live?" Kabuto continued as around him the others looked at the gathered Konoha team, not too impressed with what they were looking at.

"Kabuto, come on! These pieces of trash won't put up a fight. Let's just kill them and be done with it!" Called Sakon as he idly licked his lips, looking across at Minami who despite herself felt a small shiver run up her spine.

"Enough! Our job is to capture the Uchiha. Pointless battle serves no one," called Jirobo as Jugo looked slightly relieved at this possibility. However, it seemed Kidōmaru was uninterested in waiting much longer as he allowed a few more stone-like daggers to form in his hands, causing the Konoha team to stiffen slightly. However, before they could act, Kimimaro spun forwards past them towards Kakashi.

"Damn it!" screamed Naruko as she was forced to deflect a slew of golden daggers while Minami shot forwards to slam a kick into the larger orange-haired boy, drawing a small cry of pain as he shot back into a tree. Shortly after the attack, the redheaded girl along with the still grinning boy shot forwards at her, leaving Naruto to deflect a hammer like blow from the other orange-haired boy whose arm had transformed to something like a giant clawed battle axe.

Kakashi was forced to dodge as a white sword shot out towards his chest as Kabuto leapt down from above, his chakra scalpels cutting at the man and forcing him to roll forwards, coming to his feet in time to realize with horror what they had made him do.

"NO!" screamed Kakashi as Kimimaro grabbed the bound Sasuke that was still leaning against the tree. However, it was too late as Kabuto shot forwards, slamming into Kakashi and forcing him to concentrate all of his effort on just staying alive. Kimimaro in the meantime shot through the disorganized chaos towards a massive barrel covered in seals the Konoha shinobi were just barely able to see. They watched helplessly as Sasuke was forced into the barrel, its lid slamming shut. Then, as if the act was some kind of signal, the Sound ninja present, aside from Kimimaro, shot back to the edge of the forest, adding their mocking laughs to the sudden silence after the small battle.

"What, was that it? Kami you guys are trash!" called Tayuya as Naruko let out an angered cry.

"You bastards, give Sasuke back!"

"Oh, does the little girl want her boyfriend back?" chuckled Sakon as he slapped the side of the barrel before they all turned to shoot off into the forest with the Konoha team in hot pursuit. Soon, the Konoha team was racing from tree to tree, heading to where they knew the Sound forces were falling back to.

"Naruko, Naruto, Minami, we can't let them get away with…" started Kakashi before Kabuto sprung out of one of the tree's they were flying past, his blades aimed for Naruko only to have Kakashi spring forward, throwing them both to the forest floor. As he fell, the three saw him flipping out a kunai and burying it into Kabuto's shoulder as the two plummeted, his eyes blazing as he looked up at the three now shrinking figures.

"GET SASUKE!" he cried, even as he and his combatant plummeted into the underbrush.

"Sensei!" cried both Naruko and Minami as they faltered only for a moment before continuing to dash forwards, their eyes forced forwards towards their still captured teammate. The three Konoha shinobi burst out of the brush and into another clearing, spotting the remaining six figures that turned back to see the three Genin.

"Oh this is priceless! Kabuto only got one…man he must be slipping; now all we have are kids!" snickered Sakon as beside him Kidōmaru chuckled, looking over at the three before turning to Kimimaro.

"Hey what do you say you and the quiet boy get the Uchiha back and let us play with these guys for a while?" called Kidōmaru as he flexed his six arms, causing Tayuya to sigh before rubbing her head in aggravation.

"This isn't a game, you stupid spider!" She muttered as beside her Jirobo nodded in agreement. Sakon on the other hand was having none of it as he stepped forward, a wide smirk playing across his face as he did.

"Come on you cowards, we just have to tear them apart and then get back. Kimimaro can babysit Jugo till he gets back. Besides, I didn't come out here not to have some fun!" the boy chuckled as he glared across the group of Konoha shinobi, none of whom seemed to be moving in the slightest.

"Hey look, they're frozen!" mocked Sakon, even as Kimimaro gave the group a quick glance before looking over to Jugo.

"Fine, do as you wish. Jugo, we are moving," Kimimaro said, turning to leave.

At the same time, the Sound forces had been discussing the Konoha shinobi. Those same shinobi were having their own, much faster mental discussion since they landed.

_What are we supposed to do? Is Kakashi-sensei okay back there? _called Minami.

_Minami, he'll be fine. We need to concentrate for now, and once we get Sasuke back we can get out of here! _called Naruto as Naruko gave a mental nod of agreement.

_He's right Minami. Sensei told us to get Sasuke back. If we lose him now, we may never get him back. _

_Hai, but how? They outnumber us and if they use delaying tactics, we'll lose him, _called Minami as Naruto gave a small mental sigh.

"**Stop panicking you two! It won't help anything," **called Juubi, prompting Naruto to speak up.

_Juubi's right. Besides, I can stall at least four of them with my Seedlings. That just leaves one each for you. _

_WHAT!? ARE YOU NUTS? WE'RE NOT LEAVING YOU! _Screamed the two girls in stereo as Naruto flinched at the sudden volume from his Nee-san's.

_Gah, have you two been hanging out with Sakura again!? Darn it, I think I'm going deaf, _muttered the boy as both girls sent mental glares his way.

_Well, maybe we did because you're talking crazy! We aren't going to leave you alone like that! _Naruko responded as Minami nodded in agreement.

_Ugh, and people thought I was the slow one… Look, I won't be alone: I have my Seedlings and if things get really bad I have Juubi. I'll be just fine. And besides, you two are faster than I am. Just get the emo back and then get back here. I can stall until then, _Naruto stated as the girls started to argue before he interrupted them.

_Look, it's the only chance that any of us have of getting Sasuke back. So you go get your teammate. I'll watch your backs, okay? _finished Naruto, his tone indicating he was smiling.

A few moments after the boys words, the two girls let out sounds of defeat as Naruto allowed a smile to cross his face before he turned his focus around to the two halves of the fox.

_Hey, you two better look after my Nee-sans! _called the boy.

"**Hai! Minami-chan and I are going to kick butt!" **called and excited Kyu as Juubi smirked a bit along with Minami.

"**As if they could harm me, but fine," **Muttered Kurama as Juubi sent him a small smile even as the three minds broke their connection, focusing back on the figures ahead of them.

"**Naruto," **called Juubi as the boy started to allow his Seeds to move silently out of his back, keeping them out of sight of the figures ahead of him.

_Hmm, what? _

"**You know very well I can't come out again until the Seedling I'm linked with is back to full power," **Replied the woman as Naruto gave a small mental shrug.

_Hey, can't have them worrying too much. They are almost as stubborn as your little Kurama-kun, _chuckled Naruto as Juubi nodded, knowing it was true.

"**Still seedling, be careful…. for me, okay?"** whispered Juubi as Naruto smirked.

_Oh, don't worry Juubi. I'm not going anywhere. Besides, if I missed my date with Hinata-chan, she'd kill me! _Naruto replied, while in the outside world Kimimaro turned to leave.

* * *

"No, I'm telling you they're frozen stiff! What's wrong, trash?" called Sakon's mocking tone as he watched the three before him.

"Oh, give it a rest you two-headed bastard. They're kids: what do you expect?" called Tayuya as her fellows sneered at her.

"Whatever, let's just get this-," continued the redhead before a flicker of movement caught her attention, causing her to dive sideways as a black orb shot past her. Beside her, the others were forced to do much the same as Kimimaro shoot off into the forest.

"Damn it!" called Tayuya as she turned to see Minami and Naruko racing forwards.

"Oh look, we have volunteers!" called Sakon excitedly as he moved forwards with Kidōmaru and Jugo bringing up the rear. They never saw the massive black fist that shot out of the woods behind them, narrowly missing Tayuya as it crashed into their backs and flinging them forward as Minami and Naruko leapt atop the appendage, racing along it and into the forest.

"What the fuck!?" cried Sakon as he spun along with his two fellows looking back past Tayuya who was also staring as the massive fist dwindled, accompanied by an unnerving humming noise they vaguely recognized.

"Wait, weren't those!" called Tayuya as the four Seedlings stepped forward, their wide eyes focused at the four Sound shinobi.

"Oh so you recognize them? I would hope so," Naruto called, causing the four to spin, their eyes bulging slightly as they saw three figures standing before them, one being the blond figure they recognized while the other two resembled some kind of creature that they had never seen the like of.

"Oh, and by the way," called Naruto as the two creatures on either side of him let out humming growls, "I think you'll find you're the ones outnumbered," smirked the teen before his face was slowly covered by a blackened mask.

"Shoot! I didn't think he was that brat from the exams!" called Tayuya as she turned to see that the Seedlings had surrounded them. _Shit, this isn't good! These things are crazy! _the girl thought as beside her, the other three let out small snorts at the Seedlings and Naruto.

"What, you were actually watching that crap!? We had mission, you idiot! It wasn't a sightseeing event!" called Kidōmaru as he spun a few golden blades into his hands, focused on the nearest Seeding with his face spitting into a wide grin before he flung the projectiles forwards.

"NO, YOU IDIOT! THEY ARE SHAPESHIFTERS!" cried Tayuya as her team shot forwards, each aiming for a different Seedling with no idea what they were in for.

The first to reach their target was Jirobo, who swung a heavy fist into the face of the first Seedling and sending it skidding back cross the ground a few feet.

"Not so tough," Jirobo began until the Seedling he had hit shook itself before springing forwards, both of its fists expanding as they flew forwards.

"Wha-!?" was all the orange-haired figure managed before the twin fists plowed into him, flinging him back across the field till he crashed into a tree that halted his movement at last. Cursing, Jirobo looked up in time to see the massive fist pass him, crashing into either side of the tree before a sudden humming called his attention forwards as the two arms shifted, pulling the Seedling into a flying drop kick that crashed into the boy's face, shoving him bodily through the tree he had landed against.

Likewise, Sakon had decided to charge in headfirst, slamming a rapid series of blows into the first Seedling he came across, crushing the creature into the ground as a crazed smile spread across his face.

Before that smile could even falter, the boy was forced to leap back as a black chain shoot out of the downed creature's form, grazing his head as it passed drawing a line of scarlet as it did. That one moment's distraction was enough for the Seedling to free itself from the ground and shoot forwards, a blackened swirling ball of purple chakra in its palm that it thrust forwards into the boy's chest, sending him flying back with his robes in tatters as he cried out in pain.

Kidōmaru seemed to be fairing a bit better as he continued to heave blade after blade forward, forcing two of the creatures to fall behind shields that continued to take the abuse as the spider-like boy cursed with each weapon's failure.

"Damn it!" cried Tayuya, moving forward as she raised her flute to her lips, only to spin as Naruto suddenly appeared before her, slamming a blackened bar down towards her head until she dove sideways, finding Kyueed waiting for her as it's nine tails spun around to meet her head on. With an impact like a sledgehammer, the tails threw her body through the air before she crashed onto the ground a few feet away.

"**Things are actually going well," **Called Juubi happily as she saw the girl batted away. Before the celebrating could get far, a sudden surge of power caused Naruto to spin towards the forest in time to see a Seedling flying back out of it and crashing into the clearing. As the Seedling skipped to a halt struggling to rise, the pair noticed that its arm was torn free.

"You just had to jinx us, didn't you?" Grumbled Naruto as he shifted his gaze around to see Jirobo moving out the forest, his skin now covered in blackened marking that pulsed with that same evil energy as Sasuke's had.

* * *

Meanwhile, as Naruko and Minami raced forwards, they could distantly hear the sounds of explosions. The two looked back with clear concern at just what might be happening to their Nii-san. But they had a job to do…and besides…he promised he would be fine.

"Come on, Minami, we need to hurry!" called Naruko as she pushed herself forward, Minami forced herself to keep up with Naruko as the pair darted forwards through the forest.

A short distance ahead of the pair, Kimimaro was glaring back as he raced forwards beside Jugo, the pair slowed down by the massive drum on the timid boy's back.

_Useless. They have only managed to weaken our defenses. If they survive this, I will take great pleasure helping Orochimaru-sama dispose of them, _the boy contemplated as he spied another clearing up ahead, his eyes narrowing as they neared it.

"Jugo, continue to the extraction point. I will meet you there," Spoke the pale teen, his companion looking concerned at his words.

"What? But Kimimaro," Began the boy as the two exited the tree line into the clearing, racing across the open ground towards their target.

"I will deal with them, but the mission cannot be endangered. You must go on ahead, while I will handle them," Finished the pale boy in a tone that made it clear this was not a request. The orange-haired boy gave his only friend a look for a few more moments before bowing his head.

"H-hai," he replied as Kimimaro spun to face the tree line where Naruko and Minami had just burst out of.

"There they are!" cried Naruko as Jugo disappeared into the tree line while Kimimaro turned to face them and pulled a white blade from his shoulder. Before either girl cringe at the display, the pale figure shot towards them, his arm blurring as his blade danced forward at the pair.

"Shit!" cried Minami as she threw herself into Naruko, pushing the pair out of the path of the piercing strikes, a splatter of scarlet flashing as they pair rolled away.

As Kimimaro straightened, he spotted the pair of girls pushing themselves to their feet, the redhead's eyes focused on his as she bit back the pain from the cut he had managed to dig into her arm. Even as he watched, the line of scarlet began to steam as the skin moved to reconnect.

"Minami?"

"I'm fine, but this guy isn't going to let us just run past him," muttered Minami as she allowed two seals on her arms to flash, filling her hands with shuriken before looking over at her Nee-san with a small smile on her lips.

"I'll take care of him, you go and get Sasuke-teme back," whispered Minami as Naruko's eyes went wide.

"What? No way I'm leaving you!" She started before Minami shot her an annoyed look.

"Oh, give it a rest Naruko. Your headstrong tactics won't work on this guy, now get out of here. You'll only slow me down," Minami cut in, her face showing a small smirk as she spoke.

"Besides, I want to see the look on Sasuke's face when you're the one to save his sorry ass, so get after him. This one's mine," she finished as she pushed forward, her hands blurring as a sea of metal stars pelted towards the white haired youth and forcing him to deflect them as Minami's seals glowed again.

For a second that seemed to stretch on, Naruko stood watching her Nee-san before she tore her eyes away from the sight, pushing herself towards the tree line where Sasuke had disappeared.

"No!" called Kimimaro as he thrust out a hand with the fingers extended, causing a wave of white projectiles to fly towards Naruko's back. The white bone bullets hadn't traveled more than a few feet towards the blonde girl until they were intercepted by a pair of massive spinning shuriken that crashed into them, sending sparks up as the projectiles bit into the metal. Furious at the interception, Kimimaro turned to see Minami smirking at him as a new pair of blades appeared in her hands, silvery white and spinning.

"Sorry buddy, but my Nee-san has somewhere to be and you aren't going anywhere!" called the redhead as she raced forward. Kimimaro spun around to release another storm of bone projectiles toward her.

_Kyu, be ready. Something tells me I'll need your help with this one! _called Minami as she lifted the whirling blades up to send the projectiles spinning away from her as she plunged forwards

"**Hai, Minami-chan, I'm ready!" **called Kyu, even as Kimimaro closed in, a blade of bone swinging down towards the girl's head. With a grunt of effort, the redhead spun her blades up to catch the descending strike, which caused a small look of surprise to cross the pale teen's face before he followed up the strike with a bone crushing kick that plowed into Minami's chest, flinging her back across the field with a small cry of pain.

As Minami skidded to a halt letting out pained breaths, Kimimaro turned to look at the retreating form of Naruko, his thoughts turning to the pair still headed for the extraction.

_If Jugo can make it to the extraction, then he should be safe. Even if I charge off now, I will only be bringing this problem along with me. Better to finish her here, and then I'll regroup with him. Besides, Jugo is hardly helpless, _The teen's thoughts were brought to a halt as a cracking noise drew his eyes down to his blade that had two massive gouges in it that sent out spider-like cracks throughout the length. This drew a small look of interest from the teen as he looked up to see Minami rising to her feet, her twin four-pointed blades spinning again, this time starting to glow with a faint red light that caused her kimono and hair to glow with an early red light.

_At any rate, this one seems worth my time, _the boy continued before dropping the broken blade, pulling out another as he allowed his seal to draw a series of black lines across his form before pushing off towards his opponent.

* * *

As the clearing erupted into sounds of combat across the forest, Jugo was pushing himself out of the clearing and into the edge of the valley, his eyes scanning back and forth as he noted two massive statues not far from him.

"On no, I'm too far west," the boy muttered moments before the forest ahead of him erupted as Naruko shot out ahead, looking across the small bit of land that stood on the edge of the forest before plunging down into the valley.

"There you are, now give back Sasuke!" cried the girl as she stepped forward, her yellow hair blowing out behind her as she cracked her knuckles, glaring across at the now whimpering boy who's head was bowed so as to not meet the angered blonde's gaze. The sight was enough for Naruko to falter slightly, one golden eyebrow rising up in confusion as she watched the pathetic looking form before her.

_Um Kurama, you can sense emotions right? Umm, is he faking? _asked the girl as inside her head Kurama paused before huffing out in apparent irritation.

"**Nope, he's just a timid little rabbit. Just get rid of him and be done with it. Figures Kyu and Kaa-san would get the good fights," **Grumbled the fox as Naruko strode forward with a shrug towards the boy who had set the barrel down and was now muttering something while slowly sinking to the grassy cliffside.

"Umm well, okay? I'm taking Sasuke then. You just have your little mental breakdown or whatever," called Naruko as she moved to head around the orange-haired youth, who was still muttering something on the ground.

As she was passing beside the boy a few stray words drifted up to her sounding something like "scared" and "help".

_Huh? Weird, but whatever. Once I have Sasuke I can get back to help Minami and Naruto, _the blond thought moments before her senses screamed at her to move. As she threw herself back, a gray fist crashed into the ground before her, sending bits of dust and earth up as a hacking gurgle of a laugh began to burble out from the spot she had just left. Naruko skidded to a halt, her head spinning towards the source of the attack while inside her mind she was ranting.

_Kurama! What the hell is wrong with you!? YOU SAID HE WAS A TIMID RABBIT! SENSING EMOTIONS IS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR THING?! _

"**Naruko, shut up! Something's changed; he's giving off the same feeling as that red-eyed brat now! He's dangerous!" **called Kurama as Naruko snorted.

_No shit! What gave you that idea!? _She shot back as she focused forward to see the boy, his face now half consumed in a gray substance as his left eye, now bulging yellow, focused on her with a maddening smile.

"OH, I MISSED! HEHEEHEHE! COME ON NOW, DON'T RUN! I JUST WANT TO TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!" cried the figure as it hefted a massive distorted gray arm up, its dagger like claws curling back in a fist while he continued to giggle madly to himself.

"**He's pumping out natural chakra! Naruko, get ready!" **called Kurama as Naruko sank back into her stance, one arm handing down as a swirling ball of blue chakra began to form in it.

"Don't worry about me, Kurama: I'm taking this guy out fast!" called Naruko as she shot forward with a fully formed Rasengan thrust out ahead of her at the orange-haired boy, who continued to produce another insane giggle as he swung his arm up and around to meet the oncoming attack head on. The gray monstrous fist met the swirling ball with a sound like crashing steal as Naruko's feet dug into the ground, the impact driving her into the soft soil while the grinning figure's smile spread even further as his face continued to be covered by the slowly increasing grey matter.

"YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYEEEEEEES!" the boy cried as Naruko spied a sudden pillar of gray flesh shoot out of the back of his arm before slamming forwards again. Naruko had only a moment as she dropped the Rasengan, kicking off from the ground as she did, allowing the now increased force of the fist to carry it into an earth-shattering blow that devastated the ground she had been standing upon.

As she leapt over the figure, she summoned another swirling ball in her free hand before bringing it down into the figures back with a horrible grinding noise.

"RASENGAN!" call the girl as the swirling blue orb forced the figure down into the ground accompanied by a horrible animalistic cry of pain that only ended as the blue orb failed and Naruko leapt back, keeping one of her eyes focused on the figure before her as she looked down at her right hand, seeing traces of damaged from its impact with the figure.

"Damn it, what the heck is he?" muttered the girl as the maddening giggling began again. The figure before her was pulling himself free of the ground, his face now completely consumed in the darkening skin. Both eyes blazed with a wide-eyed madness as saliva dribbled from his gaping mouth.

"**And people call us demons," **muttered Kurama as Naruko's eyes narrowed upon the transformed figure.

_Yeah, well I may need some help putting this guy down, _the blonde replied, causing Kurama to give a small scoff before Naruko felt the small trickle of the fox's charka begin to work its way through her body.

"**Fine, let's just show this thing what a real beast is capable of!" **called Kurama as the transformed Jugo rocketed forward, both clawed fists pulled back to strike at the now red-eyed girl.

* * *

As the fights began to erupt all across the forest of Konoha, in the village a white-haired man was being lead forwards into the backyard of Senju compound where two adult women stood in front of a pair of exhausted teens, both of whom were lying back on the grass panting. As Homeed lead Jiraiya around into the yard, both women turned to watch as the man approached, causing the girls to jump at their feet to see the procession as it headed toward them.

Soon enough, Homeed had halted, letting go of Jiraiya as it stepped over to Tsunade and snapped out a salute while the blonde gave the armored creature a small smirk.

"I swear, I'm getting jealous of Naruto. These things are just so darn handy" Tsunade chuckled as she gave a small joking salute, causing the Seedling to give out its familiar metallic hum of appreciation before it moved over to sit on one side of the yard to apparently wait for its next job. Meanwhile, Tsunade turned to Shizune before nodding towards the two girls.

"Shizune, I think they've had enough for today. Go ahead and take Sakura and Hinata inside," she instructed as Shizune nodded, helping the girls up and moving them inside while the blonde woman turned to see Jiraiya still standing right where Homeed had left him, looking confused as to why he was here. As her eyes fell upon the man, she gave an annoyed sigh that caused the man to look up and meet her eyes.

"One week. You've been dragging your sorry ass around this village for one week straight feeling sorry for yourself. Damn it, what the hell is wrong with you Jiraiya?" asked the blonde as the Toad Sage looked at her for a moment before his head dropped, not being able to look her in the eye.

"Did you think that feeling sorry for yourself is going to fix a damn thing? What's the matter with you? Yeah, you fucked up, and you fucked up BIG TIME toad, but news flash: so did a lot of us! But here you are, moping around like you expect it will somehow fix everything!" she continued, causing Jiraiya to shrink away from her words, each one cutting into him as his own mind hammered in each point deeper into his already shattered resolve.

As her words lay upon the silence surrounding the two, the Toad Sannin's lips cracked apart as he looked up at the woman across from him, his eyes hollow with an absolutely pathetic look to them.

"Wha…what can I do….? Ev..everything I did….what kind of forgiveness can there be?" asked the man as he slowly sank to his knees, looking at his hands which were shaking as though just holding himself together was taking all of his strength. Then there was a smacking sound as Jiraiya felt himself flung sideways across the ground rolling a few times against the grassy yard, coming to a stop a few feet from where he had started. As his now aching head looked up he saw Tsunade walking towards him, one hand still clenched in a fist she had used to throw him across the yard, her eyes set as she marched over to the man's side.

"Don't give me that, have you tried? Hell, Minato was just as much to blame as you, but you know what he's done?"

"HUH!?" asked the women as Jiraiya pushed himself into a sitting position, still not meeting the blonde's eyes.

"Everything, that's what! He's been doing everything he can think of to try and make it up to Naruto and everyone else! Heck, it wasn't easy for any of us to try and face what we had done, and here you are saying you don't know what to do!" continued Tsunade as Jiraiya's head dropped again.

"Well!?" she asked, waiting for the man at her feet to reply with something more than the occasion shake of his body. After what seemed like forever, he finally replied.

"Bu…but where do I start?" the man asked in a choked voice as Tsunade allowed her fist to untighten, raising it to her head and lightly rubbing at it as she looked down at the man.

"Damn it, you are so thick headed. You start by asking to be forgiven…That's where we all started…Heck, even Kushina had to start there," muttered Tsunade as her mind conjured the time Kushina had come crying to her door a few days into Naruto's training, asking if she had seen him.

~Flashback~

A teary-eyed Kushina had enlisted Tsunade to help her search for Naruto. From what Tsunade could make out, they had been preparing to go and do some training when Jiraiya had started talking about Kushina's promise to help the girls with their sealing. Apparently, the idea of being looked over again after just getting a chance to get actual training had been too much for the boy and Naruto had fled before Kushina could explain to him that she wasn't going to leave him.

Even though she had raced after him only moments after he had departed, she hadn't been able to find him and with a stab of guilt realized that she didn't really even know where to start looking. With nothing else, she had headed to the Senju compound looking for Shizune, but only finding Tsunade. So at the moment the pair was moving through one training field after another, looking for any trace of the boy. The agitated mother looked around with apparent panic on her face.

"Kushina, calm down! We'll find him and then we'll explain it. Everything's going to be okay," called Tsunade as the two leapt from tree to tree. Kushina for her part simply turned her head towards the blonde and gave her a worried look as they continued forward. After a few more fields, the two had come to a halt as Kushina looked out over an open field, spotting Naruto sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest looking over a small pond that dominated most of the area before him.

"Naruto," Kushina breathed out, moving forwards as Tsunade hung back, deciding to leave this matter to the pair before she announced her presence.

As Kushina made her way slowly across the open grass, Naruto seemed to stiffen as if coming back awake and suddenly turning around to spot the redheads approach, causing her to halt in her steps. A gentle breeze blew her red hair out in a small arc behind her as she tried to speak.

"Sochi," whispered Kushina as Naruto turned away from her, his voice coming out in a measured tone that made it clear he was fighting to keep emotion out of it.

"I…its ok, Kaa-san. You can train them…" he started to say before his voice broke and he started to shake slightly, causing Kushina's eyes to brim with tears at the sight. With a few steps, Kushina had reached the blonde before falling to her knees and wrapping her arms around his form, her own voice coming out in a broken whisper as she pulled him close to her.

"No no sochi, I'm not leaving you…..I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun. Please…please forgive me for being a horrible Kaa-san…I promise…I'll never leave you again…, I won't leave you ever again…I promise…" Kushina managed as small tears continued to fall from her eyes.

"But what about-?" Naruto had begun until Kushina shook her head, splashing a few tears across the boy's golden hair as she did.

"The girls can wait….You've already waited too long, my little maelstrom….I promise….please. I'll never leave you again," Kushina sobbed. Naruto turned in his Kaa-san's arms before grabbing hold of her and burying his face into her chest, shaking with his own sobs as the two members of the Uzumaki Clan just sat holding one another. Tsunade decided to simply head home and leave the two some time for just themselves.

~Flashback end~

As Tsunade left her memories of that day behind, she focused on the man before her, noticing his eyes looking back up at her.

"Baka…just ask…" she whispered as Jiraiya looked up at her for a few moments, his head bowing again as his voice croaked out again.

"…..I….I'm sorry, Hime…..p….please," he started as Tsunade gave him a small bop on the head, her mouth curving into a small smile despite herself.

"Baka, of course I'll help you," called the blonde, offering a hand down to the toad. The man's eyes traveled over the hand, his mind flashing an imaged of a younger Tsunade offering the same hand up to a younger Jiraiya with that same little smile on her lips.

…_.Hime….that's right…That's when you became my Hime… _thought the Toad as he focused back on the present.

As Jiraiya was reaching up to take the offer, a sudden alert of metallic humming from the corner of the yard caused Tsunade and Jiraiya to turn their heads. Hinata and Sakura had also poked their heads out of the house, looking for the source of the noise.

All of their eyes fell upon the figure of Homeed that had sprung to its feet, looking around agitated before focusing on Jiraiya and rushing forwards at the Sage. For a heartbeat, those present thought the creature intended to attack the sage, but as the Seedling reached the man it's hands few through a series of crude and simple hand signs before letting out an alarmed metallic hum and shooting off into the air, streaking off in a northward direction faster than any of them thought possible and leaving the confused group behind blinking after it.

"What the heck was that?" called Sakura as she and Hinata stepped towards the pair of sages with Shizune following behind as Tsunade shrugged.

"No idea," she replied before Jiraiya stood, suddenly looking around at the group with his eyes alert and full of what they could only describe as panic.

"Tsunade, Shizune we need to move now! I'll get a message to Minato and have him send a team north, but we need to get going NOW!" the sage shouted as those present blinked at him for a moment.

"Jiraiya-sama, what-?" started Hinata before Jiraiya looked over at her for a heartbeat before coming to a conclusion.

"We will need as many medics as we can get, so you and Haruno should come as well," the sage continued as he began to go through hand signs. Those around him continued to look towards him in bewilderment while a toad appeared from a cloud of smoke.

"Jiraiya, what's going on!?" called Tsunade as Jiraiya turned to meet her eyes with his own.

"Those were basic Anbu signs: Team Seven is under attack to the North!" called Jiraiya as he turned to sprint off after the Seedling. The others remained paused until Hinata's eyes went wide before she shot off after the man, followed by the rest as the toad vanished to report to Minato.

* * *

As the Konoha group shot off in pursuit of the flying Seedling, on the battlefield to the North another Seedling was flying through the air, only not under its own power.

With a humming cry a Seedling went skipping past Naruto, courtesy of the now seal-covered Jirobo who was smirking at the injured Seedling.

"Is that all you've got, trash?" called the orange-haired boy before a wave of black sand smashed into the his face, slamming him back as Seekaku landed in front of the curse-seal covered boy with his tail swishing out behind as his right arm formed a cloud of sand around him. The mismatched pair golden and purple eyes narrowed as they looked at the orange haired youth who was getting back on his feet.

"Another one, huh? Well try this! Doryō Dango!" cried the boy, slamming his hands into the ground and tearing out a huge chunk of stone from the earth, raising it above his head with a confident smirk as he looked across at the unmoving form of Seekaku.

"EAT THIS!" he shouted before heaving the massive stone at the Seedling. Before it had made it half way, a sudden blast of chakra impacted the boulder, spitting bits of earth in every direction and slamming boulders in-between several of the fighters and drawing an angry amount of shouting from the Sound forces.

Swiveling his head down, Jirobo was just in time to see Kyueed as his mouth slam shut before it shot towards Tayuya as she threw a set of signs together as fast as possible. Before his mind could even take this in, the boy's senses screamed at him to move.

A second later, Naruto had flickered in front of the boy before sending a spinning kick at his head. With his body screaming with the power from the curse seal, the orange-haired boy managed to throw a massive hand up in time to catch the kick, grinning widely as his fist clamped down and he began to drain the chakra from his victim.

His face turned towards Naruto, expecting to see the distressed face of the blonde but only finding the blank expression of a Seedling looking back at him before he felt several metallic chains wrapping around his chest. His head span around to see Naruto standing behind him, his armored mask impassive. With a mighty heave, the masked blonde managed to yank the larger figure off of his feet before swinging him up and above his head before yanking him down headfirst to the ground. The Seedling that was trapped was pushing out and was half way through its restraints.

As Jirobo crashed head first into the earth, from across the field Sakon spat out another curse as he leapt back from another assault of blackened chains that bit into the ground before him, courtesy of another Seedling.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE THESE THINGS!?" roared the teen as his seal spread over his face and arms before he plowed forward, slamming another rapid-fire series of blows into a Seedling and flinging it backwards. With a smirk, the boy turned just in time to block a black bar from slamming down on him from Naruto who had substituted with the Seedling he had just managed to hit.

As the bar hit the boy, he felt his arm flare in pain as the seal seemed to burn white hot against his flesh.

"FUCKER!" cried the pale teen as he swung his fist around, only to have it turned aside as the blonde's coat surged out into a wave of purple and black leaves that diverted the blow. Cursing at the blonde, Sakon spun around before finding himself unable to see out of the now swirling mass of leaves that surrounded him until he heard a sudden loud humming. He turned to see the one armed Seedling jumping down on him from above, flinging a blackened shuriken down into the center of the swirling mass of leaves where he stood trapped.

"DAMN IT!" cried the boy as he pushed himself back, narrowly missing the weapon as it punched into the ground before him. His relief was brief, as the chain attached to the shuriken suddenly went taught and the Seedling yanked itself down, slamming both feet down into the teen's head and crashing him into the ground, scattering the surrounding leaves that flew back over to where Naruto was moving two shields around to deflect the wave of golden projectiles that the six armed shinobi continued to heave at him.

"Tayuya, give me some support! I have him pinned!" called Kidōmaru as two of his arms continued to fling the golden projectiles while he formed a massive bow with is free hands, spitting out a golden arrow to fire at Naruto once he moved from behind his shield.

"Just hold him there!" called Tayuya as she slammed her hands into the earth, a cloud of smoke erupting as three massive figures appeared. The first had a mop of grey hair that covered its massive face and fell over its green attire as its hands curled around a giant club. The second one was wrapped from waist to head in bandages, its spine twisting back in an oddly contorted arch. The third and final of these creatures was a hulking brute whose face was covered in wrappings, leaving its chest bear as either arm sported a pair of crude clawed spikes tied to the creature's wrists.

As the three creatures appeared Tayuya pulled her flute to her lips, causing the creatures to sway for a moment before they shot forward at the besieged Naruto.

"Oh crap, KYUEED!" called Naruto as the three creatures hurtled forwards, only to have the growling form of Kyueed slam into the bare-chested creature, his claws tearing into the brute as its tails snaked around the creatures legs before bringing it down in a tumbling heap. With a muffled roar, the two remaining creatures turned. The one heavily wrapped in bandages swung a leg down as its companion swung its club, intent on crushing both their third member and the Seedling in one massive blow. As Tayuya's seal broke out across her skin, her lips forced more air into her flute and urged them on. The two blows fell with a crashing sound that drew Naruto's attention around towards the spot with a worried cry of "KYUEED!"

With a smirk, Tayuya turned her attention and her song towards Naruto's location, only to freeze as she heard a humming growl emerging from her summons location. Turning to the source, the redhead's eyes went wide as she saw her summons attacked halted by the creature now perched atop the still downed form of her first summon. Both the leg and club of her summons were now ensnared by a set of three tails each, allowing the creature's mouth to pop open as it aimed downrange towards Kidōmaru.

"Kidōmaru, get out of there!" cried Tayuya as she wrenched her flute form her lips. Her words came just a moment before Kyueed spat another shot of chakra towards the six armed teen, who had just enough time to fling himself back and snapping his arrow across the field until it slammed into the fox, bringing forth a whining cry as it burrowed into the creatures chest and flung it off of the summons.

The Seedling's cry drew the group's attention as the other Seedlings and Naruto leapt around the downed fox that was letting out a small whimper as it looked at the golden arrow that was shot clear through its left shoulder.

"**Kyueed! DAMN THEM! THAT'S IT, NARUTO, NONE OF THESE BASTARDS ARE GETTING AWAY WITH HURTING MY GRANDBABY!"** cried Juubi as the leaves composing Naruto's coat bristled with agitation. At the same time, Seekaku had leaned over, looking at Kyueed for a moment before pulling the arrow out giving Kyueed another lookover before facing the Sound Four with their level one seal's active as they gathered together on the other side of the clearing. As Seekaku's eyes traveled across each of them, they halted on Kidōmaru before letting out an angry hum as its eyes narrowed at the smirking figure.

"Hai, Juubi…These bastards are going to pay, I can promise you that!" replied Naruto as the Sound Four had a similar discussion across the field.

"What the hell is this guy, and how are we having so much trouble with this one piece of trash from Konoha?" spat Sakon as he looked over at his comrades, all of whom seemed to be thinking along the same lines as him.

"If you bastards had listened to me and not charged in like idiots, you wouldn't have gotten your asses handed to you!" Tayuya spat, causing Sakon to shoot her an angry glare.

"Watch it, bitch," He began before Jirobo interrupted him.

"She's correct: we rushed in and it almost cost us. We won't make the same mistake again," the boy spoke, getting a grunt from Sakon as Kidōmaru smirked at the figures across from him.

"Well, we know that they can be hurt at least. That fox was crying like a baby, so what do you say we put them all in their places?" he asked, looking around at his fellows who gave him a smirk before they all focused at the group across them.

As they were about to begin their attack, a sudden metallic humming reached their ears, causing them to look up in time to see a black figure race over them and land with a crash in front of Naruto and his group, kicking up a small cloud of dust as it did.

"What the heck is it now!?" Tayuya shouted as the dust cleared, showing a strangely armored figure standing there until it turned around, showing another pair of mismatched eyes in addition to six bladed winds spreading out behind it as it focused on them. As the Sound forces let out confused sounds, or curses in one case, across the field Naruto let out a small chuckle as he moved forwards Kyueed, moving up on one side of him as Seekaku took the other, the golden arrow floating suspended by a few bits of black sand beside him.

"Nice timing, Homeed! Looks like it's just about time for round two!" Naruto declared as the Sound Four began to fly through a series of hand signs across the field.

* * *

Across the forest, a blur of steel and bone clashed as trails of fire lit up the battlefield, which was covered in shards of bone and broken steel.

With a crack of bone, a redheaded girl came flying backwards through a small trail of flame before skidding to a halt as she looked up, breathing hard while she wiped a trail of blood from her brow. She gave a small smirk as she looked across at the figure stepping through the flames, a large cut drawing a scarlet line across his chest through the blackened lines of his seal that zigzagged their way over his body while the blade in his hand was broken in two.

"This guy's skin is like steel," muttered Minami as she looked at her silvery white blades, noting a few small chips on them from their continued hammering at the armored boy.

"**He's fast too, Minami-chan! Be careful!" **Kyu added, causing Minami to smirk slightly.

"Hai Hai, come on now. I don't need THAT much looking after," she replied as she noticed her opponent throw his broke blade aside, reaching to grasp something at the base of his skull. Then with a horrible ripping noise, Minami watched as the boy pulled his own spine free before slamming it onto the ground as his bones started to break through his skin, causing him to become covered in large spikes.

"Well that's disgusting," muttered Minami as she pushed herself up, crossing her hands in a familiar hand sign.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" called the girl as around her, explosions of smoke announced the arrival of over a dozen redheaded girls all directing their attention at Kimimaro, who stared back unfazed by their arrival.

_Kyu, I need you to be ready okay? _called Minami.

"**Hai, I'm ready Minami-chan!" **called Kyu as the surrounding redheads drew similar silver blades, allowing them to fold out into four pointed spinning blades that became laced with fire as Minami's clones channeled her element into them.

"LETS GO!" called the first clone, sprinting forward with the others falling in behind her roaring as they flew across the field, their blades forming trailing rings of fire in Kimimaro's eyes as they pelted towards him.

_Trash…_thought the boy as he leapt forward before crouching down and spinning his spike-like bones along with the bone whip, catching the first few clones before he spun into the rest and tearing them to pieces before they ever closed the distance.

As he spun to a stop, he looked up to see the redhead in a state of shock at his attack.

"Know your place, trash," Kimimaro spoke before he swung his bone whip forward, smashing into the apparently shocked Minami. The whip slammed clear through her chest, drawing a look of horror to her face.

A moment later the face changed to a smirk as the figure burst into a cloud, drawing a look of surprise from Kimimaro as he turned in time to see a pair of Minami's landing on a final hand sign, crying out from behind the wall of flame he had originally pushed through.

"KOMU NO JUTSU!" cried the pair before they spat out waves of mist that flooded forwards over the field, turning the grass to ash as it shot forwards. With a glare, Kimimaro swung his hand forward and fired off another slew of bone bullets. His eyes grew wide as they pelted into the cloud, only to shrivel and dissipate into nothing as they plunged through the substance.

_ACID!_ Kimimaro realized before leaping back, the edges of the mist catching his whip and a few of his spines, dissolving them to nothing before he managed to distance himself from the attack.

From across the field, one of the Minami's puffed out of existence as the other gasped and coughed up a small amount of blood before she looked across the field dissolving in front of her.

"**Minami-chan!" **called Kyu as Minami managed to get her breathing under control.

"I…I'm ok Kyu, just a bit burned. Thanks for helping with the healing," she whispered while looking over the devastation.

"**Minami-chan you said you shouldn't use that! Without that Kekkei thing, Boil Release is too dangerous!" **The Tailed Beast called in obvious discomfort as Minami's breathing returned to normal.

"Hai hai, I know, but he wasn't leaving me with a lot of options Kyu. Besides, might as well use that double affinity for something," the girl muttered as her eyes looked across the dissipating cloud, searching for what she hoped would be a defeated enemy after that attack.

Unfortunately, Kimimaro stood across from the cloud as he pulled out another blade while his spines regrew. His eyes met hers with the same blank expression as before.

"Oh come on, what's with this guy!?" Minami cursed as she allowed Kyu's chakra to surge through her body, causing her eyes to flash into scarlet rubies with slit pupils as she prepared to defend against his next attack.

She didn't have to wait long until the pale figure rocketed across the field, kicking up small patches of ash as she shot forward as well. Two orbs of bright blue light swirled in both of her hands as the two raced towards one another. Just as the pair was about to connect, a bubbling surge of red chakra coated Minami, shaping itself into a fox cloak as her lips turned black and pulled back to show sharp teeth bared in a feral snarl as she charged in closer. Kimimaro had only a moment to notice this change before he was upon her, spinning to bring his many blades to bear on her.

As he spun, he suddenly noticed the appearance of a chakra tail that stretched out as the two had nearly clashed. The tail reached around him, catching his extended arm and bringing his spin to a sudden halt. As he jerked to a stop, he turned in time to see Minami thrusting her hands forwards, the two orbs slamming together now bubbling over with a red chakra center growing into a single massive orb as she shoved it forwards into his chest with a roar of rage.

"YOKO ODAMA RASENGAN!" cried Minami as she slammed the swirling orb into the boy's chest. There was a sudden explosion of force as Kimimaro was thrown back, a cry of pain exploding out of his usually stoic face as Minami leapt backwards, landing a few yards away while giving a feral grin across as the modified Rasengan exploded, sending dust and dirt up in a cloud around the fallen boy.

"ah….ha…Wh…who's trash now?" managed Minami through a few deep breaths as her chakra tails swung lightly behind her.

"**YEAH MINAMI-CHAN, YOU GOT HIM!" **cheered Kyu as Minami gave a mental thumbs up, even as her eyes searched the dust for any sign of what had to be a body at this point. For a few moments the dust continued to settle as Minami started to relax, holding onto Kyu's chakra lightly but believing it was finally over. That was until the clearing was covered in an animalistic roar as a fowl pulse of chakra shot out, causing Minami to freeze as she looked at the dust cloud.

From its depths, a grotesque figure stepped forth. His skin was incredibly darkened, almost to being completely black, while his back now sported massive white bones like those of some long forgotten beast. As a spiked tail slashed at the ground, his now glowing yellow eyes, which sat in the middle of solid black pools, glared at her in anger.

"Enough! I will not fail Orochimaru-sama!" called the boy as his right arm became slowly incased in a spiral wrapping of bone.

_Well Kyu, I guess we need to keep at it a bit longer._ Spoke Minami as she sank back, allowing Kyu's chakra to build until a second tail of chakra formed and began waving lightly behind her along with the first.

"**Hai, Minami-chan! Let's take this guy out!" **called Kyu as the two combatants charged forward again, the field erupting into another sea of combat.

As the twin roars of Kimimaro and Minami cried out, across the forest Naruko was contending with another beast that was becoming a steadily larger pain as she slammed it into a nearby cliff face for what seemed like the hundredth time.

* * *

"Why won't this guy just go down!?" cried Naruko as she sent another wave of clones forwards, each plowing into the now fully transformed Jugo. The boy now resembled a demon howling with mad laughter as his massive arms crushed clone after clone as his back exploded out, firing blasts of pure chakra slamming into the advancing forces one after another, seemingly ignorant of any damage he was receiving in return. As Naruko watched, she saw another of her clones blast a bullet of wind into the boy's side, forcing him sideways as another three clones yanked him to the ground before the group piled on top of him and slammed blow after blow until another wave of condensed chakra blasted them back.

"**That things feeding on pure natural chakra Naruko! As long as it's standing it won't stop fighting!" **roared Kurama as Naruko sent another wave of clones forwards to buy her a few more moments to think.

"Isn't that the stuff that Jiraiya said sages use? How is he controlling it?" called Naruko as another wave of blasts rocked the valley they had moved into, once the cliffside had been utterly destroyed by their battle early on.

"**He isn't controlling it, baka: he's being controlled! Somehow it transformed him, he's like a wild animal!" **called Kurama as Naruko witnessed the transformed boy actually biting one of her clones as it got within his guard.

"Just great… I get to fight the living battery monster," muttered Naruko as she racked her brain for something to put this guy down for the count.

Before she could come up with an idea, Jugo had finished the last of her clones before turning his earsplitting grin towards her, his eyes dancing with apparent excitement as they focused upon her.

"YES! MORE! MORE! KILLKILLKIIIILL!" roared the boy as his cannons fired and propelled him forwards like some kind of mutated missile.

"Kurama!" cried Naruko before she felt a cloak spring up around her just in time to meet the charging boy head-on. As the two crashed into one another, the resulting force sent cracks out through the ground and flinging stone everywhere as the two figures wrestled for control.

Jugo's fists were now caught up in Naruko's as both sides pushed with everything they had to overpower the other. As they struggled, Naruko's crimson eyes locked onto the glowing yellow eyes of the madden creature, even as she noticed his cannons shifting back around to point at her head.

"DIE DIE DIE! YOU DIE!" cried Jugo as chakra began to build in the cannons.

"OH, WILL YOU SHUT UP!?" Naruko shouted as she swept her chakra tail around and slamming it into the boy's head, forcing it down as she kicked off from the ground to slam a knee up to the creature's jaw and throwing him back off of his feet, causing his cannons to blast into the sky.

The kickback of the blasts forced the boy back, crashing him back into the ground where he soon found Naruto on top of him as she started slamming her interlocked fists onto his face, forcing it down and sending cracks through the ground as she continued to pound away at the monster's face.

"**NARUKO, DON'T LET HIM GET BACK UP! TAKE HIM DOWN NOW!" **roared Kurama as Naruko swung her fist up forming a single massive Rasengan as she did.

"HAI!" she cried as she slammed the massive orb down into the creature's chest with an explosion of force that blew her up from the roaring form of Jugo, who e was busy moving his cannons around to target her again. In midair, Naruko saw the chakra cannons start to blast off, hurtling one blast after another at her as she slammed her hands forward, causing a number of clones to burst to life around her.

As the blasts would fling themselves forward, Naruko would suddenly vanish as clone took the impact, with the sky becoming awash of chakra explosions and smoke as Jugo continued to roar out in apparent triumph as he continued to fire blind into the mess as he attempted to pull himself out of the crater he had been hammered into.

After what seemed like forever, the steam of fire finally died down as Jugo's laughter echoed out until he managed to push himself clear of the crater, grinning around as he did.

"I wouldn't get too happy, Chuckles," a harsh animalistic voice called out, which caused Jugo to spin around as a haymaker slammed into his face, sending him skipping back across the ground before coming to a stop as Naruko stood beside the crater, her hair a mess of now rough looking hair that waved out beside three chakra tails. Her whiskered cheeks were drawn into heavy back lines as her clawed hands gripped tighter until trickles of blood fell, mixing in with the chakra around her.

"**NARUKO, YOU HAVE A MINUTE BEFORE YOU LOSE CONTROL, FINISH THIS!" **roared Kurama as the girl disappeared in a blur of movement, appearing a second later before slamming a kick up into the boy's chin and flinging him up, only to be caught by her three tails and slammed back down into the ground, followed by a glowing red Rasengan that slammed into the boy's chest and drawing a cry of pain from his throat.

Jugo swung an arm around, slamming both fist and piston together into the side of the girl's head and sending her crashing into a wall of the valley, only to have the same spot explode a moment later as she reappeared, slamming a fist back into the boy's face.

"DAMN YOU, JUST STAY **DOWN!"** roared Naruko as she reached up, a pulsing black clump of chakra forming between her tails that she slammed down into the boy, sending a wave of chakra in every direction and briefly lighting up the valley like a noon day sun. Rock and stone flew in tandem with the roar of the blast crashing down all around the valley as Naruko staggered to her feet. Kurama's chakra shrank away from her as she looked down at the now devastated form of Jugo, who was slowly returning to his human form with his body in a mangled mess.

With a small effort Naruko stumbled away from the boy's form, her breath coming in small gasps as she looked out over the devastated valley.

"We…well we go him," chuckled Naruko as Kurama gave a small snort.

"**As if the container of the mighty Kurama could do any less,"** boasted the fox as Naruko smirked at his words.

"Well 'all mighty Kurama', mind giving me a little help? That last one took a lot out of me," Naruko replied as she turned her eyes up towards the cliffside.

"I mean I still have to carry…" started the girl until the words died in her mouth, her eyes widening as she spotted the figure looking down at her with a two bright glowing red eyes "Sasuke," the girl breathed as the boy leapt down the cliffside, bringing with him the maddening cackle that froze Naruko's blood.

* * *

As the next stage of conflicts raged in the Land of Fire, Kushina was becoming more and more agitated as she was forced to sit and wait for the council to conclude their dictions.

At the moment, Kushina was sitting out in the waiting room again, her foot stamping in rapid succession as she tried to keep her mind from showing her concern for her family, idly looking up at the clock before jerking her head around to look out the window at the bight day outside.

"Come on, you old farts," Kushina cursed as she looked down at her crossed arms that continued to fidget.

"Sure, they can send that Haku kid off after just a day, but me I have to stay late. Damn it, I should have left Kakashi here….. I just hope everyone's ok." finished Kushina, the last words spoken softly to herself as she shook herself slightly.

"No, they're fine! I'm just being paranoid," the woman thought aloud before a sudden burst of smoke caused her to spin, finding a toad blinking up at her in apparent agitation.

"**Kushina, you need to come with me now!" **called the toad as Kushina felt a sudden shiver run down her body as her mouth suddenly went dry.

"Wha-?" She began before the council door opened the elders looking out into the lobby.

"Kushina-san, we request you keep your summon under-," one of the figures began to say until a golden chain shot close enough to his head that it cut a few stray hairs from his head as it slammed down into the table beside him. Shaking at the display, the council members turned to see Kushina's eye's blazing at them as her hair rose slightly as she turned back to the toad, who just barely suppressed his own shiver.

"What is it?" commanded Kushina, her tone leaving no room for anything but exactly what she was waiting to hear.

"**I…I have to take you to Jiraiya-san now, it's about your family-"** the toad started before Kushina shot up, her heart beating almost out of her chest as her mind raced with everything that could possibly be going wrong.

"Kus…Kushina-san." Whimpered one of the council as Kushina looked across at them, her eyes scanning over them for a moment before focusing on an elderly woman who was given a small knowing wink from under her wrinkled face.

"I am leaving now. I trust that is acceptable?" called the redhead as she looked into the elder woman's eyes as she let out a small chuckle.

"Of course, these old bones of mine can stand a break from this pointless bickering," the woman chuckled as her fellow council members looked over at her.

"Lady Chiyo," Started one of the council members until the elderly woman shot him an annoyed glare. After getting the proper response, the woman looked back to Kushina.

"Well, what are you doing here? Get going!" called Chiyo as Kushina nodded, disappearing in a cloud of smoke a moment later and leaving a slightly smirking Chiyo behind while the council members began to bicker again.

_Well Uzumaki, I guess that makes us even for looking after our Jinchūriki…but next time you may not be so lucky, _chuckled the woman as she set about calming the agitated Suna council down.

Meanwhile, Kushina flashed into the land of the Toads long enough to vanish in a cloud of smoke again until she appeared before Jiraiya, who in turn was flanked by Tsunade, Shizune, Hinata, Sakura and Minato. As soon as she touched ground, she immediately spun her eyes to Minato.

"Where are they? What's going on?" Kushina practically cried as without pausing to answer, Minato motioned for her to move. As the group shot off north again, Kushina and the others noticed that they were being followed by a contingent of Anbu. As they shot of into the forest, Minato's voice called out inside of her mind thanks to the Pollen that they carried.

_We don't know yet Kushina. Homeed apparently raised the alarm before heading north. We headed out only a few moments later. Trackers are up front, but so far nothing. All we know it that there is trouble, _Minato stated, flinching as he saw the obvious concern etched into Kushina's face upon hearing those words.

_Why haven't you tried using your seals or summons to get to them? _Called out the worried mother as she kicked off another branch.

_We tried, but something is blocking it. We know they are north of us, so all we can do is get there as fast as we can, _Minato replied as Kushina nodded gravely, knowing that this was not the time for naked emotion. If she wanted to help her children, she had to be focused as she raced deeper into the forest headed north, casting a small look around and spying the panicked look that was crossing Hinata's and Sakura's faces as they no doubt imagined the most horrible possibilities for what could be happening ahead.

_Hinata, Sakura, you need to focus, _called Kushina over the Pollen link, both girls looking around at her for a second before nodding as they raced ahead, their faces settling into ones of concentration over fear, even as a horrible feeling of worry continued to drift through their minds.

* * *

To the north, battle continued to rage as Kimimaro flew forward, his destructive new strength slamming through the hail of fire, water, and weapons that Minami continued to pelt him with, doing little more than angering the attacker as he continued to bulldoze his way toward her.

"**MINAMI, LOOK OUT!"** cried Kyu as the redhead was forced to jump up to avoid another trail of wide bone spikes that shot up from under her as they exploded again, flinging the monstrous form of Kimimaro towards her.

As the bone wielder shot up Minami was forced to spin, slamming her two chakra tails into the boy, flinging him back and giving her just enough room to land. Her breath came in heaves as she looked across at her opponent.

"Th…this is insane," breathed the girl as inside of her Kyu was forced to agree as the bone figure rose, ripping out his spine out once again as he turned to face her.

"I…I really hope it doesn't end like this," muttered Minami as she watched the enemy ready for his next assault.

"**Minami what about boil? It worked before, didn't it?" **asked Kyu as Minami spat out a breath, pushing herself forward as she battered one of the whips aside before flinging a pair of fiery blades at Kimimaro, trying to keep him at a distance.

_He's moving too fast! I can't hit him with it even if I wanted to! _shouted Minami inside her head as she heaved a pair of windmill shuriken towards the still advancing Kimimaro, who slammed them aside as he continued to race forwards.

"**Then we need to stop him somehow. WATCH OUT!" **Kyu cried as two bone whips slammed down, tearing up large chunks of the ground where Minami had been standing a second ago. With a roar, Minami send a blast of fire downrange that slammed directly into the boy's face, detonating with enough force to cause his weapons to go flying as he skidded back a few feet before shaking himself off and returning to the charge.

_Damn, he isn't going to stop until he hits me! _Minami thought desperately as she pulled out her silvery blades, snapping them open as she deflected another wave of bone bullets that Kimimaro heaved down range at her.

As the bones connected with the blades, sparks flew as each one was turned aside from the spinning disks until one managed to slip through, burying itself into Minami's shoulder causing the girl to scream out in pain as a splash of crimson flew from her. With a roar of anger, Minami heaved her blades forward, both flying out as they trailed Kyu's chakra alight with fire as they cut across the open field towards the source of her pain.

The incoming blades caused Kimimaro to skid to a stop before bringing a sudden forest of bones up between him and the oncoming blades. It was only marginally successful as the silver projectiles crashed into the wall, cutting through it on their way towards the boy. With a groan of effort, the bone wielder managed to force himself up out of the path of the whirling death as his wall of bone tumbled like fallen trees to the ground. The two blades passed within inches of his flesh, leaving a burning trail clear through one of the larger bone protrusions on his back that drew a bit of pain through his body. As the blades passed, the boy's eyes grew alighted with excitement.

_She's out of defenses now! Without those weapons, I can tear her to pieces! _cried the boy as he landed before kicking off toward the girl who was struggling to form hand signs with a damaged arm.

_Kyu, get ready! _called Minami as she watched her last weapons fly forwards before whirling past their target.

"**MINAMI, LOOK OUT!" **Screamed Kyu moments before Kimimaro was upon them, his arm thrust forward, covered in a wide spiral of bone forming a makeshift drill. Even as Kyu's words cried out, it was already too late as the bone wielder found his mark. The armored appendage slammed into the girl before exploding out of her back in a shower of crimson.

The impact was enough to splatter both of them with a crimson coating. Kimimaro looked up to see the girls face twisted into a look of horrifying pain, even as small trails of blood seeped out from between her lips.

"Any last words, trash?" asked Kimimaro as he pulled out a simple bone blade to finish the deed, his yellow eyes glinting as they looked up into the redhead's ruby colored ones. With a groan of effort, Minami drew in a quick breath before turning to look at her opponent a small smirk playing across her lips.

"Ha…Hai," she managed before her wounded arm swung around, slamming into the bone spiral and sending cracks through it and she clutched at it tightly.

"KOMU NO JUTSU!" cried the girl as the bone wielder's eyes grew wide, his mouth open in a roar of anger and pain as he tried to escape the cloud of acid now pouring out directly into his face.

With a jerking motion Minami found herself flying backwards, her body feeling oddly light as it slammed into the ground and skipping a few times before coming to a rest so that she could vaguely see the form of Kimimaro thrashing back and forth. Roars and shrieks of pain escaped the boy from the fog of acid that was biting into him while she felt a fresh wave of pain before looking down to see the hole that ran clear through her hip.

_Ah…ha….Nii-san's gonna….ah, kill me…I didn't listen to him about being stabbed,_ Minami managed to smile to herself as Kyu let out a worried whine, pumping his chakra into the wounded area doing what he could to reseal the wound.

"**Minami-baka! Why'd you do that!?" **cried Kyu as he tried to focus his chakra into healing the areas of her body that had been the most damaged by that last attack.

_He…hey, you were the one who said we need to stop him, _Minami muttered as she watched the cloud dissipate as her eyes began to become heavy.

"**Baka," **whined Kyu worriedly as he continued his work.

_Hey at least we….got him,_ Minami replied as she scanned the area, a small smirk on her lips.

Before Kyu could protest further, both of them suddenly froze as a horrifying noise reached their ears. As the cloud of acid finally fell away, they saw a figure so twisted in appearance that if she had the strength for it, Minami was sure she would be vomiting at the very sight of such a thing.

Kimimaro stood shrieking in agony a few feet away, the mist pulling back to show the right side of his body almost completely devoid of flesh all the way to his now mutilated face, from which one remaining eyes blazed with homicidal fury. With a shiver of pure fear, Minami saw that the bone of his left arm had melted back to his very ribcage, which now slammed shut, looking like he had forced his bones to continue to act as a shield to keep the acid from reaching his vital organs.

Half mad with pain, the horrifying figure lurched forward, its remaining arm pointed towards the downed girl as a glob of spit dripped from the corner of his mouth. No longer shielded by skin, the mouth opened in an inhuman cry as he lurched forwards.

"Orochimaru-sama!" cried the mangled form as Minami tried and failed to push herself up, Kyu shouting in panic as the lurching figure closed in on them.

_No… no. Not like this…._ Minami thought, her mind flashing through images of her family and friends as Kimimaro hand swung up ready to fall upon her. In the face of imminent death, Minami shut her eyes tight as she began to think of her family, not wanting her last moments to be full of that retched creature. So in the solitude of her memories surrounded by her family, she waited for the blow to fall.

After a few moments Minami became aware of the fact that she was still alive, blinking her eyes open to see her attacker, with what appeared to be confusion on his mangled face as an oversized needle was sticking out of the center of his chest, letting out a small cold chill that seemed to freeze the breath as it left his mouth.

As Minami watched, Kimimaro's form was covered in ice before the needle like blade was pulled out of the now frozen figure, causing it to fall back before shattering on the ground with a cracking finality. Kimimaro was dead, and as Minami looked up she spotted a masked shinobi moving forward, reaching up to pull off a familiar mask as they clutched the needle-shaped blade in their other hand.

As the mask fell away, Minami found herself smiling despite herself at the sight of a serrated smile, causing Kyu to began yipping excitedly from inside her head.

"**IT'S COLD BOY, MINAMI-CHAN! COLD BOY SAVED US!" **called the excited fox as Haku dropped to a knee, looking from the broken fragments of Kimimaro to Minami.

"Hope you don't mind me stepping in. I owed him one," spoke Haku as he rolled the girl gently over onto her back and set about looking over her wounds. For her part, Minami managed a small smile even through her pain and exhaustion.

"Na…you'll just have to…. make it up to me when we get to Konoha," Minami smiled as Haku flashed one of his own before getting to work bandaging up her battered form.

"Hai, now lie still," instructed the boy as he began his work, his mind privately thanking Zabuza-sama for helping solve this situation.

_When in doubt, kill something….haha. Thanks, Zabuza-sama,_ smiled the boy as she continued patching up the redhead, who despite the pain was smiling slightly as Kyu let out happy yips.

* * *

As Minami was being attended to, the remaining members of the Sound Four completed the hand signs for a jutsu before calling out in unison.

"Kuchiyose: Shijū Hōi no Jin" roared the inhuman voices of the four figures as the field around Naruto suddenly shifted into a hellish looking waste land, the sky turning red even as a rumbling ran throughout the ground.

"Oh, come on!" muttered Naruto as three massive gates with the faces of an oni broke through the ground, dangling massive bells that rang out their arrival. The gates flanked him on three different sides while from above, a sudden snapping cracking alerted the boy to the presence of a massive spider. It's massive fangs dripped with venom as it looked down at him.

"**Naruto, something's wrong with this place!" **called Juubi as Naruto's eyes focused at the hulking form of the three monsters Tayuya had already summoned, now joined by a massive stone golem, its oddly blocky body shuttering as it marched forward, flanked by the other three. Everything focused on Naruto's group with hostile intent.

"NOW YOU'RE GOING TO PAY, YOU BASTARD!" roared Sakon from his perch up on one of his massive gates, leering at Naruto while the summons raced towards the now pinned blonde.

"Heh, yeah right! Let's go!" cried Naruto, bolting towards the advancing summons, his Seedlings charging ahead with him. Kidōmaru, now resting upon the massive back of his summon, shifted his body as it began cracking and breaking until it reformed into a red skinned monstrosity that leered down at the racing blond, his mouth opening as a flurry of golden projectiles flew down as smaller spider summons raced towards the target with single minded purpose.

As the projectiles and summons hurtled down, a sudden wave of blackness raced up to meet them, sending the projectiles and spiders flying. Kidomaru's eyes bulged upon seeing the odd tanuki looking Seedling glaring up at him, its tail thrashing from side to side as it gazed up at him.

"Oh, you want to play, huh? Well catch this!" cried the demonic looking youth as he spat another stream of arrows at the creature, burrowing deeper and deeper into the blackened wave of sand that continued to deflect his attacks as Naruto raced past them to reach the massive rock golem that was swinging it's fist down to crush the blonde

As the fist crashed downward, it collided against a set of massive black fists produced by a Seedling, holding the creature in place long enough for Naruto to leap onto its arm before racing up its length with a single Seed in tow to smash an armored fist into still transforming Jirobo, throwing him from his summon's shoulder to crash back onto the devastated landscape.

"TAKE THIS!" cried Naruto, swinging his arms around the Seed that was morphing into a mimic of Zabuza's massive cleaver. Naruto caught the fake Kubikiribōchō in mid-swing, bringing the blade around to crash into the golem's face and sending bits of rock flying as its head exploded in a shower of stone.

"KILL HIM!" screamed Tayuya before blasting a note from her flute, causing her three demons to leap onto the golem's shoulders, throwing hammering blows towards the boy as the Seedblade burst into a wave of leaves that funneled around the boy, taking the blow before Homeed appeared above the lead summon and slamming an armored leg into the creatures head as it's bladed wings slammed down into the creature's arms, forcing it's twin blows to slam into the other summons.

As Homeed and the summon catapulted down to the earth, Naruto had only a moment's notice before the golem began to become assaulted by wave after wave of bladed projectiles flying form the massive demon gates as Sakon cried out in manic laughter. With a force of will, Naruto focused the leaves forward into a wall of shimmering black and purple that intercepted the blades, sending a shower of sparks with each impact accompanied by a few broken leaves crumbling to dust with each successive attack.

"Damn it, I can't keep this up," muttered the blonde as he looked down to see another member of the Sound Four now fully transformed before hammering a Seedling into one of the demon gates where a salvo of weapons pelted it for a moment until a blast from Kyueed silenced the massive gate's assault.

"**NARTUO, FOCUS!" **cried Juubi as Naruto spun a second too late to see Sakon spring forwards, his body turning bright red and appearing to break before the blonde's eyes. With a surge of will, Naruto forced his wall of protection forward, hurtling itself as a spear only to pass between the now separated forms of Sakon and Ukon, each transformed into red skinned demon's sporting blackened armored limbs. The duo plunged forward in a devastating series of blows that sent Naruto flinging back off of the massive rock summon that was beginning to reform.

"Come on, lets finish this already!" called Ukon impatiently as Sakon smirked at him before the two pursued the falling boy as flecks of blackened armor fell away from his body. As the pair raced to get to the ground before Naruto, they had to suddenly leap back as Kyueed began sending blast after blast their way, gouging huge craters into the stone creature.

"Stupid fox! TAYUYA, TAKE HIM OUT!" cried Ukon as he pushed himself away from another blast.

Soon enough, Kyueed found itself surrounded by Tayuya's three demons, a low humming growl coming from the Seedling as his tails slammed viciously back and forth. With a horrifying retching sound, the three demon's mouths cracked open before spewing long transparent worm-like appendages that waved back and forth as they raced forward under the transformed Tayuya's flute. Her horn crowned head focused forwards as her summons danced to the rhythm of her flute.

The three demons surged forward, only to have Kyueed leap up spinning to slam its tails into the three, bringing the summons down in a carpet of black fur that crushed them into the ground as Kyueed gave a humming snarl. Before Tayuya could do anything else, the fox's mouth cracked open before it began to spit blast after blast into the downed demons until Jirobo smashed a slab of rock into the fox, throwing it away from the downed summons.

At the same time, Naruto had landed and began to pant, looking up in time to dodge a rapid punch from Sakon before countering with a blackened bar to the demon looking boy's head, forcing him forward as Ukon slammed a fist into Naruto's chest. The blonde bit back a cry of pain as he felt a few of his ribs crack under his darkened armor. A stray golden arrow flew from behind Ukon until it pierced Naruto's weakened armor, shattering it before producing a small crimson splash that decorated his left leg while he struggled to stand.

As Ukon swung another blow, he felt a biting sensation in his back before turning to see Homeed, whose armored wings stabbed into the boy's armored appendage and holding it in place as a stream of purple glittering spores leaked out around the Four.

"I am getting sick of you, trash!" yelled Ukon, spinning to slam a leg into the creature only to find Homeed shooting up shortly before the spores flashed, causing a sudden dazzling brightness that forced the two attackers to back away blinded.

"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK! I"LL KILL YOU!" screamed Sakon as he turned to Ukon, looking desperately around for their target. Their eyes were drawn up as an alarmed roar of rage echoed out moments before the dead blackened form of a massive spider tumbled down, its head pierced by a golden arrow. Kidōmaru pulled himself free of his dead summon to glare across the decimated field where Seekaku was standing, who was draping a noticeably decreased amount of black sand but seeming pleased with itself all the same.

Beside the two, Jirobo's golem stomped back into position as the large teen flung another Seedling aside and sent it skipping across the field before remounting his summon, glaring ahead. Tayuya moved up as well as her summons picked themselves out of the crater Kyueed had hammered them into. The fox-shaped Seedling skipped back, along with the other Seedlings, towards where the five Sound ninja realized the blonde had fallen back to.

"Well, looks like the blonde is just about out of tricks," Sakon said as he allowed his gates to slip back into the ground. Ukon let out a small chuckle, looking around at the haggard but triumphant Sound Four as they focused on where Naruto was, pushing himself up on his injured leg before looking around at his Seedings before focusing on the Sound Four.

"Maybe taking all of these guys on at once wasn't such a good idea," the blonde muttered as in his mind, Juubi was trying to keep herself from panicking at the sight of the battered boy and his forces.

"**Naruto, they're too much alone! You need to retreat: all five is just too much!" **Juubi begun until Naruto let out a small pained smirk while he wrenched the arrow free from his leg, his Pollens rushing down to cover the wound as he looked out at his opponent smirking faces.

"There's nowhere to retreat, Juubi….Besides…if I let them go…they'll go after Minami and Naruko…. What kind of plan is that?" the blonde whispered, which made Juubi flinch, her own mind showing her small flashes of Kurama and Kyu as she allowed her head to bow.

"**But that doesn't mean you have to die!"** argued the mother of the Tailed beasts. Naruto smirked before pushing himself up, letting his hands drop to his sides as he focused chakra into his palms.

"Come on Juubi, you know I'm not going to die….I promised you that, remember? And we still have a trick up our sleeve," Naruto replied as Juubi let a small smile cross her lips, despite the situation they found themselves in.

"**Of course not. You haven't changed the world yet!" **called Juubi between teary eyes as Naruto brought his hands together, causing chakra to build up in a pulsing purple light that began to shine as the technique began to take shape.

"You haven't seen all your kids yet either, remember?" replied the boy as he stretched his hands apart, the swirling purple energy lengthening into a needle like rod while most of the Seedlings around him collapsed into their Seed form, flying forward to cover him in armor. Kyueed remained as he moved behind the boy, his nine tails slamming into the ground as he braced against the blonde's back. A humming growl escaped the fox shaped Seedling's mouth as the technique continued to pulse and grow.

Across the field, the Sound Four paused as they saw the distant glow of whatever the boy was producing. Sakon and Ukon stepped forward, their fanged mouths turned up into mirroring sneers.

"So the little brat still has a card to play? Pathetic," the twins chuckled before throwing a quick series of hand signs together, recalling the massive demon gates from the ground below. The gates stood between the Sound-Nin and the blonde as the massive stone golem moved around the walls, trudging towards Naruto.

"I don't like this. This kid's techniques are a lot more dangerous than any ordinary piece of trash's," called Tayuya as she sent her demons to accompany Jirobo's golem around the wall, her eyes looking around as the largest member of their group gave a small shrug before looking down at his arms that were bruised and bleeding from his blows against the Seedling.

"Tayuya is right: something is wrong with those things. Every time I tried to absorb their chakra, this happened," Jirobo spoke, raising his disfigured arms for those present to see.

"Whatever, those bastards killed my summon! Doesn't matter what tricks they have left, they're still gonna die!" called Kidōmaru as he raced around the cover of the demon gates to get a clear shoot at Naruto, shooting another round of arrows from his mouth.

"NO, YOU IDIOT!" cried Tayuya, only to be backhanded by Sakon, who sneered down at her, his eyes blazing with barely restrained anger.

"Shut up, whore! I've had enough of your uselessness! You couldn't even handle that bloody fox without us!" the demon boy snarled as the girl glared back at him. At the same time, Kidōmaru and the massive golem had gotten within range of the blonde. The spider-armed boy fired another set of arrows, which were deflected as Homeed raced forwards with a snap of its bladed wings. Behind the armored Seedling, Naruto completed the first stage of his technique.

Between his hands was what appeared to be a shimmering needle that pulsed faintly, casting a purple glow around Naruto's form. As he raised the bolt up, it slowly change its shape, swelling out and flattening until what Naruto held much like an ornate spearhead that continued to send small pulses of light out as he lowered it to the blackened rod forming out of his free hand. With a small quiet snap, the two came together as the shaft continued to stretch out until finally slipping free so that the now completed spear gently fell to Naruto's side, held limply in one hand as he focused at the charring form of the rock golem.

"Hmph," Naruto responded as the massive creature slapped Homeed in the air, an angry metallic hum coming out as it righted itself to charge back down.

"**NOW, NARUTO!" **cried Juubi as the boy slammed his foot forwards, planting himself firmly as the glowing spear held in his hand arched back. Its glowing tip pointed towards the smiling demon gates.

"Juubi no Haruna" whispered Naruto as he leaned forward, his body pulling his arm along as the spear was released and flew straight ahead. As the shaft left the boy's hand, the end of the rod exploded into a blast of chakra as the rod burned itself away to propel the spearhead forwards like a rocket straight towards the Sound-Nin while Naruto was thrown back into Kyueed from the force of the blast.

As the rocketing spear met the rock golem, the chakra in the creature seemed to scream as it blasted free from the summon, leaving the rock to crumble in the wake of the blast while the spear tore its way across the ground toward the gate. Kidōmaru had only begun to recognize the danger as the spear drew in closer than he could move out of the way.

A second later the spear shot though him, his seal screaming in pain as the chakra in his body forced itself out, tearing great chunks of his armored flesh away while his mind went mad with the pain for what felt like an eternity before his heart vaporized in the ensuing shock wave of chakra. The gates behind him fared no better as the bullet shot through them like paper before shattering into jagged shards that were pulled along in the wake of the spear as it shot cleanly through the other side. The spear continued dragging the remains with it as they slammed one after another into the frozen forms of Jirobo and Sakon. As the spear raced past them, it sailed through the head of Ukon before he even recognized the danger. His mind simply went blank at the fact that the spear passed through him before it continued to streak off into the forest for a few miles until the shaft ebbed away, the spear point dropping to the ground. As the glowing point sank into the earth, the trees and all of the plant life around suddenly burst into bloom, with flowers growing and opening as the trees stretched their leaves out towards the sun. From the point of impact, a small sprout poked out glowing with a single purple and black leaf waving gently in the now warm breeze surrounding this sudden blast of life.

Back in the clearing, Naruto was picking himself up from the remains of the attack, looking out over the clearing at the deviation and bodies now carpeting the clearing.

"Well….it ….it works," Naruto managed to say, nursing his injured chest, which certainly had a few additional broken ribs from the kick back of his newest attack.

"**Naruto?" **started the Juubi before Naruto shook his head, looking back towards where he had felt Naruko's chakra spike once again.

"I'll be fine, Juubi. Come on, the others are still fighting," replied Naruto as he pushed himself forward. Kyueed and Seekaku followed alongside him as Homeed took to the sky's racing ahead.

* * *

As Naruto shot off into the forest, the Konoha rescue group was racing ahead just as a sudden blast of chakra drew their eyes around to a spot off to the right. At once, the forces rushed towards that location, expecting to find a battle but only finding a clearing abnormally teeming with life.

"They aren't here!" Minato responded, turning to head off again until Hinata called out. The group turned towards her as she kneeled down, examining the ground.

"What is it, Hinata?" Kushina asked as she moved forward, trying to see over the girl's shoulder. As she neared the Hyuuga girl, she saw a small, newly budding sprout that was slowly growing, its white bark already shining prominently as Hinata turned her head towards the forest.

"There!" she called, pointing towards a small clump of trees that sported a hole about the size of a fist slicing clear through the tree. For a moment, Kushina didn't understand until Minato whispered out a single name.

"Naruto."

No sooner had the words fallen from his lips than did the rest of the group suddenly realized that this had to have come from the blonde boy. Thankfully, the damaged trees would lead back to him if they followed the trail.

"Hinata and all other Hyuuga Clan members, up front! Follow the trail of damaged trees! We're getting closer!" called Minato as a pair of Anbu moved up on either side of Hinata before the three started to race off. The rest of the group fell in behind them as they shot forward into the forest.

After what seemed like an eternity, the three dojutsu users leading the group burst onto a scarred battlefield where the Sound Four still lay haphazardly around in the wreckage of their final battle. As more of the group arrived, a few Anbu froze as they looked around at the devastation, muttering between each other as they spied at the mangled forms of the Sound-Nin.

"Kami, isn't that one of the guys who was working in the shield?" muttered one of them, idly looking at the form of Kidōmaru where he lay torn to shreds on top of a pile of rubble.

"There's another one over here….no, two." called another Anbu, coming across the bodies of Ukon and Sakon. The twin's dead faces still wore the ghost of their last glaring smiles.

"What the hell happened here?" muttered another Anbu. A small movement caused the group to spin as Minato and the rest arrived in time to see the Anbu springing toward a section of the rubble that was moving.

They found the cause of the movement belonged to a girl, her red hair falling out behind her as she glared at them. She cringed when she tried to get up, causing everyone present to notice her legs trapped beneath a massive chunk of rock.

"Fuuuck," cursed Tayuya as she looked up at the surrounding Anbu. Hinata stepped forward, her eyes blazing as she dropped to the girls side.

"Where is Naruto!?" Hinata demanded, recognizing the leftover chakra from the fight well enough to know the girl had fighting the blonde recently. As the redhead remained silent, Hinata grabbing onto the girls shirt and pulled her up from the stray rubble before bringing her eyes close to the redheads.

"WHERE IS HE!?" yelled Hinata. Tayuya managed a weak smile, spitting a small bit of blood onto the girls face before chuckling slightly.

"Fuck you bitch…why should I…..say anything?" She managed as she glared into the Hyuuga's eyes, causing Hinata's head to drop slightly as a faint pulse of chakra burst from her, causing Tayuya to shiver as she noticed two horns slowly growing out of the girls hairline.

"Tell me where Naruto-kun is and I'll heal you. If you don't," whispered Hinata in a very soft voice, raising her now blackened eyes up to stare into Tayuya's as she continued to speak, "then I'll finish what he started."

Tayuya may have been a warrior sometimes even a raging monster when the time called for it, but one thing she wasn't ready for was more pain. With a groan, she glared back at Hinata for a moment before speaking.

"He went north towards the valley, bitch," Tayuya replied as Hinata released her, letting the girl fall back into the rubble, cursing as she landed upon the hard stones. The horned girl rose, looking around at the gathered Anbu, who turned towards the forest before heading out with Minato and the rest in tow.

_And they leave me. Of course they would. Fucking lying bitch, _thought the girl until a shadow fell over her. Looking up, she spied the girl who had just left standing above her, along with a tall blonde woman.

"Okay gaki, let's get this over with. These clones won't last forever," Tsunade grumbled as she bent down, heaving the massive stone off of Tayuya's legs as Hinata's clone bent to examine the girl's wounds. As the pair set to work, Tayuya just stared blankly at the pair wondering if she had somehow missed something.

* * *

Meanwhile in the valley, Naruko was panting heavily across from a bloodied Sasuke who was still shaking with insane giggles every now and then, his mind still in shambles. Not long into their fight, the boy had become engulfed by his seal. His form twisted and morphed into the monstrous form, with two massive claw-like wings spread out behind him as he smiled across at her.

_I….I'm running on empty here, Kurama, _thought Naruko as she saw the Uchiha face her before spitting a blast of fire that she batted aside with her remaining chakra tail, even as the strain of keeping the cloak up caused her to fall to one knee.

"**I know, but your body can't take anymore! Just standing is taking everything you have!" **roared Kurama as Naruko continued to gasp and pant, causing the Uchiha to let out another round of cackling laughter.

"What's wrong Naruko? Are you tired? Are you scared? Tell me! TELL ME!" cried Sasuke before he descended once again in to a fit of giggles.

"Come on, Sasuke, you need to snap out of it! What about your mother and your Clan!?" cried Naruko as she pushed herself up to her feet, looking across at the confused face of Sasuke who paused for a moment at her words until his face broke into another wide grin.

"I almost forgot: I need to kill them too, just like Itachi-oniisan!" the boy giggled as his gaze leered back at Naruko. The girl's face twisted into a horrified look at the boy's words. Deep inside the boy's head, something was pushing, fighting to get free, even as it was slowly being drowned in darkness.

_N…no. Kaa-san…..Naruko, _the strained voice cried out before it was soon drowned out in mad giggles. The boy charged forward, his hand lancing out like a spear towards the girl. Naruko managed to roll as the blow came, spinning out of its path only to have one of the massive wings catch her in the back and fling her into the rock face with a cry of pain.

"Oops, I broke her," chuckled Sasuke as he look over where Naruko's body was hanging from the rock, her cloak disappearing in a small flash of chakra as she turned a tear streaked face up towards the Uchiha.

"**Naruko!" **cried Kurama as the blonde lifted her head to look across as Sasuke while his hand suddenly became full of black lightening before he slowly lifted it, looking over at her with that same horrible smile on his face.

"Oh well. Bye bye, Naruko. Don't worry: I'll send your family to see you soon," Giggled the boy as he shot forwards.

As the lightening howled in the boys hand while his feet carried him towards his victim, the voice in his head fought out once again, biting and clawing its way out of the darkness until it fell into an open space in a darker part of the boy's mind.

-Mindscape-

Sasuke Uchiha fell out of the bindings of the curse seal onto the hard earth of his own backyard, his mind and body aching with pain as a set of voices slowly became clearer to him. Groaning, the boy pushed himself to his knees, looking over for the source. He froze as he saw a younger version of himself gazing happily at Itachi while Mikoto sat a few feet away, smiling at the pair.

"Ho…how?" Sasuke asked before his younger self spoke.

"Hey Onii-chan, can you show me a jutsu, please!?" the younger Sasuke asked, causing Mikoto to smile over at the stoic Itachi, who gave his otouto a small smile bending down to lightly poke at his head.

"Maybe next time, little brother. I have a mission today," Itachi replied. The younger version of himself rubbed his forehead before giving Itachi an annoyed look.

"You have to look after Kaa-san for me while I'm gone, okay? Then I'll teach you something when I get back," continued Itachi as Sasuke smiled, looking around at his Kaa-san before turning back to Itachi.

"Hai, you can count on me! I'll look after her!" the young boy called as Itachi gave him a small pat on the head before the scene vanished, replaced by a classroom where the battered boy saw another copy of himself, older than the one before, seated by the window gazing out as a blond girl plopped down in the seat beside him.

"Hey teme, you done playing emo and want to get some training done?" Naruko's voice asked, causing his younger self to smirk slightly before turning a set of narrowed eyes on her.

"Looking to get beat again?" Chuckled the boy as Naruko flushed red before glaring at him.

"Hey, you just got lucky! Come on then, show me your stuff!" called Naruko as the scene faded again. His mother stood among the remaining Uchiha and Naruko as they looked over at him. A cackling laugh drew his eyes around to a grotesque looking boy that he recognized as himself.

"Ehehehe! Well there you are, Sasuke! I was wondering where you ran off to," spoke the figure in a monstrously distorted version of his own voice.

"Wha…who?" managed Sasuke as he pushed himself up, looking across at his grinning double who pointed to itself with that same horrible grin growing larger.

"Me? I'm you, Sasuke! I'm the you who is going to kill Onii-san and everyone else that's against you. After all, no one can be trusted!" Giggled the figure as it turned towards the shadows, its form undulating into the second level of his curse seal. As the creature stomped toward the figures, Sasuke pushed himself forward, putting himself between the monster and it's targets. His eyes bore into the maddening Sharingan of his twister doppelganger.

"What's wrong, Sasuke? You want to kill Onii-san, don't you? You have to get strong just like he did! Besides, they'll just betray you in the end," crackled the double as his fist became incased in black lightening. As he spoke, Sasuke saw the darkness he had fought slowly moving from all sides, inching closer and closer as his own doubts appeared in the form of Itachi now standing behind the monstrous form before him.

"Come on, COME ON! WE JUST HAVE TO KILL EVERYONE!" cried his double as Sasuke looked back to see the smiling face of Mikoto along with his own younger self. As he turned, the double sprang forward, his hand outstretched towards the boy's back, giggling madly as he did.

Just as the transformed boy reached Sasuke, the boy spun around, his eyes blazing with the Sharingan as he grabbed the lightning-encased fist before slamming it into the monster's chest, causing its eyes to bulge as it looked into the spinning eyes of Sasuke, his mouth open in apparent shock.

"Wh…why? All we have to do is kill everyone…then we can kill Itachi-oniisan," the monstrous form of the other boy gurgled as his body slowly began to flicker and fade.

"No," whispered Sasuke, his eyes blazing as he watched his double die.

"Not like this… I'll kill Itachi, but I'll do it as an Uchiha: not as a monster!" he cried as the shadow vanished.

In the real world, Naruko watched as the charging Sasuke seemed to stumble, the seal's effect fading from one of his eyes as his other hand shot forward, twisting his lightening incased fist around to smash into one of the monstrous wings on his back, bringing forth a horrible cry of pain that seemed to mingle both the insane and normal Sasuke's voices as the monstrous appendage thumped to the valley floor, followed by the writhing form of Sasuke.

It was moments later that Naruto arrived, spotting the twin forms of Naruko and Sasuke on the ground. With a horrible feeling of dread, Naruto shot down the embankment, rushing to the pair as his eyes took in the devastation of the entire area.

As he skidded to a halt beside the pair, Naruko turned her eyes up to Naruto, a small smile crossing her weary face.

"Hey, Niisan.. What took you?" she smirked as she struggled to rise, but failing as she sunk back down to her knees beside the downed form of Sasuke who was lying peacefully beside her.

"Is he…?" stared Naruto before Naruko shook her head.

"No, just unconscious. Looks like he managed to beat the curse seal in the end….after he gave me one hell of a fight, of course," Added the girl, giving the downed Uchiha a small smirk as Naruto looked over to Homeed, who took off to give the area small once over.

"Is Minami alright?" Naruko asked her brother, causing him to shrug.

"I don't know for sure, but I think she ok. I could still sense her chakra and whoever she was fighting is gone now," the boy assured her, causing the girl to sigh heavily.

"**Good to know Kyu didn't get himself into any more trouble," **Spoke Kurama in a haughty tone as Juubi, along with the two blondes, let out small snorts of laughter.

"**Oh, was my little Kurama-kun worried about his baby Oniisan?" **called Juubi in a happy voice as Kurama let out an annoyed huff at the woman's tone.

"Well I guess we-" Naruto begun as Homeed suddenly shot back down, humming in apparent agitation as Naruto spun his eyes up to see the edge of the valley now teaming with activity.

**(OPTION 1.)**

The overcast sky threw the now barren valley into a shadowed den, as small swatches of light pushed their way through the clouds and casting momentary shadows across the figures that were emerging. The new arrivals gathered around the small group in the center, where three figures stood panting and battered from their recent battle while two others were unable to even stand. With a small growling hum, Kyueed turned his head around to look back at Naruto as the boy's eyes scanned over the injured forms of Naruko and Sasuke, both beaten within an inch of their lives and in no shape to do more than bleed at this point.

"Well, this is just great," Naruto chuckled. With a small pulse, Kyueed and Seekaku paused before the fox wrapped Sasuke up in its tails while Seekaku's sand encased the surprised Naruko, who looked across at Naruto.

"Naruto, what the hell?" she managed to reply before a small metallic humming greeted them as Homeed landed, looking between the pair before standing in the middle of them. As Naruko's blue eyes turned to face Naruto's mismatched ones, she saw him wearing a small smirk as a trickle of blood ran down his face.

"Sorry Naruko. Looks like your Niisan's being selfish again…You'll have to forgive me this one time," Spoke Naruto as Naruko's eyes went wide before Naruto turned his tattered coat into a sea of Pollens that hardened around him, slowly climbing their way up his body and encasing it in blackened armor.

"You three: get them back to Konoha, you got it!?" called Naruto as the blackened armor finished moving up his face and his remaining three Seeds moved to coat his arms, adding the same blackened armor he had worn in the Chunnin Exams to his already blackened form. Naruko noticed that as they did, the boy winced while his battered flesh disappeared under the sea of black.

"No, Naruto!" called Naruko as she tried to struggle free from the sand, but it was useless as the three Seedlings shot off towards the riverbed. She was still fighting as Kyueed cracked open his mouth and began firing off a series of blasts at the walls, causing stones to fall cutting off pursuit. As tears fought their way clear of her eyes, her last sight was of Naruto standing there in the valley as the enemy shinobi, no longer able to return to Orochimaru, charged him from all angles as they hoped to carve a piece out of the one who damned them.

"**So we go down swinging, is that it? Not much of plan," **Chuckled Juubi as she watched the oncoming hoard of shinobi.

_Like that's going to happen! We just hold out until reinforcements arrive. At least they are out of danger, _finished Naruto as he spun to face the charging forces, his armored limbs raised as the first salvo of weapons shot towards him.

"**You're right, but you better not die on me seedling," **spoke Juubi, thinking of Kurama traveling away from this battle and finding that Naruto was right…it was just fine this way.

The weapons reached them a moment later, slamming into the boy one after another. A few managed to make their way through the armor, but not stopping him as he charged ahead, slamming a blackened fist into the first enemy's face that sent him flying back in a spray of blood. He quickly spun a length of chain before shooting it out to grab ahold of a second attacker before yanking him forward into an uppercut that threw the figure away while more enemies charged towards the boy.

As the group closed, Naruto let out a howl of anger before throwing his fists up, allowing the Seeds to expand around them so that two massive fists came crashing down. The action sent out a wave of chakra and rock, throwing the next wave of attackers back. Another salvo of weapons and jutsu pelted him shortly afterward, drawing a growl of pain as he forced himself forward, his fists returning to their regular size as he slammed another attacker back, although part of his mask covering his purple eye cracked and fell away.

As his mask cracked, Naruto saw another score of shinobi pushing forward down the embankments like madmen, rushing him headless of those than already lay beaten around him. Naruto registered the pain in his arms and legs, his own breathing coming in gasps before he threw himself left and spinning to bury a fist into another attacker, slamming them into the ground and sending bits of rock up from the impact. He saw as an incoming wave of fire fell like rain towards him.

"DAMN IT!" screamed the boy as he threw all of the Pollens covering his body into a sea of leaves that intercepted the flames, detonating the blast above him as his remaining Seeds had to flatten around him to keep up his defense. He swung back into the fight, but his arsenal had been cut down once again.

Behind the blast of fire, the Sound ninja came again in waves practically hurtling themselves forwards over each other to get at him. For a moment, Naruto felt his heart stop, but then a small flash of Naruko's smiling face crossed his mind, soon followed by Minami, Mito…Kaa-san…Minato…and Hinata..

"DAMN IT, I'M NOT GONNA DIE! YOU HEAR ME!?" roared the boy as he shot forwards while more jutsu and weapons crashed against his body.

* * *

As the assault continued, within the valley in the forest the Konoha forces had just reached Minami's battleground. The group rushed to Minami and Haku as the redhead explained what had happened, pointing towards the forest where she knew Naruko had headed and where she had spied Homeed flying towards a short time ago.

As Tsunade started looking over Minami's injuries, Kushina was satisfied that her musume was not in any immediate danger. A small commotion drew the group's attention as someone staggered into the clear.

He was covered in cuts, bruises, and a number of burns. His silver hair matted down against his head with a patch of dried blood as he scanned the area with his one visible eye.

"Kakashi!" cried Minato, rushing over to his student as the Joni stumbled a few steps before collapsing to the ground, looking across at the gathered Konoha forces.

"Sensei…are they safe.." the man managed to respond as he looked around blurrily at Minato. Shizune rushed over to check the man's injuries.

"Rest Kakashi, they will be. What happened?" asked Minato as Shizune started her work, as a few of the Anbu spread out to pick up Naruko's trail.

"Kabuto attacked...with a team…took Sasuke….we pursued…Kabuto separated me," started Kakashi as Minato nodded, listening to the man.

"What happened to you?" asked Minato as Shizune continued to patch several bleeding gashes on the shinobi as he gave a weak smile under his mask.

"I got Kabuto…" replied Kakashi as he fell unconscious, his hand dropping a pair of crack glasses onto the ground at Shizune's feet as she continued to work.

"He'll be okay if we get him back soon. Minato, go!" called Shizune as Sakura fell in beside her, moving to assist the older woman while Minato prepared the rest of the group to move out.

As they were about to move, another commotion caused them to turn towards the forest in time to see Kyueed and Seekaku burst out before blinking at the gathered forces. Naruko caught sight of the assembled group and called out to them with panic heavily laced in her tone.

"TOU-SAN! KAA-SAN! NARUTO! HURRY!" cried the girl as a horrible shiver ran down the assembled group.

* * *

As the Konoha forces moved, in the valley Naruto was struggling to stand. His body was wracked with injuries as his breath continued to come in short gasps. He looked around the valley as a few shinobi continued to circle him.

"Ju…Juubi," the boy uttered as the mask he wore crumbled away, revealing his haggard and bleeding face as another enemy shinobi launched a massive boulder towards him. The boy was forced to slam an already broken arm forwards into the stone, his coated armor doing little to hold back the growing pain that bit into his body as the rock shattered around him.

"**Focus Naruto! Help is on the way, just hold on!" **called the women as she could sense the approaching Konoha forces.

"Yeah…just gotta… hold on," muttered the boy as he struggled to stand while another slew of jutsu shot forward. As fire and water slammed into his crumbling armor, a sudden spearing pain gripped him. He looked down blankly to see a spike of stone sticking out of his chest, having finally managed to punch its way through his armor.

"**NARUTO!" **screamed Juubi as the boy stumbled back, his eyes wide as he looked at the shard of earth embedded into his chest.

O_dd… It doesn't hurt like that time when Zabuza….Huh, that's bad. I'm comparing stabbings…Wait, what am I doing? _the boy thought as Juubi continued to shout at him, his eyes drifting towards a pair of shinobi charging towards him.

…_.Fighting?...Why?.._ he continued as he vaguely noted his still armored arms coming up to either side of him, tightening into fists as they did. Flashes of his family once more assaulted his memory: his childish voice calling out proudly that he would protect all of them. As those images flashed by, the pain flooded back, along with a sudden burning anger as what little chakra he had left forced the spike out of his chest before filling in the wound with Pollen before he gave a defiant smirk at the approaching Sound-Nin.

…_.Oh yeah… _smirked the boy as he pushed forward, his face set as he slammed his blackened fist into the pair and slamming them to the ground as his legs finally giving out and he toppled to his knees, looking at the remaining forces that were rushing forwards.

…_Come on, body….Why won't you move….?_ The blonde thought as his vision began to fade, his last memory being a sudden cry that rang out through the valley.

"NARUTO!" cried a chorus of voices as the boy dropped to the ground. The remaining Sound forces turned, horrified to see a group of Konoha shinobi rushing towards them, scattering them to the winds in a sea of fire, chains and golden flashes that decimated the few fighters still standing.

As the last of the Sound's numbers were dealt with, Kushina fell down beside Naruto's battered form as his armor slowly faded, the Seeds falling beside him without enough chakra to even return to their seals upon the boy.

"TSUNADE!" cried Kushina as she saw Naruto's heavy bleeding from the massive gashes along his body. At the woman's cry, Tsunade was there kneeling down, pushing her chakra forwards only for it to push back, causing her eyes to grow wide with terror.

"Oh Kami, no," whispered the woman, trying again only to find her chakra being pushed back from the boy's body again.

"DAMN IT, JUUBI!" cried the woman as Kushina's eyes went horribly wide in fear.

"**I….I'm sorry …I'm sorry…" **came the woman's sobbing tone. As the facts slammed into place, Kushina began to sob out. Hinata landed close by, with Kyueed falling in behind her whimpering as they approached the blonde.

"What's wrong? Why aren't you healing him!?" called Hinata, pushing forward only to find her chakra being pushed back as well. Kushina continued to sob as Minato rushed over, his body freezing at the sight of his broken sochi on the valley floor.

"Hi….his chakra….we…we can't," whimpered Tsunade, falling back from the boy as she turned her sobbing eyes at Minato as he felt his legs giving out. As he fell beside his wife, he cradled her in his arms as she struggled to keep the wound on Naruto's chest closed, although everyone there knew it was pointless at this point.

Kyueed suddenly let out a small humming whine as it began to glow, its nine tails pushing forwards before gently resting above Kushina's hands, causing her to start and look around as the fox-shaped Seedling began to glow.

"**Kyu…Kyueed?**" questioned Juubi through her sobs as those present watched it continue to glow before a sudden flash of light illuminated the valley in a blinding countenance.

As the light faded, the group looked down to see Naruto's form still battered and broken, but the hole in his chest was sealed shut, a mix of purple and black markings mixed with the flesh that seemed to have stitched itself back together. For a heartbeat, no one moved as Tsunade bent down, checking over the boy before her sobbing grew slightly louder as she turned to Kushina, her tears now falling over a small smile.

"He…he's stable," she managed to respond, causing Kushina and Minato to hold their sochi's body as he lay unconscious. Jiraiya instructed the Anbu to get ready to move. Through the remaining Pollens, Juubi's sobs of relief continued to mix with those of everyone else.

"But how?...Kyueed?" Kushina asked, looking around and noticing that the fox was nowhere to be seen. Minato began to turn as well until he felt a small movement. The Yellow Flash turned to see his white cloak shifting oddly near Naruto's head. Several others looked around after noticed the movement as well. Minato reached over, pulling his cloak up to reveal the last thing that any of them had expected to see.

Nesting happily against Naruto's golden hair was a miniature Kyueed, no bigger than Akamaru, letting out a tired little humming purr before it let out a little annoyed yip as it looked at Minato before squirming closer to Naruto's hair. Those present watched dumbstruck at what to think of the creature's appearance.

**Ok and done. Well I hope you enjoyed the chapter, even if it was a little heavy on the fighting. The timeskip is coming soon and I hope that I can get to it before the end of the year. In the meantime, thanks again for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows. **

**Yes, I saw the end of Naruto and for better or worse, I'm glad I was along for the ride.**

**P.S. Yes, Mito did blackmail me about the ending. Apparently she didn't want a cliffhanger either lol.**


	28. Authors Notedon't panic 2

AU don't worry not a cancelation or anything of the kind .

Ok well this story had become really popular and I find that really amazing. A lot of this story has been written thanks to people's suggestions as well as just trying to be a unique piece, and it is thanks to everyone that it has become such a large one so thank you all.

Now onto the point of this one, well I have an idea for a story, specifically a new look on an abandonment fic for naruto. I have the general idea of it in my head, but taking a step back I recognized a large problem. Namely I don't want the new work to be a remake of Leafs New Tree. So the AU here, this is a call out to anyone that is interested in working with me to help and write a new story that I want to take a different angle with and explore new kinds of characters. If anyone is interested in this I would be more appreciative. I can promise that we would be working together, and I wouldn't simply be telling them how it was to go, what I want is for someone to be ready to support their own view and willing to tell me they want a different direction, that way I avoid simply remaking the same characters and story. I really want a partnership that can create a fun and unique story. So if anyone is interested please send me a PM or Review.

I'll be answering them as they come so if there are multiple responses I'll ask some questions to get some idea as to who to pick. Once again thank you for all the support and I hope one of you is interested in trying their hand at working on a fic that they can be happy with.

Oh and the name of this fic is "Den of Lies"

Thanks and hope to hear from you soon Songbird out.


	29. Chapter 26

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Well here we are again as always thank you for all of the support in the reviews, favorites and follows.

Anyway so big thank you to MightyNo8409 who has agreed to help me out. At the moment he is going back and fixing my earlier chapters and I hope that it helps everyone enjoy the story more, if you can drop him a pm helping me to thank him if you enjoy the change.

Ok everyone three quick things, this is the last chapter before the time skip, and sorry it took so long, really I kind of got distracted by trying to update my other two stories as well as starting two brand new ones, one of which is still in the land of beta readers. So ya sorry it took so long, and hope everyone had a nice holiday season.

Second point… Ahem ok this is a public apology to one reviewer on this sight. OnGuard and I have had our differences over some of my works, and looking back I am ashamed to say that I have not acted like the writer I should have. His reviews and comments were never needless bashing, or trolling but constructive and valid criticisms that I overreacted to. Instead of taking his advice to help my story, I acted like a child and argued with him, so to him I say I am sorry, and I hope he has a nice holiday season with his family. I will strive to be a more gracious writer who can accept the attempts of reader to help make my stories stronger.

Third point….look I'm not a great writer…heck I make mistakes all the time, but at the end of the day I'm just trying to have fun, and give you all an enjoyable story and well recently I've been getting a lot of negative PM's and Reviews on my work and it's kind of making me tired of writing. Now I'm really sorry this chapter took so long, I just kept coming back to it and then backing off again. That isn't fair to you the reader, but it's the truth I just couldn't get the spark to write this for the longest time. So I went and wrote a few new stories, and then came back. I hope this chapter was worth the wait and that you understand why it took so long. So my bad sorry about that. Oh and just a small point but if you like my writing at all please take a moment to check out my other work, I'd like to think I've gotten a little better since I started this story so long ago.

Ok on to the chapter enjoy.

**Chapter 26**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-A time for change-**

_Ow….why does everything hurt... _groaned a familiar youth's brain as started to sluggishly turn over for what felt like the first time in weeks.

"**Well let's see, I could list each minor injury in order as well as the severity of each, or I could just sum it up by saying you playing the hero ALMOST GOT YOU KILLED!" ** Roared a familiar tone heavy with a mix of happiness and annoyance in that special tone only a mother can manage. As the words assaulted the boy's sluggish mind his eyes blinked open looking up into a pale heart shaped face bordered by gently cascading locks of purple hair from which a pair of moist black eyes looked down at him.

With a small groan Naruto managed to bring a smile to his lips trying to look like a child caught in the act of something. His smile didn't seem to accomplish much as Juubi's face kept its annoyed temperance as she gave a small dangerous smile.

"**Oh no you don't buster. You don't get to scare me and everyone else half to death and then squirm your way out of it with a guilty look!" **Lectured the purple haired woman as Naruto managed to sit up his eyes looking around the familiar expanse of grass and blue skies of his mindscape. After a second as his mind lurched into gear small flashes of a forest battle ground and valley coming to him as though through a fog.

…_wait…I was with team seven….then…sound….Minami…Naruko…me.. _The Boys mind flashed as an image of a spear of rock punching through him flashed though his mind. With a lurch he tried to stand but found his legs not responding his mind swimming again as he felt slightly sick. With a wave of nausea Naruto tipped forwards as Juubi moved over catching the boy in her arms.

"**Easy Naruto…easy." **Whispered Juubi as she held Naruto gently her voice a soothing breeze across the shaken mind of the boy. As her words drifted over the boy the blurry surroundings slowly solidified into the familiar blue expanse of sky and soft green grass. Gingerly Naruto turned his eyes up towards Juubi the confusion and worry evident across his face, as Juubi gently moved him back down lightly running her hand through the boys blond hair in a soothing motion.

"**It's ok Naruto…you're ok…everyone's safe."** Whispered Juubi as Naruto's mind quieted slightly. After a few calming breaths Naruto looked up at Juubi.

"Are they?" asked Naruto as Juubi nodded waving a hand as the area before them shimmered into being as a series of blurred images showing small flashes of Naruto being carried back towards Konoha Minato and Kushina on either side of him as Minami, Naruko, and Hinata behind them all of their eyes focused on Naruto's unconscious form as he lay on a small stretcher between them. Idly Naruto noticed the images shivering before it seemed to dip showing figures of Anbu along with what appeared to be Jiraiya and Tsunade at the head of them along with a bound figure he couldn't make out. As the images shifted again Naruto turned to Juubi who offered a small smile.

"**Homeed decided to keep watch over your group the whole way back. You're back in Konoha now. And you better not ever pull a stunt like that again.**" Juubi started as the images vanished, Naruto turning back to her his voice cutting into her own the concern pushing his soft words past her own forceful ones.

"An…and me?" asked Naruto a little afraid to ask after seeing his own bloody body stretched out like a corpse before him. As his eyes turned to Juubi the woman gave a small sigh before looking around the mindscape for a few moments as if looking for an answer. After a few moments Naruto leaned up to get a better look at Juubi seeing face looking purposely anywhere but at the boy.

"Juubi?" asked Naruto as Juubi gave a nervous little chuckle tugging lightly at her hair. As she continued to try and avoid the boys eyes Naruto leaned over causing Juubi to turn almost completely around to look away from Naruto before a heavy breath drew the pairs attention to a massive sand colored Tanuki looking at the two with a tired expression.

"**Oh just tell him already Kaasan, it's not like any of us really have a precedence for this kind of thing." **Called Shukaku as Juubi let out sigh nodding over to her Sochi.

"**You're right Sochi-kun."** Sighed Juubi as she turned to Naruto with a small smile. **"Well it seems you…well you kind of part of my family now…sort of." **Finished Juubi as Naruto with a look of confusion turned between Juubi and Shukaku who gave a slightly exasperated sigh.

"**And you manage to confuse him even more… Honestly I'm starting to see where Chomei gets her scatter brain."** Chuckled Shukaku as Juubi gave her eldest and exasperated look as Naruto continued to look between the two still waiting on an explanation.

"Um…I'm what?" asked Naruto as he managed to stand Juubi rising beside him as she pointed to his chest where the stone lance had pierced him.

"**The wound was too much for you to recover from, and thanks to my chakra healing wasn't really an option, so my grandbaby merged with you slightly." **Explained Juubi as Shukaku spoke up.

"**Because you have Kaasan's chakra that means you're compatible with all of ours as well, seems Kyueed recognized this on some level and managed to patch you up, so congratulations you're now a twin Jinchuuriki." **Added Shukaku as a small humming caused Naruto to turn to see Kyueed no larger than Akamaru coming out from behind the massive tree with Kyu and Kurama in tow yipping happily as it rushed over to jump into Naruto's arms.

"So wait…I'm?" started Naruto as Kurama's heavy voice called out with a twinge of annoyance.

"**Yes, yes, you basically became a new type of Jinchuuriki. Only your part chakra now, not just as part of your system, but part of you physically and that part is what Kyu gave you. just make sure you look after him Got It!" **called the massive fox as beside him Kyu let out a small huff slapping his counterpart lightly with his own tails before smiling over at Kyu and Naruto both foxes now free from their cages while they roomed his mindscape.

"**Hey look after my sochi ok Naruto!" **called Kyu happily as Naruto was still looking slightly shocked even as Kyu moved up to nestle into the boys hair its nine tails waving happily as it curled into a small mound of fur.

"He…he shrunk." Managed Naruto as Juubi let out a chuckle that a small wave of flickering golden insect's mimicked as they coalesced into a female figure on the branches overhead.

"**Yep like me, oh maybe Homeed can to, but then I'd have to change his name for a chibi form…hum chomeed? Chibimeed…hibid?" **the swarm known as Chomei began to list before Kurama lazily waved one tail sending a small wave of wind out that blew the figure apart into a cloud of insects. In responds a branch reached down from the tree to swat him on his massive muzzle causing him to whine slightly as Juubi gave him a reproachful look.

"**I told you to stop doing that to your Neesan Kurama-kun, and yes Naruto he used up a lot of his strength to help fix you, it'll take time but I'm sure he'll manage to get back to normal size. Though I can think of someone who will enjoy this form." **Chuckled Juubi as Naruto let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding as he reached up to scratch idly as the resting Kyueed.

"Hai, I bet she will, thanks pal." Called Naruto as the little fox let out a small humming purr as two of its tails wrapped lightly around his figure.

"So, how long have I been out?" continued Naruto turning around as Kyu spoke up.

"**About half a day, Minami-chan is really worried, but I told her you were ok I think she's coming to see you! Everyone's with her too so expect company." **called Kyu as beside him Kurama nodded slightly still rubbing his noise.

"**Same with Naruko, so you better wake up already." **Called Kurama as Naruto turned to Juubi who bent down to give him a bone crushing hug.

"**Go on, but don't you every try and pull a stunt like that again ok Naruto."** whispered the woman as Naruto returned the embrace.

"Hai, I won't promise." Replied the teen as the mindscape began to shift and fade around him.

* * *

As Naruto slowly blinked awake the first thing he took in was the pale sterilized light of a hospital room. While his eyes fought to keep his eyes from watering two feelings overcame him at the same time, the first being a steady ache all throughout his body, while the second being the rough scratchiness of his own throat as he parted slightly dry lips his voice coming out in a small groan.

"Ow…" murmured Naruto as his mismatched eyes turned slowly around to see a small blue haired form stretched out across his legs her pale face moving slightly with every gentle breath she took, a stray lock of hair swaying back and forth with each of her breaths. Despite his discomfort Naruto couldn't help allowing a small smile to creep across his lips as he saw Hinata giving a small murmur seeming only to have laid her head down to rest before pulling herself closer to the resting boy.

_Well Bunny-chan I'm almost scared to wake you, something tells me you aren't going to be too happy with me._ Smiled Naruto as he tried to raise one stiff hand to gently brush aside a few strands from the girls pale face but failed as his body protested the move with another painful throb. As he looked down he saw both his arms bound in heavy medical wrappings along with stints. As he took notice of this he heard a small humming purr that drew his eyes around to see three small furry tails wave gently from behind Hinata's head. Following the tails Kyueed's pointed ears and bright eyes rose up as he looked over at Naruto with a happy purring.

"Shhh Kyueed, Naruto-kun needs sleep." Mumbled the girl apparently half asleep as she brought up a hand gently dropping it onto the fox's head causing him to yip slightly as he vanished behind the girls head and under her hand. Despite himself Naruto let out a small snort at the sight regretting it a moment later as he felt a stabbing pain in his chest his sounds of amusement turning to groans as he leaned deeper into the bed his movement and sounds of discomfort causing the girl before him to stir.

"Wha…huh." Murmured the girl a few bits of hair clinging to her face as she blinked her wide lavender tinted eyes open, her hair flattened on one side of her face. Idly Hinata took in the sound of Naruto's voice. For a second the girl just blinked blearily around feeling a small movement as the diminished Kyueed slipped out from under her hand and up onto Naruto's head before turning to look over at Hinata as Naruto gave her a small smile.

"Morning bunny-chan." Whispered the teen as the Hyuuga girl blinked up at him a few times before her eyes crinkled small pools of moisture forming above a shaky smile. A moment later Hinata lunged forwards wrapping her arms tightly around Naruto pulling him close to her as a flood of tears began to fall beside a series of hastily muttered words, as she buried herself into the blonds chest.

After a few moments of incomprehensible sobbing Naruto managed to quiet the girl forcing a throbbing arm around her, and struggling to hold her securely in his stiff arm.

"Easy Bunny-chan…I'm ok." whispered Naruto as Hinata looked up at him her eyes teary even as she forced a hard look upon it.

"Baka!" she managed, before burying her face once again into the boys chest, "baka, baka, baka, baka." She continued to sob slightly.

"Hai I'm a baka, sorry Bunny-chan." Managed Naruto before he found his lips captured by a soft embrace the soft sent of lavender washing around him as Hinata pressed against him. If felt like a long time later that they parted Hinata looking at him through tear stained eyes with that same determined look on her face.

"Never again, Naruto-kun, never." She stated Naruto smiling slightly as he recognized that look, the same one she'd worn every time she'd made him promise something. From the time they were children playing in the park, to the days they spent huddled beside a fire in the land of wave…no there was no getting away from that look.

"Ok, never again." Smiled Naruto even as the door to the small room clicked open, causing the two teens to look round past the small white end table across the white tiled floor to the now open door eliminated with light from the rooms windowed wall.

"Sorry for stepping out Hinata-chan but…" called a warm voice that stopped as the owner spotted Naruto looking towards it. Naruto and Hinata had the briefest glimpse of the redheaded woman before a pair of yellow and red blurs shot forwards. Naruto soon found himself surrounded by Kushina's tight embrace while his siblings crowded around him Mito forgoing waiting and leaping up to plant herself firmly on Naruto's legs excitedly cheering as she saw her Aniki awake.

"Sochi." whimpered Kushina holding Naruto tightly as Hinata leaned back allowing the family to surge in around the teen, smiling at the happy moment. As Naruto struggled to return the hug from his Kaasan a small yip from his hair caused Mito to look up from her Aniki her eyes growing wide as she spotted the shrunk Kyueed stretching slightly in Naruto's hair apparently awakened by the new arrivals. As the little fox spotted Mito it's nine tails waved happily before with a small pounce it landed on her head snuggling up in the red folds of hair as Minami and Naruko let out small giggles at their Imoto's stunned expression.

"Well that's a first, Mito's speechless." Smiled Naruko as she turned from the girl to Naruto giving him a wide grin as he gave him a small punch on the arm. As a testament to his pain tolerance Naruto managed to not whine in pain from the gentle blow.

"That's for sending me off Niisan, try it again and you won't get off so light." Smirked the blond as Naruto gave her a nod from over Kushina's shoulder even as she gave a small embarrassed shrug as Hinata gave her a reproachful look.

"Hai, I'll remember that." Replied the blond as he felt Kushina lessen her embrace looking down at Naruto though slightly watery eyes.

"You better mister, if you ever scare me like that again…" started the redhead before Naruto gave a small nod smiling up at his Kaasan.

"Hai, hai I know Juubi and Bunny-chan already told me, never to do it again, or you'll lock me up in my room and never let me out again." Recited Naruto as Kushina gave him a small smirk gently bopping him on the head.

"Well good, and that goes double for me dattebane!" called Kushina as the room was full of giggles from the woman's words. Minami at this leaned in giving Naruto a hug before giving him her own bop on the head just smiling down at him as a few stray tears worked their way from her crimson eyes.

"Much more love like that and I don't think he'll be able to get out of the hospital." Chuckled a voice from the door, as the family turned to see Tsunade, Shizune and Minato standing there; Minato taking a step into the room to stand beside his wife gently rubbing a hand through Naruto's hair smiling down at the boy.

"Hey Minato-baka…looks like I'm Naruto-baka for a while." Smirked Naruto as Minato managed a small smile.

"Hai, I guess." Smiled Minato as a small squeak drew the group's attention to Mito who seemed to have overcome her shock pulling the smaller Kyueed off her head and holding it before her, before squeezing the tiny fox tightly looking up at Naruto with stars in her eyes.

"Aniki Kyueed shrunk; he's awesome can I take him to the academy? Can I? Please!" called the redhead as the fox let out a small yip before the room devolved into a chorus of laughter. As the group continued to laugh outside the room a white haired figure leaned gently against the wall looking over with a small smile as Tsunade turned her head around to look at him.

"Baka, come on." she whispered before she disappeared into the room Jiraiya looking towards the door for a few moments before pushing himself off the wall and towards the door that happy voices echoed out of.

* * *

A few hours later across the village a black haired woman strode slowly through stone halls a tall figure leading her forwards his scared face looking left and right ideally as he lead the woman forwards. As they passed cell after cell the inmates looked out not daring to call at the woman while she walked with Ibiki into the private holdings, the man nodding slightly as he opened the door for her to pass into the secure cells.

A cold tap could be heard as the woman's feet meet the smooth concrete that secured the private holdings. As she strode forwards the dim electric lights cast shadows over the deep navy kimono she wore. As her footsteps fill the corridor the heavy thump of her companions tread followed after her till Ibiki once more stood beside the woman.

"This way Uchiha-san." Instructed Ibiki as he gestured Mikoto over to a large steel door. As they reached it the man turned to her a slightly pained look on his face.

"Uchiha-san…Tsunade-sama has done what she can…so has Inoichi-san…he's in and out, from what we can see the seal is broken, nothing we can do to fix it. Hokage-sama and Jiraiya-sama both did what they could but." Started Ibiki as Mikoto looked up at him with a calm expression.

"I know Ibiki-san, I have spoken to them already, now kindly let me see my Sochi." whispered the woman as Ibiki let out a small sigh, nodding as he opened the seals allowing Mikoto into the darkened room where a boy held under a mass of seals knelt behind a set of bars also sporting their own set of seals. As the door opened the figure looked up his face oddly blank his eyes somehow to wide as he saw her enter.

"Kaasan…Kaasan you're here, where's Tousan and Itachi-niisan, I woke up and I was in this dark place, but you're here to help me." smiled the teen as Mikoto's strength seemed to buckle under the innocence in both his eyes and voice. This was her Sochi as he had been years before, innocent, hopeful convinced in the love of his family. Forcing back a small sob Mikoto nodded kneeling down before her Sochi offering a smile to the boy.

"Hai, sochi…I'm here, how are you?" asked the woman gently reaching through the bars ignoring the sudden drain of chakra she felt as she did so, her palm gently caressing the side of Sasuke's face.

"I'm scared Kaasan…I don't know..." started the boy, before his eyes seem to become distant the light in them darkening slightly as something seemed to be washing over him.

"Sochi?" asked Mikoto worry in her tone as Sasuke's eyes turned back to her, the wide innocent smile shrinking even as small flecks of moisture formed them.

"Ka…Kassan, help, please, I don't want to be a monster like Itachi….I attacked them…my team…please. I…I don't want to hurt you." Whispered the teen pulling his face back from her hand shaking as he looked around his cell. As Mikoto watched she saw the boy transform before her into the boy she knew, a harder one, haunted, but strong, fighting to keep from allowing anyone to steer him.

"Sochi, its ok you aren't a monster." Whispered Mikoto as Sasuke turned to her his face slightly twisted as he shook his head as if trying to clear it.

"No Kaasan I am…I can feel it, it wants out, for you…the children, Naruko…everyone. Naruko, Kaasan did I?" started the teen as Mikoto shook her head.

"No Sasuke you didn't, she's safe, you stopped it. You're stronger than it." Continued Mikoto a few tears openly cascading down her face as Sasuke gave a small smile.

"Go…good. Kaasan…I'm so sorry." Whispered the teen before his head dropped. As it did Mikoto leaned forwards against the bars her voice coming out slightly broken from between her freshly falling tears.

"Sasuke it wasn't you it was that bastard Orochimaru. You're my Sochi, and I love you." Continued Mikoto before a tiny shiver went down her back as she saw Sasuke suddenly stiffen. As she watched a small giggled started to drip from the boy's lips as his body shook like he was privy to some private joke.

"I Love you too Kaasan! Heheehhe Love, love, love, just like Itachi-nissan!" giggled the boy as he suddenly shot forwards. Mikoto was just fast enough to push herself back as Sasuke's face slammed into the bars hard enough to send small flecks of blood from his face to splatter onto her kimono as she saw the crazed face of her sochi twisted with madness his black eyes now vibrant red as he grinned through the bars a small trickle of crimson running down his face as he leered at her.

"What's wrong Kaasan, I thought you loved me, come on I just want to show you my love! Come on just let me show you! Hehehheheheehe!" continued Sasuke as his voice shifted into a maddening cackle that carried him back into his cell as she struggled against his bindings looking around the walls his face turning back to Mikoto every now and then his eyes spinning.

"Get out of my Sochi." whispered Mikoto as she narrowed her eyes the black flashing crimson as the crazed teen turned to her with a grin.

"Why Kaasan, whatever do you mean?" giggled the boy as Mikoto rose slowly to her feet marching over to the bars looking in at the boy her face contorted in a look of fury that even caused the maddened teen to pause before his eyes narrowed his face twisting back up into that horrible grin.

"Oh Kaasan, I'm not going anywhere. Never, never, never…I'll kill you before that, I'll kill you all." giggled the teen as he fell back down as Mikoto's face turned from anger to pity.

_Sochi….I swear to you….I'll help you…no matter what it costs…I promise you. _Thought the woman as Sasuke dropped to the cell floor his giggle dying away. Before too long Sasuke looked up, the child's innocence returned as he gave Mikoto a confused look.

"Kaasan, are you ok? Why are you crying? Are you hurt?" asked the boy as Mikoto steeled herself. Slowly the woman knelt once more reaching her arms through the bars as she waved gently for Sasuke to come to her. The boy moved as best he could till he was laid up against the bars his Kaasan's arms wrapped gently around him.

"No Sochi…I'm alright…and you will be to, I promise, but you have to be patient for me ok…can you do that?" asked Mikoto looking down at the boy who gave her a small warm smile. Gently Mikoto rubbed away the blood from the boy's face with the end of her kimono. After a few moments Mikoto reluctantly let go of her Sochi rubbing his head as she stood up. With a small movement the woman summoned a shadow clone both smiling softly down at Sasuke.

"Kaasan?" asked the boy softly as the shadow clone knelt down slowly across from him moving her hand through the bars to gently take hold of the boy's own.

"Shhh it's alright Sochi, I'm here." whispered the clone as Mikoto turned stepping out of the room. As she passed the edge of the doorway the steel door snapped back into place curtesy of Ibiki who gave the woman a sympathetic look. For a moment Mikoto stood ridged her dark bangs hiding her face from her escort, as the man turned towards the exit.

"Ibiki." Whispered Mikoto caused the man to turn his head back towards the woman where two bright ruby eyes looked up at him pulsing slightly.

"I need you to look after my Sochi for me." muttered the woman as Ibiki watched her turn towards the exit starting to take forceful steps away from the cell, small flecks of moisture still clinging to her eyes.

"Hai Uchiha-san." Nodded Ibiki as the woman passed him her eyes focused forwards. As the man fell in beside her. As the two continued out through the prison Ibiki gave the woman a slow look over, before deciding to trust his instincts.

"Uchiha-san, if I may what do you plan to do?" asked the man as Mikoto's feet stopped tapping against the cold concrete as she turned to look up at Ibiki for a long moment before letting out a small breath.

"What do I plan to do? I plan to find that fucking snake and skin him alive and to get my family back Ibiki…and not a single shinobi in this village is going to stop me." replied Mikoto as Ibiki meet her gaze for a few more moments before smiling slightly as he looked down the corridor.

"I see." He spoke as the two continued forwards Ibiki moving ahead to open the door for the woman nodding slightly as she passed.

"I know of quite a few who would like the same." Spoke Ibiki as Mikoto passed him looking around and offering a small smile.

"Well then, they will have to get in line." Finished the woman as she strode out of the prison Ibiki watching her go as he thought of the words of not only his partner, but of the members of Sasuke's team.

"That's going to be one heck of a line." Whistled Ibiki as he turned back into the prison, as the door swung shut cutting out the soft sounds of the village.

* * *

A little over a week following team seven's return found Naruto now sitting in his family's living room, his arms both held in slings under his orange coat while smiled watching Mito waving a single golden chain lightly above the diminished Kyueed who was rolling on its back waving tails and paws happily at the golden object humming happily. As he watched the small fox managed to grab hold of the chain before with a small pop it burst into chakra causing the girl to giggle happily as the fox let out a small yip of excitement hopping up and looking around excitedly.

"Hey Niisan, Imoto." Called Minami as she walked into the room taking a drink from a small water bottle as she smiled down at her imoto and her newest pet. Mito gave Minami a small wave before moving over to grab hold of Kyueed giggling as the fox's tails gently brushed against her cheeks.

"Hey Minami, still putting yourself through the ringer?" called Naruto as he pushed himself slightly forwards only to have Minami plop herself down beside the blond reaching over to hold the teen in place.

"Oh no you don't, no movement if possible." Repeated the redhead in a lecturing tone as Naruto gave her an annoyed look.

"Baa-chan, didn't say I couldn't sit up." Replied Naruto as Minami smirked at him.

"Didn't say you could either, just take it easy ok." finished the redhead as Naruto gave a small sigh letting himself be pulled back into the couch as he let out a small groan looking down at his bandaged body, his legs being the only area mostly spared the bindings. His discomforting sound caused Minami to look down at her Niisan with a slightly worried expression that did not go unnoticed.

"I'm fine Minami, just a bit sore is all." sighed the boy as Minami snorted slightly.

"You get stabbed, both arms broken, I don't know how many cracks and stabs, oh and you almost died and all you get is that you're sore." Smirked the girl as Naruto gave her a knowing smile of his own.

"And you didn't take my advice about getting stabbed, and got yourself a new friend."

"Wha…I." started Minami blushing slightly as from the floor Mito giggled looking up at her Neesan.

"Ya I saw you with that Mizu boy." Smiled the redhead now having Kyueed laying happily on her head his mismatched eyes looking over at Minami with innocent interest.

'I….no he's just a friend." Started Minami as Naruto chuckled slightly.

"A friend you happen to train with every time you have free time, and took out to lunch what five times." Smirked Naruto as Minami's mouth shut her blush slowly moving to cover her face as she looked between the pair her siblings smiling knowingly at her.

"Oh leave her alone you two!" called Kushina as she moved into the room spying her daughter under attack from all sides. As she stepped into the room Minami turned to her blushing all the more. Kushina for her part moved over to sit across from the group giving two of the children a look that told them to knock it off.

"If Minami wants to spend time with Haku-kun while he's in Konoha, that's her business." Called Kushina as smiled over at her daughter.

"Kaasan!" called Minami as the group started to chuckle. Soon enough Minami moved out to get herself cleaned up as Mito followed after her Kyueed napping happily on top of her head. As the two moved out of the room Kushina turned to Naruto who was leaning back into the couch his eyes closed lightly in apparent comfort.

"So…" started Kushina before Naruto's face shifted into a happy smile as he spoke up.

"Naruko is training with Fu, and Seekaku. Minato's meeting with Mikoto in the Hokage's office, Tsunade and Shizune are with Sakura and bunny-chan working on their justus and Mito just got soap in her eye." Listed off Naruto idly rubbing at the small part of him that now resonated with each of his seedlings. In reply Kushina smirked at him slightly before raising her hands up in mock surrender.

"Ok, you've been practicing with your new sensory ability while you have down time." Waved Kushina as Naruto looked up offering a small smile.

"Oh course Sensei." Smiled the teen as he stopped for a moment blinking before pointing over towards the back yard. As Kushina turned a small flash of yellow light appeared before Minato arrived right at the sliding glass door waving slightly as he saw his wife and Sochi waving lightly at him.

"You know it's a little unnerving you can predict me." chuckled Minato as he moved into the home the pair smiling over at him as he moved to sit beside his wife.

"How is Mikoto?" asked Kushina the concern obvious in her tone as inquired about her friend. In response Minato gave her a small smile reaching over to take her hand.

"She's managing...for now." replied Minato as meet Kushina's eyes. After a moment Naruto spoke up drawing the pair's eyes.

"Well, the snake needs to be taken care of everyone knows that…but I think we need to do something else for her." spoke the teen as he looked between the two, each knowing what he was referring to.

"Itachi-kun." Whispered Kushina looking from her Sochi to Minato who nodded slightly a mixed expression on his face.

"Hai, the problem is that he's so deep undercover." started Minato as Naruto shook his head allowing a pollen to drop into his palm.

"The Akatsuki won't overlook him forever, and if that masked man is involved he may already know about him, and just be biding his time." Spoke Naruto as Minato nodded looking over at Kushina and back to his Sochi.

"Hai, he could be, but he could also save us from them by being there. I don't enjoy the cost Itachi is paying, but it may be necessary." Replied Minato as Naruto nodded sadly thinking of how close the organization had come to already taking his sisters.

"I know…its' just….I don't know." Sighed Naruto as he leaned back Kushina frowning slightly.

"I wish Itachi-kun could come home…but he won't even if we offered it…he's protecting his family and he knows it…for him that's all that matters." Finished Kushina as both males nodded.

"Hai, stubborn…just like his sensei." Smirked Minato as Kushina grinned at the pair.

"You know it." Replied Kushina as Naruto chuckled.

"Well that leaves us with the snake." finished Naruto as he looked around at the front door.

"Though I think Naruko has me beat on that one!" called the blonde as a small snap and a few steps showed the blond walking into the room looking around for a moment at the three in the room. After a few seconds the blonde turned her blue eyes around to Naruto with a small annoyed expression as a black orb with one sand colored stripe flowed past her to sink gently into Naruto's coat with a tired sounding hum.

"Will you stop with predicting our arrival." Called the girl as the three smiled over at her irritation, as she moved to plop down on the couch beside Naruto with a happy sigh.

"Oh is Naruko jealous." Smirked Naruto as Naruko shot him a small smirk.

"Keep it up Niisan and I'll give you that rematch we talked about." chuckled the girl as Minato and Kushina laughed lightly at the boys' slightly worried expression.

"**Not so confident when you're facing her down." **chuckled Juubi as Naruto sighed.

_Hey what can I say, I like living. _Naruto thought giving a mental shrug before looking over to Naruko.

"So how's Fu doing?"

"Huh, oh she's good, we're both working on three tails, with any luck we'll have it down soon enough. Then that snake will be in trouble." Finished the girl as she slammed a fist into her open palm with an audible smack. Despite her bravado all three of them could see that her thoughts were on her teammate. Naruto gave a small groan leaning up to gave her a light punch in the arm.

"Hey, don't worry; we'll take care of it. Him and the Akatsuki won't know what hit them." Assured the teen as the girl nodded.

"Hai, but next time." She started grabbing Naruto's head in a small lock, "you don't go off alone, we're a family and that mean's looking after each other!" cheered Naruko as Naruto grinned up at her while their parents looked on both smiling softly at the image before them. Soon enough Naruko headed off to get herself cleaned up as Kushina also excused herself leaving just Minato and Naruto in the sitting room. For a few moments the two sat in silence till Minato started to stand.

"Don't know what to say?" asked Naruto, his words causing the man to pause as he looked over at his Sochi who watched him. Slowly Minato lowered himself back into the seat letting out a small sigh as he did so.

"Me to you know." Muttered Naruto as he looked around the room idly. As he did Minato watched him for a few more minutes before letting out a breath.

"Hai…so I saw how your training manifested…it was something to see." Offered Minato as Naruto smiled slightly.

"Ya, had a kick to it though." Replied Naruto raising his arms slightly in their slings as Minato chuckled softly.

"It does doesn't it, first time I managed to get the Rasengan working it blew me clear across the training field; sensei had to fish me out of a tree. Whole time Kushina-chan was laughing at me for trying to show off to her." Chuckled Minato as Naruto snorted slightly picturing the mighty fourth hokage hanging in a tree and embarrassing himself like that.

"Sounds like fun." Chuckled Naruto as Minato smiling slightly.

"I suppose, though next to that kid I feel like the idiot." Muttered the man as Naruto watched him.

"I worked so hard to get to be Hokage, and then to make a family with your Kaasan…then I mess it all up." Sighed the man as Naruto didn't interrupt just watching him. After a few moments Minato continued.

"And now it seems like the whole world is trying to destroy my family, and I can't even say I'm the right man to protect them." Finished the man as Naruto watched the man.

"I don't know if you are either Minato-baka." Whispered Naruto as Minato looked up into the teen's eyes his heart sinking for a moment before he noticed the small smile on his Sochi's face.

"Now that blonde hanging in the tree… he might be." Offered Naruto as Minato nodded slightly.

"Hai…he might be." Replied Minato as Naruto gave him a small smile.

"And he would be someone I'd like to have as a Tousan." Finished the teen as he moved up moving slowly out of the room leaving the Hokage behind. As Naruto moved down the hall Kushina reentered the room stepping over to stand beside Minato.

"I think I'd like to see that blond baka again to." Smiled Kushina as she gave the man a small kiss before moving out of the room. As she moved away Minato looked around the room his eyes falling across a family photo taken a few years previously his eyes panning over the smiling faces as well as the lack of another…He had wronged his family…and he wasn't ready to let is stay that way…and Minato had a pretty good idea what his next act would be.

* * *

A day later found four Jinchuuriki sitting around a small meeting room Naruto laid back on the couch chatting idly with Fu who sat perched on the edge of the sofa. At the same time Naruko was idly tapping her hands on the table before her as she cast an eye up to the clock every few seconds muttering softly to herself. The final member Minami was polishing one of her custom blades, checking over the small nicks it had received in its last outing.

As time stretched on Naruto let out a small groan before Naruko felt a familiar tug on the back of her head as she was drawn back into their mind. A moment later the girl found herself blinking around in the bright open field of Naruto's mindscape. The blonde blinked around a little confused before she turned to see Naruto propped up against the massive white tree.

"Hey, Naruto why'd you me in here!" called Naruko to Naruto who threw a thumb over to where Juubi was standing looking around at the three.

"Sorry, Juubi just wanted to talk to you, and really, you need it." Called Naruto as Juubi stepped up beside him. Naruko in turn looked momentarily between the two giving a frustrated little moan.

"Oh come on." started the girl as Juubi cut her off.

"**Enough Naruko, you're just winding yourself up, any longer and you would have worn a hole through that desk."** Called Juubi as Naruko looked away from the woman her fist clenching and unclenching.

"So, I'm just tired of waiting I could be." She started as Naruto cut her off.

"You could be training yourself into the hospital at the rate you're going." Added the teen as beside him Juubi nodded moving over to stand above Naruko looking down at the girl with a somber expression.

"**Naruko, you can't do this alone. If you try to you'll end up like Shukaku-kun did." **Whispered Juubi as Naruko looked away from the woman remembering the talk the two had shared on their trip back from Suna.

"but he's my teammate." Muttered the girl as Juubi sighed gently reaching down to pat the girl's hair.

"**Hai…and the hardest thing you can do is accept that sometimes you are powerless to act alone." **Whispered Juubi as Naruko looked up into her blackened eyes. Eyes that had been forced to watch her own children suffer while trapped orbiting the world knowing only the feeling of helplessness that such a thing brought. After a moment Naruko let her head fall into a small nod.

"Ok, you win." Muttered the girl as both Naruto and Juubi gave the woman a small nod.

"Well, that's good enough for me." shrugged Naruto as the area around them began to shift slightly before Naruko and Naruto found themselves blinking back into the office. As they returned Fu gave a small smirk pointing over to an inconspicuous houseplant.

"Got you Homeed!" called the green haired girl as a small metallic hum filled the room as the shadow behind the plant shifted before Homeed stepped out its metallic helm bowed slightly. With a somehow pouting sounding hum the seedling idly kicked its feet, even as the six blades wings shifted slightly.

"Oh come on Homeed, you're doing fine. Just keep practicing like Yugao showed you." Called Fu as the seedling nodded as Fu again closed her eyes and the seedling starting moving around before melting into another shadow in the odd game of hid and seek they were playing.

"How are the missions going?" asked Naruto as Fu looked down at him with small shrug.

"Not bad, Yugao-sensei's helping me with my weapons and stealth, while your neesan and I are working on jinchuuriki abilities so ya, all good there." Finished Fu as all three of the siblings gave her knowing smirks.

"What?" asked the orange eyed girl as Minami gave her a knowing look.

"Come on, Mito-chan's already told us about your class." Chuckled the redhead as Fu blushed slightly looking away trying not to meet their eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about." the girl managed as the rest of the group chuckled lightly at her embarrassment. As their laughter continued to echo around the office across the wooden floor the door to the office cracked open showing the hallway beyond a small hole in the yellow walled room. The noise drew the group's attention around to see a pair of masked Anbu enter to stand on either side of the door looking ahead as a third figure moved forwards.

As he stepped in Roshi's maroon outfit and armored face drew the groups attention as each turned, or in Naruto's case sat up to face the newcomer. Once inside the two Anbu bowed slightly before stepping back out of the room the door shutting behind them as the five looked around at one another. After a few moments Naruto gave a small sigh.

"Well, I suppose this won't be getting any easier if we wait. I take I you're Roshi-san correct, holder of Goku the four tailed gorilla?" asked the blond as Roshi turned to the boy with a blank expression.

"And, now you stare at me like you don't understand English…great." Muttered Naruto looking around the room for a moment before returning his eyes to the man before him. Roshi for his part remained stoic as the remaining jinchuuriki looked between the pair wondering just what they were supposed to do in this situation.

"Children…honestly the Hokage's offer was so I could speak with children, it would almost be amusing if it wasn't so insulting." Muttered the man finally speaking as the four teens narrowed their eyes at him. For a moment the room was silent till a small chuckle drew the group's attention to Naruto who was giving the man an almost bored look.

"Let's see here, headstrong, insulting, and pompous, yep your from Iwa alright." Smirked the teen as Roshi's eyes narrowed on the blond his eyes moving over his broken body.

"And what does that make you boy, just another self-assured Konoha fool." Replied the man as Naruto's smirk grew all the more, carrying an almost dangerous quality to it.

"Nope just a guy keeping a promise to a friend, oh and did anyone every tell you that you're very easy to distract?" finished Naruto as Roshi's gaze faltered for a moment before a small metallic hum caused him to turn around in time to see a metallic hand settling onto his brow. As the four teens watched the red-haired man shivered slightly his eyes going wide before he crumpled to the floor Homeed looking around at the group humming apparently pleased with itself.

"Naruto was that really necessary?" asked Minami as Naruto gave a small shrug.

"What can I say; I don't like being talked down to by people. Besides I've had Homeed watching him for a few days, and you would not believe the ego on this guy." Shrugged Naruto as Naruko gave a small snort looking down at him before moving over to sit beside Naruto with a small smile.

"Well let's get in there before he breaks what little brain you have." Smirked the girl as Naruto shot her an annoyed look before allowing his seeds to slip from his coat to pull the others inside his mindscape.

* * *

Blackness that was the first thing Roshi saw as he felt himself pulled once more back into his mindscape. Idly the man felt his body lowered onto what he could only describe as a grassy field the blue sky stretching out before him as though he was back in Iwa back near his forge. Idly Roshi noticed a small movement of lightly that slowly dipped. After a second Roshi realized that the light was a cloud and that it was headed towards him.

With a small shudder Roshi forced himself up instinctively pulling a curved kunai up to a defensive stance as the cloud showed itself to be a swarm of insects that moved past him causing him to turn to see it swirl around a mirror of the massive tree in the center of Konoha. However, his eyes were no longer focused on the swarm but on the other towering figures that sat around the tree. There the monstrous tanuki, a pair of nine tailed foxes, and the metallic shell of a massive insect all positioned their faced turned towards him as behind them massive tails waved gently. Last a woman standing ahead of the them looking past him a warm smile playing across her limps as a thump drew Roshi's eyes around to see a massive red-haired arm slamming knuckle down beside him. As he turned he saw the broad chest of Goku the massive ape not even bothering to look down at him as it moved forwards towards the tree its eyes focused on the woman standing there.

As the ape reached her the massive creature bowed its head down beside the woman as she moved forwards to hold tightly to the creature mumbling something that Roshi couldn't make out.

"**It's ok Kaasan, I know." **Whispered the deep voice of the ape, his size allowing the words to carry across the clearing to confuse the man even more. After a time he watched as the rest of the tailed beasts moved over towards the ape even the cloud of insects drooping into a kind of outline of a person that sat happily upon the ape's crown looking down at the rest.

_What in the name of Kami?_ Wondered the man as he forced himself to remain calm. He'd seen oddities before, during both peace and war…but this...what was this? As he scanned the scene before him, he suddenly became aware of several figures behind him. Spinning Roshi found himself facing the four teens all standing a small ways from him. At their head stood Naruto his unbandaged arms crossed as he looked upon the man, behind him Minami and Fu both stood watching as well, even as Naruko crouched ideally petting a small black fox as she like her fellows faced the red haired man.

"I wouldn't think of interrupting them." Called Naruto nodding slightly to the scene occurring over by the tree, momentarily causing Roshi to look back before focusing back on the four in front of him.

"And if I do?" challenged the man. He was a Jonin of Iwa damn it, what did these genin think they knew that they could think to lecture him. In response to his words Naruto smirked slightly lifting his arms in a slightly shrug.

"Oh nothing much, but you should mind your surroundings, after all where do you think you are?" asked Naruto smirking as Roshi narrowed his eyes at him. After a short moment Roshi grunted returning his blade to his pack relaxing as he looked around.

"I see…so that's where I am, your mind. I suppose that is the Juubi the Yonbi mentioned." Replied Roshi as Naruto nodded slightly though not losing the expression of dislike on his brow.

"Hai, and Yonbi as you call him has a name." replied Naruto as the man scoffed slightly.

"Which is irrelevant." Replied Roshi as the four teens glared at him. To which Roshi simply shook his head looking almost pityingly at them.

"What do you expect me to befriend that creature. I chose to become a Jinchuuriki to aid Iwa not to gain a pet. His name is irrelevant as long as his power helps to guard my land." Continued Roshi as Naruko rose stepping forwards to be held back by Minami. The action caused Roshi to smirk slightly as he eyed the girl.

"Go on girl, try it, you know as well as I that neither of us can harm another while I am in your country. Your own Tousan swore as much." Smirked the man as Naruko scowled but allowed herself to be held back. At the same time Naruto stepped slightly closer to Roshi his mismatched eyes never leaving the other as he approached.

"So Goku is a tool to you." Stated Naruto as Roshi turned to look at him.

"We are all tools when necessary boy, Shinobi are blades to protect their home, my blade is merely stronger thanks to the Yonbi nothing more." Stated the elderly man as Naruto continued to watch him.

"So you and he are similar then in your eyes." Whispered Naruto as Roshi smirked slightly.

"In a way, but I hardly expect you to understand that. You haven't seen true horror yet boy. Oh you've seen death; I can see that, maybe even pain, but not true loss. When you stand buried in the bodies of those you fought and bleed beside, maybe then you'll learn why a tool is preferable to a person." Replied the man as he marched past the group and over to a small plot of grass to sit his eyes closed as if waiting for something. As he moved out of earshot Naruko snorted looking after him.

"Asshole." Muttered the girl as Minami nodded slightly in agreement with her sister.

"Hai, I know but he's right we can't do anything." Muttered Minami as Naruto looked around at his sisters a sad smile on his face.

"He could be worse." Whispered the teen as the three turned to look at him.

"Huh what are you talking about?" asked Minami having expected Naruto to be the angriest with his connection to Juubi. Instead Naruto looked almost pityingly over at the man shaking his head slightly.

"It's not like he hates Goku…heck I'd say he doesn't really care about it one way or another. From what I was told about him, he's good friends with the Tsuchikage, it's really impressive he's even here. I don't like the guy, but he actually listened to us didn't he." Finished Naruto as the four looked from where Roshi had moved to wait before looking back towards the group as he saw Juubi shaking slightly as she held tightly to the red fur of her Sochi. After a time Naruto and his group, absent Roshi, moved over to the group to see Juubi happily sitting with her children as Goku spoke with the others.

"**So how is ****Kokuō-niisan anyway?" **Chomei still laying on top of the massive apes head ideally kicking her glittering legs over the edge as Goku sighed.

"**Kokuō, he's ok still not happy about having to fight but I guess that won't change much. Though he's been excited to see you again Kaasan, oh and he says to tell Shukaku to stop with all the random destruction." **Finished the gorilla while the group chuckled at Shukaku's annoyed expression.

"**I'm never going to live that down am I?" **muttered the tanuki as beside him Kyu gave him a small pat with one paw before a small swat of sand caused him to flip back over causing another round of chuckles from the beasts.

"**Oh Kokuō, thank you Goku-kun for looking after him."** spoke Juubi as Goku shrugged it off.

"**Oh course Kaasan; my ototo needs looking after, besides it has allowed me to tell him the good news." **Finished the beast as Juubi nodded turning slightly as Naruto stepped into the group Naruko, Minami and Fu following behind him.

"Hey Juubi, I see you meet your sochi." smiled Naruto as Juubi gave him a small smirk.

"**Could hardly miss him."** muttered Kurama as Juubi shot him a slightly annoyed look before looking back to the group of four that were smiling slightly.

"**Hai, Goku-kuns just been telling us about life in Iwa. So what are you going to do about his container?" **asked Juubi each of the four noticing her refusal to address the man by his name.

_No name for Sochi, no name for him...hum seems fair _Thought Naruto as he shrugged looking up at Goku.

"Ya he's…well." Started Naruto as Goku let out a heavy sigh.

"**Stubborn."** Muttered the massive gorilla as Naruto nodded.

"**Hai, he is at that, that's what age does to him. Forty years I've been with him and he refuses to even speak with me, to him everything is about Iwa. Honestly if he didn't have a friendship with the current ****Tsuchikage**** and his goddaughter I would say he was a hermit. Still, I am bound to him for now."** finished Goku as Naruto nodded looking over to see Juubi frowning slightly. As the group noticed this Shukaku sighed rubbing his sand covered fur ideally as he cast his golden eyes around at them.

"**Easy Kaasan, as much as I'd like to get Goku out of there it just isn't realistic now. We have that Akatsuki group after us, and a war only puts our family in danger of getting snatched all the easier. For now a stubborn landlord is something we just have to accept." **Muttered the Tanuki looking around curiously as everyone including his family looked at him disbelievingly for a few moments.

"**What?"** asked the tanuki as Chomei flew over to gently poke at the tanuki looking up at him through the hollow swarm body, her head tilting as the golden mass of her hair slipped one side her expression showing confusion.

"**Shukaku-niisan what's wrong you aren't talking about destroying them? Are you sick? Does Kaasan need to give you a nap?" **asked Chomei innocently as Shukaku's face turned into one of embarrassment and anger as the group around him exploded into howls of laughter that carried across the expanse of the mindscape.

From where he sat Roshi opened one eyes watching the group curiously as a small yip drew his attention around to see a small black fox one red and one purple glowing eye looking up at him as nine small tails waved out behind it.

…_.my report to __Ōnoki is going to make him think I'm a madman…honestly why couldn't Han take this mission. _Thought the man looking away from the fox and focusing ahead even as the small creature moved over to curl up beside the man letting out a small humming purr of contentment as it began to sleep.

* * *

At the same time across the land in the wilderness of Rice inside a bunker complex a howling manic laughter could be heard accompanied by shrieks from time to time soon silence with an unpleasant snap or crack. As these and other horrible sound continued a blue-haired girl sat inside a green kimono wrapped around her form decorated with a heavy collar. As another snap came she turned her eyes around the office, her eyes narrowing slightly at the door as if expecting some creature to tear through the steel at any moment.

As another series of screams went up a knock came at the door that caused the girl to set down her notes turning slowly towards the door taking a moment to compose herself before calling out in reply.

"Hai?" her tone coming out as a blunt bark rather than any kind of actual greeting.

"Oh just open the door Guren, or does the noise have you hiding under your covers." Called a stern voice that caused the girl to scoff as she pushed herself up moving over to open the door her eyes narrowed over a scowl as she opened the door. As the heavy door swung open the girl's black eyes fell upon the teen outside.

"Kabuto, I'm surprised Orochimaru-sama hasn't cleaned you out with the rest of the trash." Growled the blue haired girl as Kabuto gave her a twisted smirk raising his hand up in a light wave.

"I'm afraid not Guren, after all unlike some I am still useful to our master." Replied Kabuto smirking as he pushed past the girl into the room. As he walked out of the darkened hallway the light shown over his scarred form including the pale skin that now lay plastered over his face and arms where it looked like great chunks of him were torn free. Growling slightly Guren slammed the door shut turning to face the teen.

"Do not speak for Orochimaru-sama, I am not the one who failed his assigned task, why you live is beyond me." Spat the girl as Kabuto turned his head around showing the pale skin the stretched across his face including his left eye that now seemed to glow with a pale golden light.

"Because it was not my failing, I held back Kakashi like I was assigned to do." Smirked the teen as Guren spat.

"More like you were torn to pieces, pity he didn't finish the job." Smirked the girl as Kabuto gave a small shrug idly tracing a hand over his scarred skin.

"Either way, my mission was my own, I am surprised you aren't observing Orochimaru-sama, after all doesn't blood excite you anymore?" mocked the teen as Guren huffed moving back past the teen to her desk grabbing a file.

"Hardly, I have gathered the information Orochimaru-sama requested. Seems his information was correct. Several of the bodies were missing their eyes, at the time of autopsies." Smirked the girl as she handed the file over to Kabuto who flipped through it a small smirk on his face.

"So it seems someone has a stock of what we are looking for." Whispered the teen as a scraping tearing sound caused the pair to turn in time to see the metal door be torn free of its hinges to be dragged back into the darkness. Without prompting both dropped to knee heads bowed as a figure stepped into the doorway, a mess of black hair hanging down over their face as an unnaturally long tongue poked out as if tasting the air.

"Orochimaru-sama." The pair spoke respectfully as the sage entered, his usually pristine uniform now covered in blood and dirt as the pale figure turned towards the pair a dangerous smile showing under that matt of hair.

"Well?" asked the sage as Guren hurried to reply.

"My lord it is as you suspected, at least five sets were absent, this combined with what was offered in trade, and it is clear that he has what you are seeking." Spoke the girl never looking away from the ground as Orochimaru stepped forwards one blood splattered hand reaching forwards. Guren remained stoic as the hand alighted upon her head instructing her to rise which she did till she stood looking past the mass of matted hair to the blackened burnt looking area that had once been the sage's eyes.

"Good, you will be leaving with us. After all." smirked the sage as he removed his hand turning towards the door. "There is no longer anyone to observe here." chuckled the sage darkly as he stepped out both Kabuto and Guren hurrying to follow after him. As the three made their way through the facility Guren's eyes cast around to see the mangled remains of both human and monstrous bodies laid out pieces torn free, and in some cases sporting what could only be described as bite marks.

"My lord, may I ask why the experiments here were terminated?" asked Guren as Orochimaru stopped in his tracks a small smattering of mad giggles pushing between his lips as he turned his hollow eyes around to the girl.

"It helps the pain." Smirked the sage as he continued to giggle Guren noting the blood and flesh coating the sage's mad smile as she listened to his laughter. Looking back down Guren noted one familiarity among the bodies.

The location of the bite marks. Each one where a cursed seal had once been. As the three turned to leave Kabuto spoke up his tone flat and without seeming interest in his master's behavior.

"Orochimaru-sama, where to now?" asked the teen as Orochimaru chuckled darkly.

"For now we will be leaving Rice Kabuto, after all we're expecting company soon enough." Chuckled the sage as they moved out of the complex the sun shining down to eliminate the rocky side of a cliff overlooking a vast forest.

"And then?" asked Kabuto as Orochimaru smiled up at the open sky the sun reflected off the pool of crimson dotting his body.

"Then, we pay a visit to an old cripple and get what we need." Smiled the sage as he moved forwards his fellows following along behind him.

* * *

A few days later in Konoha found Naruto his arms still held in slings walking down the road as Kushina walked beside him both chatting absentmindedly about some of the training that they had planned.

"I don't know Kaasan, I guess we could try but every time I make a seal it doesn't work for anyone else." Shrugged Naruto looking up at the redhead who gave a determined smile.

"Well, I'm not giving up, you're an Uzumaki and you're going to learn sealing if it kills me." replied Kushina as she looked ahead Naruto sighing slightly giving his mother a tried expression.

_Kill me more like it._ Thought the teen as a heavy voice call out inside of his head.

"**You shouldn't disrespect you Kaasan. Recognizing the stronger or wiser is part of life." **Came the heavy tone of Goku as Naruto gave a small shake of his head.

_Hai, I swear you sound like Juubi sometimes. _Shot back the blond as, within the mindscape, the massive gorilla gave a deep toughed chuckle as he turned to the figure below him.

"**What do you say to that Kaasan?" **chuckled the four tailed beast as Juubi gave the heavy muscled arm of her Sochi a small pat with a triumphant smile on her lips.

"**I would say my Goku-sochi inherited some of my best qualities." **Chuckled the woman before the pair stepped back from the conversation allowing Naruto to focus ahead in time to see another pair before them.

"Hey isn't that?" asked Naruto nodding ahead of him causing Kushina to turn her eyes ahead as well. Down the bustling street bordered by the tall wooden buildings their shop doors open with people moving steadily in and out two figures caught the Uzumaki's eyes. The first was a redheaded girl they knew on sight, her yellow battle kimono waving gently over her back pants and mixing with the twin tails of her hair. However, it wasn't Minami that drew their attention but the black haired boy beside her wearing a slightly bulky green kimono his wooden sandals putting him just a few inches above Mito's own head so that the pair could see the edges of a smile that seemed to reach up to them.

"It is." Smirked Kushina as Naruto gave her a slightly mischievous look.

"Kaasan, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Naruto as Kushina looked down at the teen for a moment before her face broke out into a mischievous look of her own nodding happily.

"Oh, hai sochi, I think I do." Chuckled the woman. As the two Uzumaki's began their plans down the street with the other pair Minami suddenly felt a small shiver down her back looking around the marketplace, but spotting nothing. Beside her Haku gave a small concerned look turning his own eyes around before allowing them to fall back upon the girl beside him.

"Minami? What's wrong am I to cold?" asked the boy as Minami turned to him shaking her head slightly moving closer to the boy as she gave a small smile.

"No it's not that, just thought I, it's nothing. So what would you like for lunch?" inquired the redhead as Haku gave a thinking pose for a moment before offering a small smile.

"Anywhere you…" he started before Minami gave him an annoyed expression putting a hand over his lips and turning her red eyes to meet his black ones.

"Oh no you don't, its' your turn to choose." Smirked the girl as Haku sighed leaning his face back from the redhead's hand so that he could speak.

"Ok Minami, what do you say to some Ramen?" Asked the teen as Minami gave a small pouting look.

"Honestly, you too, I swear I'm cursed by ramen." Sighed the redhead before smiling up at him and pulling him forwards. "Well come on then." Smiled the redhead as they moved forwards down the dirt covered street. Soon enough the pair found themselves seated at a familiar bar sipping noodles as they idly chatted about everything from training to the new state between Mizu and Konoha.

"So I guess you'll have to head out soon to report on your mission?" asked Minami as Haku turned nodding slightly.

"Hai, but Mizukage-sama seems to think I would make a good representative so I will likely be moving between here and Suna regularly." Replied Haku causing Minami to smile lightly as she turned her eyes ahead in time to catch a reflection in one of the hanging pans across from her. As she spied the two images reflected through the steam of freshly made noodles the girl's chopsticks when tumbling down into her noodles as her whole body suddenly went ridged.

"Minami?" inquired Haku as the redhead turned to him apparent concern on her face that sent a shiver through the pale boy's body.

"Haku….run." managed the girl before an overly happy voice called out behind the pair

"Minami-chan, and Haku-kun now what are you two doing here?" called Kushina in a loud voice that caused Haku to freeze as he heard it.

_Ok Kami…Zabuza-sama protect me. _Whimpered the boy as he turned with Minami to see Kushina smiling in the doorway wearing her combat armor that glinted slightly with the light coming in from between the flaps of the shop. As she moved forward the interlocking plates made no noise the seals below glowing ominously with faint golden light as she moved to stand before the pair turning a somehow to wide smile between the pair.

"Ka…kaasan?" started Minami trying and failing to think of what to say as Kushina turned to face her with the unnerving smile.

"Oh Minami-chan you took him out for ramen, I'm so proud of you." Continued Kushina turning towards Haku who stiffened at her smile recognizing it from when Zabuza had been in a particularly…temperamental mood.

…_.I'm going to die _Thought Haku looking around at the crowded booth, a few patrons seated with them at the bar while others took up a pair of small tables off to one side of the building. With a small exhale Haku started to calm himself.

_No wait too many witnesses. _Breathed the boy as Kushina seemed to sense his relief.

"Oh sorry, I guess it's a little noisy here, let me fix that." Smiled Kushina as with a snap everyone in the restaurant suddenly stood before turning to exit the shop in single file causing Haku to look around with Minami wide eyed at this.

"Kaasan what are you?" started Minami as once again Kushina turned to her cutting her off.

"Oh I'm sorry I almost forgot, you see it's Uzumaki custom for the right of ramen to be private, but since you never really wanted to stay for ramen I figured you could use some help with it." Interrupted Kushina as Minami gave her a blank look.

_Right of Ramen….you're kidding right? _Thought Minami as Kyu chimed in.

"**Oh I remember this Kaasan said Naruto did it when he wanted to officially date Hinata-chan….OH THAT'S AWESOME MINAMI-CHAN YOU'RE DATING COLD BOY! THAT'S SO COOL WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!?" **called the excited fox as Minami stopped dead with a horrified realization as she looked down at her bowl of ramen a small twitch in her eye.

…_ra…ramen….I'm….dating…because ramen…._ managed the poor girl's mind as it seemed to grind to a stop as she looked blankly down at her noodles. If it were possible smoke would likely have been flooding out of her ears from her now stalled brain leaving Haku to look over at the down paralyzed girl before turning back to the terrifying Kushina before him.

"Oh Haku-kun you need to be ready for the trials, don't worry, I'm sure you'll survive." Smiled Kushina as a few golden chains slinked out of the woman's back causing Haku to look around obviously panicking as he spied the friendly cook his back to the group looking over his noodles as Haku's terrified brain seized on his last hope.

"He….Help." whispered the teen as the cook stiffened turning slowly to show a back from which two glowing eyes offering a small hum as it turned to look at the boy. As Haku saw the seedling whatever hope he had left him as on instinct he moved over to hold Minami's hand gently looking over at Kushina like a terrified puppy.

"Zabuza-sama….I'm sorry." Managed the teen as Kushina moved forwards cracking her knuckles ominously. As the redhead neared him Haku shut his eyes not wanting to see the end come for him. As the world went dark he waited for a second then two, then three.

_A master killer will wait for the perfect time, building fear._ Zabuza had once told the teen and now he was waiting, he thought for his own end till he felt a small thump on his head followed by a purring hum and a flash of light.

As Haku's eyes opened he saw Kushina holding a camera smiling over at him. Beside Kushina, Haku noticed Naruto smiling while trying and failing to keep his laughter to himself. Blinking a few times he turned to see the friendly owner and his daughter standing beside a seedling draped in an apron humming happily as a purring caused him to look up to see the diminished face of Kyueed looking down at him from its perch on top of his head.

"Wha…what?" managed the teen as Minami seemed to stir looking around at the scene before turning a bright red and turning towards her family with murder in her eyes.

"Yo…you two!" she started before both Naruto and Kushina gave her wide grins vanishing in in a small whirl of purple and black leaves, leaving only the echoes of their laughs behind. As they departed Minami was fuming as she turned to see the still stunned Haku looking down at Kyueed who had hopped over into Ayami's arms purring happily as she stoked his furry form even as the seedling followed after Teuchi apparently happy to help with the next batch of noodles.

"Haku, you ok? Sorry about that, my Kaasan and Niisan just like pranking people I'm." started Minami as Haku let out small chuckled that soon turned into a full blown laugh as he turned to Minami smiling broadly his shark like teeth doing nothing to diminish the jovial look on his face.

"I'm…I'm alive." Managed the teen between his laughs as Minami seemed to pause for a moment before joining in with a small giggle that blossomed into its own gentle laugh as on top of the booth Kushina and Naruto sat smiling at their work as they sipped their own ramen.

"Nice plan Sochi." smirked Kushina as Naruto grinned holding a photo of the two.

"Thanks, now we just have to make sure she doesn't kill us later." Chuckled the teen as the two looked out over the village listening to the happy couple below them as they tried and failed to speak through their laughter.

* * *

A few hours later found Naruto seated beside Hitomi both watching as Hinata moved through another set of stances under the watch of Hiashi. As Hinata moved into a deep bend stretching her arms out into an open thrust her eyes shifted into the pools of black as the chakra from her strike carried down across the training yard to collide with an audible smack into a poll. With a small satisfied smile Hinata let out a breath before stepping back whipping away a trail of sweat as Hiashi moved past her to examine the post.

After a moment the stoic man turned with a small smile upon his lips as he moved back over within ear shot of the three.

"A good strike Musume, but you need to put in more force to keep it together, the more it spreads out the less impact it has." Spoke Hiashi as Hinata nodded whipping away a trail of sweat from her brow before returning to her training. As she started to move back through the stances Hitomi turned to see Naruto's mismatched eyes slightly lidded as he watched her musume practicing.

"So Naruto-kun, what brings you here?" asked Hitomi with a small smile as Naruto gave her a small dazed look as though he had been lost in thought as he gave a small shrug his arms still hidden in their wrappings.

"Not much I can do really, besides" started Naruto turning midsentence to watch as Hinata moved through her stance again, "sometimes it's just nice to watch." Finished the blond as Hitomi gave a soft smile nodding as she looked out at her daughter.

"Hai…sometimes." Murmured Hitomi quiet enough that Naruto almost didn't pick up on it. As her words fell Naruto found himself looking out at the training field before turning between the scene and Hitomi a few times his brain filling in the gaps as a small frown creased his lips.

_Well that won't do_ thought the teen as he gave his mindscape some attention. If Hitomi or anyone else had been focusing on Naruto they would have seen both of his eyes go unfocused for a few moments soon followed by an inky blackness working its way down them till his vision mimicked that of Juubi.

As the Hyuga members continued to watch Hinata's training a small pulse drew Hiashi's eyes around as he spotted Naruto's usually vibrant orange coat slowly shifting to black and falling as a gently wave of leaves from him. For a moment Hiashi considered that this was due to some danger, but as he watched the teen his own pale eyes meet the black ones, a gentle smile telling him that this was not the case. In silence he watched as the leaves moved silently over the floor slowly snaking over the lip of the porch moving like a shadow to form a pool under his wives feet that dangled gently over the edge. Looking back he saw Naruto gave a small nod before he saw the leaves slowly drifting up to alight upon Hitomi's legs coating them in the familiar black armor that he had witness Naruto use during the exams.

Hitomi at the same time had been watching Hinata, only just noticing Hiashi's eyes shifting from Naruto to herself. With a small bit of confusion Hitomi looked towards her husband as she followed his vision down to see her own legs now covered in a purple and black coating. In confusion Hitomi turned to Naruto before a voice she recognized spoke softly in her mind.

"**Easy Hitomi-san, Naruto's concentrating a lot right now so you can't disturb him." **spoke Juubi as Hitomi blinked a few times before replying.

_Juubi? What's going on what are you?_ She stared before Juubi made a hushing sound causing the Hyuuga matriarch to quiet herself.

"**Easy, just listen, Naruto's focusing on maintaining the pollens so I need you to do the actual movement." **Continued Juubi as Hitomi paused for a moment before letting out a small start of surprise.

_Wait is he?_ Started Hitomi only for Juubi to chuckle.

"**Hai, now just remember how to move and we're good to go, so get out there and show you husband what a real sensei is like." **Giggled Juubi as Hitomi looked down at her black legs small tears pooling in her eyes as she let her mind remember what her body had long forgotten.

Across the field Hiashi suddenly went stiff, as Hinata finished her set with another thwack of impact. Turning Hinata expected to see Hiashi ready to inspect her work. What she saw instead took her breath away. Hitomi…her Kaasan was standing small flecks of moisture dripping from her eyes as she shakily made her way across the field. After a few steps Hiashi moved, as if pulled forwards taking one, and then another step until the pair stood across from one another.

As they reached the man's confused look passed across his wife's face as she mouthed a name that caused Hiashi to look past her to the boy now still as a statue seated on the deck behind. As Hiashi's mind tried and failed to comprehend this Hitomi's hand gently took his own as she lead him over to where Hinata was standing her eyes wide in disbelief at what she was watching. Soon her parents stood before her, both looking down with smiles as Hitomi spoke up.

"Well my little Musume, not a bad strike but you're a little stiff. Want me to show you?" asked Hitomi as Hinata seemed to shake herself out of her thoughts nodding before moving forwards to grip her Kaasan in a soft embrace shaking slightly as Hitomi quieted her, looking up at her husband who reached around to hold the pair.

Soon the three were practicing Hitomi moving slowly, but gaining speed and confidence with every movement, even as Hiashi and Hinata simply enjoyed the time with her. As the time stretched on Hanabi returned in time to see his family, rushing forwards to propel himself into his Kaasan's waiting arms where she twirled him about. And so the family trained, moving like dancers in some grand performance as Hitomi and Hiashi moved in time like a matched pair their children mimicking them, as the group marveled in the wondrous occasion.

As day slowly shifted into Night the waning light caused Juubi to whisper to Hitomi that the time had to come to an end. So with a final set Hitomi moved back over to take a seat beside Naruto who had been stiff through the entire exchange. As the matriarch alighted upon the porch the black leaves fell from her swirling back around Naruto as the darkness fell from his eyes. Then before any of the Hyuugas could move the boy gave a small smile before falling forwards off the porch face down into the yard audibly snoring as the exhaustion of the day's actives caught up with him. To the groups surprise Hiashi stepped forward to lift the boy up looking over to his wife and children who smiled as he moved the exhausted boy inside the compound to rest

A few hours later Naruto found himself blinking awake in a brightly lit room his head resting on something soft as quiet conversation fluttered around him. His waking seemed to have not gone unnoticed as a soon the smiling face of Hinata appeared in his vision.

"Hey Bunny-chan." Smiled Naruto before his lips were captured in her own, and he allowed himself to simply lose himself in their soft embrace. After a moment a huff caught his attention as the pair broke apart turning to see Hiashi seated across from the pair his arms crossed trying to look intimidating. Idly Naruto noticed that he was resting on Hinata's lap of all things which combined with Hiashi's face was not promising.

…_.Juuuubbbiii? _started Naruto as from inside his head he could clearly make out several voices booming in apparent amusement. Before Naruto could think of a swear to throw the mocking voices direction he saw another figure seated beside Hiashi, his twin in everything but dress. Hizashi looked so much like his brother that for a moment Naruto thought he was seeing double till Hiashi's voice spoke out.

"Uzumaki-san." Called the man as Naruto moved to sit up, succeeding with some help from Hinata as he noticed several other figures in the room including the smiling Hitomi as well as Neji who looked equal parts confused and nervous about his involvement in this.

"Um..hai?" asked Naruto looking around a little nervously as he edged closer to Hinata who leaned into him for support.

"First let me thank you for your gift today…it…" started Hiashi as he moved a hand over to gently take Hitomi's in his own as a small warm smile broke over his face.

"It was more than I can repay…and it made me think that you could help another gift to be given." Finished Hiashi as he turned to Naruto who was rather confused.

"I don't understand?" started Naruto as beside him Hinata gave a small sigh causing Naruto to turn to her.

"Naruto-kun, you remember when I told you about the caged bird seal." Spoke Hinata as Naruto thought back to when she had been insisting that Naruto not take Neji apart piece by piece during the exams. After his defeat he had been originally worse, till with help from Hiashi and Hizashi he had been knocked into the right direction, but always there had been that shadow of the caged bird seal that had meant life as a second class Hyuga.

"Hai, you told me how it was finally banned." Started Naruto as Hinata nodded prompting him to continue only seeming to confuse the teen.

"And?" prompted Hinata as Naruto seemed to think for a moment before Hitomi spoke up.

"What Hinata is referring to is the shame of the Hyuga clan; the seal was designed so that even a master sealer cannot remove that stain. It would mean the death of our branch family to even attempt it." Spoke Hitomi as Naruto looked over at her before turning to Hiashi who nodded sadly.

"However, that may no longer be the case…Naruto would you be willing to try something to help us?" asked Hiashi as Naruto gave him the best shrug he could manage with his arms still wrapped.

"Hai, how?" asked Naruto as inside his head Juubi groaned and he could swear he could hear a sound like a tanuki's head banding against a tree muttering baka over and over.

"Naruto-kun, just do what I tell you ok." whispered Hinata as she leaned in whispering into the boys ear for a moment as Naruto nodded. After a few moments two seeds one carrying nine red lines dropped from his jacket rolling forwards to break open into a seedling and Kyueed who both blinked up at him.

"Ok you know what to do." Called Naruto as the pair gave small nods the seedling moving over to lay a hand over Hiashi's forehead where the mark lay its eyes flashing for a few moments before with a small pulse the seedling withdrew its hand the mark upon the man's brow flickering before crumbling to a pile upon the room's floor mats becoming nothing but a small black pile of dust. Trembling Hizashi reached up to his head feeling for the mark as he turned to his brother who offered him a happy smile.

Seeing this Neji was dumb struck as he turned to see Kyueed looking at him.

"Wait why did I?" started the teen as before he could continue Kyueed leapt crashing into his face the nine tails wrapping around his head with an excited humming yip. Neji's reaction was more or less complete panic at this as he tried and failed to pull the furry object off of his face standing only to fall back through the paper wall behind him followed by a series of crashes as he tried to free himself from the creature.

As this occurred every eye turned to Naruto who was struggling not to look pleased with himself as beside him Hinata gave him a disapproving look.

"Naruto-kun." She muttered as Naruto gave her a sheepish smile.

"What he's helping him." chuckled Naruto as another crash rang out followed by an excited call from what sounded like Hanabi and Mito.

_Oh revenge is so worth waiting for_ chuckled Naruto to himself as despite themselves the room erupted into laughter as Neji's voice came in a small cry of fear accompanied by the excited giggles of Mito and Hanabi who were no doubt having their own fun with the teen's predicament.

* * *

A day later found several figures gathered at the massive gates of Konoha as the sun beat down through a cloudless sky upon the dirt road that lead from the village. Looking close one could spy four teens gathered around with a pair of adults as well as what appeared to be a small contingent of children all looking at one mint green haired girl.

"Well I don't know how much longer they're going to wait on me." chuckled Fu as she jerked a thumb back towards a small group of Taki shinobi who stood a little out of the gate looked back towards the group inside Konoha.

"Ya well, just don't be a stranger ok, and look out for yourself alright." Called Naruko as Fu nodded giving a quick embrace to the girl before turning to receive one from Minami in turn. As the pair broke apart Minami stepped back looking the girl up and down as if running through a mental check list.

"Did you remember the kunai?" asked Minami as Fu sighed pulling out the tri pronged kunai with a slightly exasperated look.

"Hai Kaasan I did, oh and I packed clean socks as well." Replied Fu in a mocking tone as a few chuckles went up from the group as Minami blushed a little before giving Fu a small push that the girl seemed to take in stride as she turned to the two adults. The first was Kushina who gave the girl a parting hug.

"Just remember you're always welcome in our home." Smiled Kushina as Fu nodded trying to keep small tears from forming in her eyes as she embraced the woman. As she turned it was to have Yugao hold out a scroll and a small ninjaku in a red sheath that matched the girl's most noticeable accessory.

"Keep up your training; I expect to see you improve when you return." Spoke the Anbu as Fu nodded accepting the gift before accepting a small hug from the woman as well. When the two broke apart Fu turned to Naruto who offered a smile shrugging his wrapped arms as if saying "well no hugs from me". In reply the green haired girl leaned over to give him a small peck on the cheek grinning over at Hinata who gave her a small frown before shaking it off and giving her own farewell embrace.

As the pair broke apart Fu suddenly found her legs captured in a set of arms. Looking down Fu found Mito, Hanabi along with several of the children from her missions all holding onto her legs looking up at her sadly.

"Fu-sensei you don't have to leave do you?" asked Mito sadly as Fu looked around at the children now not even fighting to keep back her tears as she looked around at them. As her orange eyes passed around the group Fu found herself kneeling down to wrap her arms around the group holding them close smiling through her tears. After a moment she rose wiping at her eyes as she struck what she tried to make a strong pose.

"Ya Gaki's I have to go, but I'll be coming back at some point, and I better not see any of you slacking off right?" called Fu as the children nodded at her before a small twinkling drew their eyes around them. As they looked small scale like flecks suddenly blazed into life the light reaching out causing the children to blink around confused till they noticed the absence of the girl. As they looked back and forth a chuckle from above drew their eyes up to see Fu leaned back two green wings flapping with a dull thrum to keep her floating above them. The children started to laugh and jump up waving as Fu gave a small circle before speeding off out the gate leaving the cheering children behind. As she passed the gate her eyes began to tear up again as she struggled to keep her emotion under control.

"Stupid, stop crying you're a kunoichi darn it." Muttered Fu as another voice drew her attention.

"**Fu-chan look! LOOK KAASAN'S SAYING BY LOOK HEY FU-CHAN LOOK!" **called Chomei as Fu looked back in time to see the massive white and purple tree blast into life as a wind seemed to catch it just at the right time to send a wave of freshly opened flowers to swirl out through the gate to fly around her bathing her in their sweet scent. As Fu watched the village disappear behind her the happiness she had found stayed with her.

"Baka…it's not like I'm not coming back." Fu muttered again to herself as tears of joy dropped down her face her wide smile preceding her towards Taki. Back in Konoha past the still waving group over in the stadium a group of Anbu stood panting slightly along one side of the wall as one amongst them coughing slightly pulled back his mask showing shadowed eyes over a smile.

"Well Yugao-chan, I hope she liked your and Naruto's goodbye gift." Smirked the man as he turned to wave the group back to their positions.

Back at the gate the cheering children had finally stopped as they moved back to their families Kushina taking Mito off to lunch as Minami and Naruko left with Hinata to visit Sakura and Ino leaving only Naruto standing by the gate the wind blowing lightly causing his coat to flutter around him as he looked out through the gate. After a few moments he turned towards an apparently empty area around him calling out.

"Well are you scared I'm going to stop you or something?"

As if in answer a small shifting occurred as Roshi stepped forwards giving the back of the blondes head a small annoyed glare that the boy seemed to see without having to turn.

"Quite relaxed, after all if I wanted I could take you out before leaving through the gate, I doubt they'd find me in time while they were worrying about you." The man spoke in an almost lecturing tone as Naruto shrugged not turning to face the man.

"I think not…Still I do hope you will listen to what we warned you about. The akatsuki are moving for all of us. Villages don't matter in this. This is about our survival as Jinchuuriki." Spoke Naruto as Roshi sighed stepping up and past the teen towards the massive open gates.

"Well that's were your wrong gaki. It always concerns the villages. Still from what I saw and from my passenger won't stop insisting your village is on the level." Spoke Roshi as he came to a halt the sun beating down over his maroon uniform glinting on the metal plates as he turned to look back at Naruto.

"Might be because we told you the truth…I just hope you can convince your Tsuchikage of it." Spoke Naruto his face almost impassive as he watched the man before him. Despite himself Roshi found himself smirking slightly as he looked back at the teen.

"You don't know the old man very well Gaki." Replied Roshi as Naruto's expression changed to a dangerous little smile.

"And he doesn't know me." spoke the boy as a small series of hums caused Roshi to turn to see crouching on and around the gates five black figures, the metallic Homeed and clawed Seekaku among their fellow seedlings. Turning back to the teen Roshi spied the small from of Kyueed now perched on Naruto's head its nine tails waving gently as its gaze fixed on the man before it. Roshi looked around at the group before him smirking slightly before turning back to Naruto.

"Sorry gaki I'm not adding to your collection no matter how much my passenger wants to." Called Roshi as Naruto shrugged.

"Ya ya can't strengthen an enemy and all that stuff, trust me I know Goku was rather unimpressed with you over that." Replied Naruto as he watched the man for a few more moments. As Roshi turned to leave he felt a small pulse as he whirled to see Naruto still standing there except his eyes were now dark black and the jovial tone now lacking from his words.

"I would suggest you think carefully on who your real enemies are Roshi, because I'm warning you now," called Naruto as his orange coat flashed black the back spitting into ten waving strips as the tree on the back spread its now glowing design around flecks of black touched the teen's face, "I won't be letting you or anyone in your village harm them." Finished Naruto as Roshi meet his eyes unflinching.

"Is that a threat Gaki, because if…" started Roshi before a heavy pulse of chakra cut him off as Naruto's eyes seemed to flash with a purple flame.

"No Roshi it is a warning… there won't be threats if you harm them, there will be you and me, and kami himself won't save you from what I will bring." Finished Naruto as he watched the man meet his gaze. After a few moments Roshi turned stepping out of the village to head down the dust covered path that lead back towards Iwa. As he moved out a small shiver racked him as his burden spoke.

"**If you were smart my host, you would listen to that boy. Neither my Kaasan or he will waste time with politics." **Muttered Goku as Roshi ignored him moving forwards as the gorilla let out a disgusted sigh.

"**Oh and don't think I've forgotten you wouldn't let me have a Sochi, say goodbye to your boozing, from now on that stuff is going to taste like lava.**" Grumbled the gorilla his words causing Roshi to swear under his breath as he turned towards his homeland.

* * *

Around the same time of the departure of the Jinchuuriki across the village in the holding cells of Anbu headquarters a redheaded figure was being led forward past barred cells a few sporting freshly spackled walls that looked as though they were covering massive holes in them. As the prisoner halted looking at one of these a small pressure on her back caused her to continue forward rather than gain the ire of the purple haired woman behind her who steered her down the stone floor towards an ominous steel door that sat in the wall ahead of them. Keeping her face impasse the redhead allowed herself to be steered past the door and into an open room with a single light hanging down casting shadows past a chair that sat in the center of a nest of seals.

Not soon after entering the room the girl found herself seated in that chair her body bound as the trench coat wearing woman inspected the seals before moving over to take a seat at the metal table that sat a few feet before the chair. As she sat the door opposite the one she had entered opened allowing a scarred man to enter his black trench coat staying eerily still as he closed the door moving over to the table dropping file upon the table as he turned his black eyes and scarred face with an almost bored expression towards the girl.

"Well, what the fuck are you waiting for." Spat Tayuya as she glared across the room at the pair before her the black pools of her eyes moving back and forth between the pair. Her insults, however, seemed to not even register as the two turned towards one another.

"Honestly Ibiki why are we bothering, Inoichi already pulled everything we could from her mind, not that it amounted to much." Shrugged Anko poking the file as Tayuya gave the woman a scowl. In reply Ibiki sighed rubbing his head absentmindedly.

"Anko how many times do I have to tell you, mind reading gives facts, not truths. Someone working for Orochimaru doubtless was trained to hide the truth with useless information that can bog down someone like Inoichi, it's our job to take that data and find what it truly means." Lectured Ibiki as he turned to Tayuya who gave a sneer in reply.

"Ya cause Orochimaru's all about sharing his plans, assholes, you think he'd tell me jack all." continued the girl as Ibiki gave her a slow look moving over to take a seat watching her for a moment before speaking.

"Oh I don't doubt that, actually I'm counting on it. You see people like Orochimaru never want to tell you anything, and doing that makes it all the easier to find out what he really wants." Smiled Ibiki as he pulled up the file browsing it for a moment glancing up every now and then at the girl.

"So you were sent to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha for a body to repair the damages that Orochimaru suffered…" started Ibiki as Tayuya gave a disgusted sigh.

"Yes and then we failed we've done this already how many times do you want to hear this shit, or does hearing a girls voice while she's tied up get your pathetic ass off or something." Called the girl as Ibiki continued as if not interrupted.

"And he assigned not only his second in command but his elite team on top of a small battalion to accomplish this. Such a force is overkill at best." Continued the man as Tayuya snorted.

"Ya except we failed so obviously not." Spat the girl as Ibiki seemed to consider this before turning to Anko.

"Tell me was Orochimaru the kind to over compensate?" asked the man as Anko snorted.

"You're asking if that bastard overcompensated?" chuckled Anko as she raised a hand starting to count off as she spoke, "he performed inhuman experiments on himself and villagers, he took me and used me as a genie pig before dumping me, he created a village to try and get revenge, oh and he staged an invasion to try and get at one man." Finished Anko giving Ibiki an "are you serious face" as she finished.

"All of which were measured to accomplish the goal intended, no matter how twisted that goal was." Muttered Ibiki as he looked back at the file before looking to Tayuya.

"He's desperate." Whispered Ibiki as he looked over the file before pausing for a moment looking at the file before leaving the room. After a time her returned his face hard as he picked up the file glancing over at Tayuya before turning to Anko.

"We have what we need." Spoke Ibiki as he turned to Tayuya with a blank expression.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Spoke the man as the redhead gave him a scowl.

"What the, fuck it up with your asshole I didn't give you a damn thing!" called the girl as Ibiki chuckled darkly turning to Anko who looked likewise confused.

"Oh but you did, you see I know why Orochimaru was so desperate, you see Anko your old sensei is blind." Smirked the man as Anko blinked several times before letting out a heavy laugh as Tayuya looked between the two confused as her memories of Orochimaru moved into place how he had looked the last time she had seen him, his hair pulled down to cover his face. Had his eyes been damaged…had he been that injured…how could she have missed that if it was the case…wait did that mean that they had been running to get some stupid Uchiha just for his eyes, how would that have helped.

"Fuck you Orochimaru-sama isn't blind, what kind of…" started the redhead as Ibiki turned to her his presence silencing her as his eyes meet hers.

"Because that is the only reason that Orochimaru would have panicked and sent you on what amounted to a suicide mission. He didn't know where your target was, that much we can tell from you running into them by accident. You would have had to sneak inside the village to get them in normal circumstances and at best that was a death sentence, for a planner like Orochimaru your mission tells me all I need to know. And after confirming with the one responsible for Orochimaru's injuries it is clear why. Your master is crippled." Finished Ibiki as Tayuya sneered.

"As if, the one to injure Orochimaru-sama was…was." She started as her eyes went wide the memory of that fox slashing her master's eyes, the burns on her partner's arms during their fight, the damage it did to her summons. All of it fitting neatly into place. As that fact crashed upon her Tayuya felt like laughing and swearing all at once. Orochimaru, her master the source of pride and fear was nothing but a wounded beast that fed her team and her to Konoha in a desperate attempt to heal himself…and now here she was. A prisoner likely to never see the light of day again…and all for some crippled bastard that she'd never see again.

"Fuck…" muttered Tayuya as her head bowed Anko giving a snort as she looked over at the girl.

"Well that's what you get when you deal with the bastard you get fucked." Called Anko as she pushed herself up taking the chains off and reattaching the cuffs as she pulled the girl up from the chair moving her back through the door and down the hall. As they walked Tayuya felt her world falling apart as she looked back at Anko with an almost lost expression.

"So now what?" whispered the girl in a broken voice. In reply Anko shrugged moving the girl back into her cell before locking the door behind her.

"Now we find that master of yours and cut his head off." Chuckled Anko as she turned to go halting only as Tayuya gave a small chuckle leaning back against her cell wall.

"Ha, I'd kind of like to see that…fucking bastard." Groaned the girl as Anko looked back at her for a few moments before moving back to the interrogation room where Ibiki was standing watching Anko as she entered.

"Well?" asked the man as Anko moved in giving a shrug.

"Too soon to tell, nice acting by the way, though come on me not knowing basic interrogation, I'm hurt." Smirked the purple haired woman as Ibiki smirked.

"Well she believed it; though I'm surprised she thought it would have taken us this long to put it together. Heck took us what two hours to scan Kyueed's memories to figure out what was up with Orochimaru." Continued Anko as the pair moved out of the room out into the open hall idly throwing the empty file into a waste bin on their way out.

"Think she'll want to undergo integration?" asked Ibiki as Anko gave a slightly feral grin.

"Oh if I was a betting girl I'd say yes, she wants payback, trust me that's motivation." Smiled the woman as Ibiki nodded.

"Hai…it is at that." Replied the man as the pair moved out into the headquarters.

* * *

As the events in Konoha were playing themselves out across the consentient in the land of Rain the seemingly constant deluge pounded upon the metallic buildings the water trailing down the sea of metal pipes and stone corridors to form pools and streams the worked themselves through the streets like the veins of some massive beast that slumbered in the gloom. As the rain continued its assault bringing forth a ringing drowning of impacts two shadowy figures moved through the downpour their wide straw hats offering some protection against the sheets for rain. Trudging forwards the pair finally exited the deluge stepping into a dimly lit corridor the taller figure wasting not time in pull off his hat to toss aside as his fellow moved silently forwards.

"I swear this place is the worst bloody village, at least in Kiri we weren't getting soaked daily." Muttered Kisame as he turned his shark like face around to see Itachi leaving him behind as he moved deeper into the complex. With a shrug Kisame hurried after him so that as they reached the next archway the pair once again stood side by side as they entered into a wide pillared hall where several figures already were milling around a few turning to the pair as they entered without comment. As the two came to rest among their fellows a small flutter of movement drew their eyes up to a small balcony where a woman appeared amongst a swirling wall of paper. The white folds slowly dissipated leaving only the rough stone balcony its railing rough with age now supporting a blue haired woman who leaned back looking over the group a white rose sitting delicately above a pair of bright yellow eyes that flashed as she scanned the room. After a moment she was joined as a second figure stepped forwards his black cloak decorated with red clouds a mirror to the woman's own.

As the new arrival stepped forward the dim light caught the metal piercings littering his face settling upon his spiky orange hair before reflecting off of twin orbs of pale purple decorated with a deep rippling pattern that seemed to make the bulge as they turned around the group before him. After a moment the figure spoke his tone barely more alive than the stone and steel that surrounded them.

"Kisame…Itachi report your findings." Spoke the figure in a seemingly deliberate monotone that reverberated slightly in the pillared arcade. In response Itachi stepped forwards reaching up to pull of his hat as he looked up at the man meeting his eyes before speaking.

"We engaged and attempted to retrieve the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and Nanabi, however an unforeseen intervention prevented us from capturing our targets." Started Itachi as a few of the members around him snorted. However Itachi continued ignoring his fellows as he focused on the man above him.

"It seems that our secondary target was connected to this, the creature described from our information intervened and was more formidable that we anticipated, its attack delayed us until the situation became impossible to salvage." Finished Itachi as one of the figure around him spat on the ground sneering.

"What the fuck? You start a fight and run away you bunch of yellow…" started a foul mouthed member of the group as beside him his partner threw out a blackened thread that sank into the speaking man's face soon binding his mouth shut. As the man silently cursed attempting to remove the gag the figure above seemed to contemplate Itachi's words for a moment before speaking.

"What can you tell me of these creatures?" called the man as Kisame stepped up drawing his blade that still had a pale completion to it as though it was recovering from some kind of sickness.

"I can tell you, little bastards look like solid black clones, only their eyes are bright lights, and they can apparently shift shape. Not much in a fight at first, heck tore one in half without too much trouble, but then all hell broke loose. First the damn thing is dead then my blade starts getting sick over it, then the bastards back looking like a fucking samurai in armor swinging around six blades at me…" Kisame spoke working into a tangent before a pulse of chakra caused him to halt as the man with the rippled eyes focused on him.

"You say you tore this creature in two, yet it then came back stronger and wielding six blades?" asked the man in a slightly questioning tone as Kisame nodded looking over at Itachi for support who nodded as well.

"Also genjutsu's even my own were ineffective against it, at the time I feel we should hold off assaulting Konoha at least until we understand this new threat." Finished Itachi as the figure above seemed to contemplate his words. From beside Itachi a chuckle came as one of his fellows a younger man sporting a mop of blond hair that moved to cover one eyes grinned at Itachi.

"These things broke your genjutsu, hell maybe I'll have to track it down to say thanks before I introduce it to my art." Chuckled the man as beside him a hunched figure gave a deep sigh shaking his masked face as he focused back on Kisame's blade his eyes examining it as he allowed his mind to process what he had been told.

"Enough." Spoke the orange haired man as once again silence was restored. After a moment he spoke looking around at the group.

"Our plan have not changed, our work will begin soon enough, for now we focus on identifying the locations of the remaining beasts, Itachi, Kisame, provide a detailed report to Konan, she will see the rest are properly informed. Prepare yourselves Akatsuki, our war approaches, and nothing will be standing in our way of showing this world the meaning of Pain." Finished the man as he turned to leave the blue haired woman looking after him before vanishing in a swirl of paper leaving the group below alone.

_And nothing will stop me from making sure your plans end in ruin_. Thought Itachi as he turned to depart noticing a small flash of crimson from somewhere off to one side as he turned. While Itachi moved away from the rest of the robed figures one man stood between a pair of pipes his visible crimson eyes staring out from behind an orange swirling mask, watching the young Uchiha go.

_So Konoha has some bite after all…no matter, my will is not so easily pushed aside. Still these creatures may deserve some observation…and I have so missed home. _Thought the man as with a faint pulse the man was swallowed up into a swirl of distorted blackness.

* * *

A few days later in an open training field surrounded by a grove of trees inside the village of Konoha two pairs of figures stood across form one another both sliding under blows before lashing out with their own against their own mirror opposites. As the four broke apart a striking clap was heard as the battler's halted turning as one to see a red eyed woman stepping forwards her white bandaged dress swaying slightly in the wind of the warm October day.

"Ok that's good for now, but Ino you need to learn to rely on more than just your legs when your attacking or you become predictable." Called Kurenai as Ino gave a small sigh nodding her head as she looked over at her partner. Beside her Yakumo plopped down on her knees taking a few gasping breaths as she looking over at her sensei.

"Easy Yakumo, you still need to build up endurance, take a break and then get back to it alright." Called Kurenai as the brown haired girl nodded idly adjusting her own bandaged apparel as a happy humming drew her eyes around to the seedling that had taken on her appearance.

"It's ok seed-kun I'm just tired." Called the girl as the seedling moved over to sit beside the girl watching her as she straightened her dress. Beside her Ino smirked looking around to her own seedling that was performing a few stretches as it watched her.

"Hey why can't you be more worried about me?" called Ino as her seedling turned to her looking the girl up and down for a few moments before giving a bored sound of hum as it looked away again.

"Why you!" called Ino developing a twitch in one eye as she shot off chasing her double around the field. Kurenai in the meantime just shook her head watching the pair as she moved back to work on some of her own stances as well as to check on Shino's work. As she departed Ino came back around her seedling racing ahead of her humming happily as it skipped and twirled out of her reach till the blonde finally gave up the pursuit dropping down beside Yakumo.

"Ho…honestly why is it like that." Managed Ino between breaths as Yakumo smiled down at her.

"Maybe because it's your double." Chuckled the brunet as Ino started to speak but stopped shrugging as she lay back on the grass her eyes closed as she folded her arms behind her head.

"Ya, ya well just as long as she doesn't do anything embarrassing we're good." Muttered the blond as Yakumo's seedling hummed happily shifting back into its basic appearance.

"Well I think your safe for now." smiled Yakumo as she pulled out a small pad her seedling suddenly humming happily as it raced off to stand a few steps ahead of the pair striking a pose its face lifted up to the sky taking a heroic stance. Ino for her part leaned up to see this quirking an eyebrow up as she turned to Yakumo who giggled as she started to sketch.

"He likes it when I draw him." whispered the girl as Ino smirked letting her gaze shift to the blue sky above as she did.

"Only you would get the art lover." Chuckled Ino, "So, when do you think we'll be ready for the next chunnin exams?" asked Ino as Yakumo stopped drawing looking out over the field for a moment.

"Hai…I mean Sakura-chan and Shino-kun are already improving so I have to do my best." Muttered Yakumo as Ino sighed.

"Ya same here Choji and Shikimaru are actually training with their Tousan's more, seems neither liked not being able to help in the invasion all that much. Sides can't have Naruto showing us all up." Chuckled the blonde as Yakumo nodded smiling slightly.

"Hai." replied the girl as an excited humming causing the pair to look around to see Ino's seedling down draped around her fellow leaning back as though in a ball room dance her partner holding her up as it bowed its face striking a romance pose both looking over at Yakumo humming happily.

"YOU!" called Ino springing to her feet as she charged across the field the two seedling whirling as the Ino seedling took off again to escape the grasp of its fellow leaving Yakumo chuckling behind at their antics.

Meanwhile across the village Sakura was slumping over a table piled high with textbooks papers on theories and discarded pens her head laid flat upon the wooden surface of the desk her pink hair framing her head.

"Can't read…anymore…brain….mush." groaned the girl as she tilted her head up to look at the still daunting amount of work ahead of her. As her chin rested on the table she allowed her green eyes to travel up to see across from her Hinata in much the same position her usual clean straight hair now sticking up at an odd angle as she blinked tired pale eyes over at Sakura.

"Naruto-kun….I'm sorry." Mumbled Hinata as she slumped forwards her head thumping on the desk as she started to whimper slightly in her sleep.

"No….Hinata-chan….not you." Managed Sakura pushing herself back in her chair the light falling over her red battle kimono as she looked around the library the two occupied fighting to keep from passing out like her fellow.

"Why did I agree to this again." Muttered the pink haired girl rubbing idly at her forehead as she gazed around the room stiffening as a familiar voice spoke up behind her.

"Well I would say because you wanted to take after me, after all you're looking to become a fantastic medical kunoichi aren't you?" called a voice as Sakura turned to see Tsunade standing behind her arms laden with a fresh set of books and papers that caused Sakura to whimper slightly.

"Please no." whispered the girl as Tsunade's face turned up in a smile moving over to drop the books down loud enough to cause Hinata to shoot up with an audible eep before tumbling back out of her chair with a crash.

"Well miss Hyuuga, nice to see you're still awake." Called Tsunade as Hinata rose pulling her chair up and blushing madly as Tsunade turned waving over her shoulder at the pair as she departed.

"Keep up the good work." Called the sage as she left the room the door snapping shut behind her as both girls let out audible groans.

"So what now?" asked Sakura as she looked across at Hinata who gave a shrug before a metallic humming caused both to turn towards the window that now stood open Homeed sitting upon its sill, legs kicking idly as it watched the two.

"Stop mocking us!" called Sakura flinging a book over at the seedling that tilted its head allowing the heavy textbook to sail out of the window and down into the street below.

"Homeed, it's not nice to be here…we're working." Called Hinata in a slightly disapproving tone as the seedling hopped from the window sill its blades wings spreading out to allow it to drop silently to the floor as it moved over pulling a small package from behind its back as it reached the pairs table. As the two turned they saw it was a small packed lunch with a smiling face drawn on a small paper on top that they both recognized. Before they could say more Homeed turned dashing back out the window waving as it leapt out.

"Well delivery, I have to say Hinata-chan if I'd known it was this good I might have snatched up Naruto for myself." Smirked Sakura as she reached for a sandwich causing Hinata to return the look taking one for herself.

"Not a chance Sakura-chan." Replied the girl staring her friend down till both broke out into light laughter moving to enjoy the gift even as below a confused Kakashi was being helped up after a text book of all things had falling out of the sky to brain him.

* * *

As the genin of Konoha worked to prepare for the coming days a lone chunnin stood upon a still lake the water rippling gently around his feet as he focused on his task. The light from the sun glinting off of the water to reflect upon his tanned skin and blond locks his orange coat waving out around him as his face crinkled into one of concentration as around him the water began to churn and bubble. A dull thrum of power began to reverberate around him as the trembling intensified, and slowly he began to rise. Around him the water gurgled and sloshed as it too rose lifting like a pedestal where the teen stood perched as the entire lake slowly lifted up leaving its muddy home below. As it rose the shimmering flecks of thousands of purple and black leaves flashing in the light revealed themselves lying interlocked under the water like some massive bowl that held the lake trapped. Steadily the lake rose higher as the teen above allowed his face to turn up in a triumphant smirk.

"**HEY CONCENTRATE!" **yelled Juubi as Naruto blinked his eyes open.

"Wha…oh crap." Muttered the boy as he felt his focus leave him before a sinking feeling filled him as the mass of leaves faltered causing him to plummet down with his basin into back to earth with a thunderous crash that sent mud splattering everywhere. As the teen slammed down upon the waves he found himself sinking quickly before he could fight his way back up and to shore shaking himself as he looked down at his bandages now soaked.

"Great I'm so dead when Kaasan sees this." muttered Naruto as a happy giggling drew his attention around to see three figures now caked brown sitting not far away. As he looked one of the two larger figures stood mud dripping off of them as they waved their head back and forth revealing a smiling face as well as a few locks of deep crimson.

"Aniki that was awesome do it again!" cheered Mito as beside her Hanabi stood up shaking mud off of him as he looked himself up and down. Before Mito could continue a small humming yip gave her a moments warning before the mud covered Kyueed leapt up into her arms spearing her face with his own mud splattered body causing her to giggle all the more as Naruto looked around at them.

"Scratch that Kassan's going to kill me over that." Muttered Naruto as he watched Mito slip back into the mud dragging Hanabi with her as Kyueed hopped happily around them yipping.

"**Well maybe if you focus instead of gloating that wouldn't have happened." **Lectured Juubi as Naruto sighed sending small waves of his leaves around to dispose of the water before they returned to his coat.

"Hai, hai look I was just happy I was getting better." Muttered Naruto as Juubi sighed.

"**Nothing wrong with pride in your work Naruto, but try and not let it become so messy right." **Called the woman as Naruto nodded turning just in time to see Mito and Hanabi both holding globs of mud in their arms.

"Oh no you." Started Naruto before the pair flung the mud forwards to splatter on the teen's coat.

"**Hey what are you waiting for fight back!" **called Juubi giggling as the children dipped to reload. Chuckling Naruto flung a few leaves forwards wrapping Mito up to heave her gently into the lake with a resounding splash. Hanabi in turn charged catching Naruto off guard and taking the two into the lake as well where they three surfaced the children laughing happily as Kyueed hopped out racing over the water to sit itself upon Naruto's head coating it in a fresh smattering of mud. What followed was a mess of mud, water, and laughter till finally the three found themselves traipsing back down the streets of Konoha. As they found their way to the Hyuuga compound the dripping Hanabi moved in happily past a confused Hiashi who gave the pair of Uzumaki's a small looked before simply nodding as he followed his Sochi into the compound.

As Naruto wound his way back home Mito happily stroking Kyueed who lay in her arms the pair heard a small call out behind them.

"Hey Imoto, Niisan!" called a familiar tone as the pair turned Mito whirling around smiling as she raced down the dirt street past a few shops that were just putting out their lanterns throw herself into a tackle of greeting almost taking Naruko off her feet.

"Neesan!" called Mito excitedly as she plowed into her sister Naruko chuckling happily as she held the girl close looking over at Naruto with one eyebrow cocked up.

"So you take her swimming or what?" chuckled Naruko as Naruto shrugged smiling over at his sister.

"Ya something like that." Replied Naruto as Mito detached herself from Naruko only to fling herself sideways into Minami who stepped up beside her sister taking the tackle in stride and spinning the girls around a few times before settling her down as she took in their appearance.

"Kaasan's not going to be happy you managed to get this messed up." Smirked Minami as Naruto gave a sheepish chuckle even as Naruko moved over offering a small shove of greeting.

"Just couldn't keep from training could you." Smirked the girl as Naruto shrugged.

"What can I say, I'm stubborn like that." Replied the blond as Minami and Mito stepped up as well Kyueed now perched on the little girls head blinking around at the group.

"Ya, it's kind of a family trait." Smirked Minami looking over at Naruko who looked a little embarrassed as she looked away.

"Well come on we can't be late today." Called Naruko as she struck out the rest of the siblings falling in beside her as they moved forwards down the road chatting with one another till they arrived at the Namikaze residence. As the group moved forwards past the gate the door to the home burst open Kushina smiling beside Minato as in the background Voices could already be heard the light of the doorway flooding out onto the area falling across the four siblings.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" cried several voices causing Naruto, Minami and Naruko to smile as their parents and loved ones moved out to surround them the lanterns of the front yard blazing into life as the smiling faces of their teammates, senseis, friends and family circled them. With much laughing and a few scolding's for Naruto's appearance, the group moved back inside sharing both food and drink all celebrating the day that the three siblings entered into their lives. As the night move on and gifts were exchanged it eventually finished with the Namikaze family all grouped together before the couch Minato and Kushina sitting beside one another arm's looped around each other with Minami, Naruko and Naruto all standing in front of them Mito smiling between her siblings still holding Kyueed who looked puzzled at Shizune set off the camera, capturing the family complete, for the first time in what felt like forever.

As that picture flashed to life it was soon joined by others, depicting everything from Naruko and Minami with arms wrapped around each other's necks to a blushing Hinata receiving a kiss on the cheek from Naruto, to Mito pulling a puzzled looking Seekaku towards the yard where a few children cheered to meet the seedling. As more and more memories were captured that night the party continued even as Naruto ducked out to catch his breath looking up into the sky where the moon now shown above them casting a warm glow upon his face.

"**Well Naruto, what do you think?" **asked Juubi as Naruto smiled looking up at the sky.

"I think I have my family back…and now it's time to make sure they are looked after." Breathed Naruto as inside the mindscape Juubi nodded looking around to see Kurama and Kyu both sleeping their tails wrapped around one another as off in the distance Shukaku and Goku were busy working on something even as Chomei continued to dive-bomb them with questions.

"**Hai…we have our work cut out for us.**" replied Juubi as Naruto nodded looking around as the sliding door opened the forms of his family appearing in it as he smiled up at them.

_But it's worth it._ Thought the teen as he pushed himself up moving over to his family as Juubi nodded.

"**Hai...It always is." **Whispered the woman as she watched her children under the moonlight. Struggles were upon the horizon for them all, but just for tonight it was alright to forget that, and enjoy what they had won.

* * *

**Ok and time skip time everybody, first let me say thank you all for all the help in supporting me and sorry this one took so long, as you might have noticed I kind of started working on a few other works that I hope you also enjoy. I know there wasn't a lot of action here, but it's more of a set up for the time skip so that was bound to happen. So next instalment will be in three years, what will change, who will change, what will Mito become…the answer to all these and more…are right here.**

**1\. Not much lol**

**2\. Everyone**

**3\. Read below**

**As a thanks for being so patient I decided to include the prizes for the contest as a way of saying thank you and also giving you just a bit more to look forwards to in the coming chapters. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorite it is thanks to your support that this story will never be abandoned. **

**Enjoy Minami's summon!**

Minami stood in the center of the back yard of the Namikaze residence standing about the same height as her sisters had when they had turned 10. The years had changed Mito into a miniature version of Kushina at the age of twelve excluding the baby fat that Kushina had still carried at that time. She now wore a black battle kimono with an intricate chain design that wrapped around her body in bright golden lines. The design traveled down her sleeves and legs stopping at where the elbows and knees came up. Over the kimono she wore a bright red coat that stopped just at her sleeves and small of her back giving her a tomboy look despite her long hair and delicate features. Mito had taken to carrying her hair in a single long brad that fell across her front accenting her developing bosom.

However, one thing that had not changed was the girl's excitable nature. While she may have calmed down over the years she still was a fountain of excitement, and hard to find not happy about something, although her patience still needed a little work.

"Kaasan come on, I've been waiting for this forever! Aniki and Neesan's have had theirs for years, and I got straight A's just like you wanted!" the redhead called setting her fists on her hips and looking more like a mini Kushina than one would have thought possible. Across from her Kushina was smiling over at her youngest holding a large scroll out in front of her with a smirk.

"That I did my little musume, and here it is the summoning contract your Aniki and I found back in wave." Kushina called holding out the scroll that Mito excitedly accepted.

"Awesome thanks Kaasan, what is it, huh, is it dragons, or phoenix or maybe even a tailed beast like everyone else has, gah wait till Hanabi sees this I'll finally have a one up on him." Asked Mito as she unrolled the scroll in excitement. Kushina in the meantime just shook her head at the girl's excitement.

"Sorry Mito can't tell you we kept it a secret just for today, and I'm not going to ruin the surprise now, so just like we practiced." called Kushina as Mito excitably opened the scroll onto the backyard and summoning a single golden chain to prick her finger before spearing in onto her palm and flying through the hand sign's.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" the girl called as she slammed her hands into the ground before there was a sudden burst of smoke. Mito looked around in the smoke excitedly trying and failing to see what she was looking for. For a horrible moment she feared that she had somehow messed up or that whatever was there, wasn't going to be interested in being her summon. Then there was a small voice.

"**Hey where am I? Wait…Alright this is gonna be awesome!" **called an excited voice as the smoke cleared away showing the creature that Mito had summoned.

There standing in the center of the clearing smoke was a small red creature about the size of a dog with bright red fur, and black legs ending in pawed feet. Its tail was a mix of red and white stripes that ended just where the tails of its black coat came to an end. The coat went up the creatures back ending in a raised color around its neck that framed a furry face where two black eyes sat in a white face, with two small tufts of ears on top. What stood before them was a red panda.

For a second Mito just blinked down at the little guy before she let out an all to girlish squeak of excitement that caused the little guy to jump and turn to face her. The two just looked at each other for a moment in silence before Mito spoke.

Um…hi I'm Mito, and I guess your my summon…if that's ok?" the redhead asked scratching her hand idly as she held out a hand awkwardly. The red panda seemed to consider her for a moment before it jumped forwards with a happy little cry of excitement.

"**Hai Hai I knew it this is awesome we have a summoner again, oh thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh my name is Kuro. But who cares this is awesome!" **called the small bundle of fur as it jumped into Mito's chest causing her to fall over letting out a giggle as the furry creature nuzzled against her.

"He-hey cut it out!" giggled Mito as she tried to pry the little furry creature off of her for a moment, before giving up and simply holding it close giggling in turn. Kushina watched with a smile on her face as the two rolled on the grass. Kushina and Naruto had managed to figure out the summoning, but had kept it a secret to give it to Mito when she reached the proper age. Kushina was the holder of the contract currently and had arranged for this little situation. She had meet the boss summon a few years back, and it turned out that she had a little bundle of joy just like Kushina had, so they had hatched a plan to have the two become partners. Little Kuro had managed to figure it out at some point, and had been jumping off of the walls with excitement ever since.

Finally the pair calmed down enough and now Mito stood grinning as Kuro lay draped across her shoulders long fuzzy tail falling down her front as his head stuck up excitedly looking around level with Mito's.

"Kaasan I have to go show Hanabi this, he will be so jealous, Hinata said he had to wait a few weeks before he got the rabbit contract, please!" called the girl smiling over at Kushina as Kuro gave her his best shot of the puppy dog eye jutsu. Kushina in turn just huffed out a small chuckle before nodding as Mito gave her a quick hug before turning to run and jump over the nearby hedge flinging a golden chain from her arm as she did and pulling herself forwards towards the treetops to take her own shortcut to the Hyuuga compound.

Kushina watched her go with a happy smile on her face.

"Yep those two should get along just fine." She thought as she turned to enter back into the house taking the contract back in with her.

Meanwhile Mito was swinging through the forest laughing as Kuro leapt from tree to tree ahead of her calling out as he did.

"**Hey Mito care to have a race!" **he called excitedly as he sprung off of a branch and twirled in the air to face back at Mito who was grinning a happy and fierce smile.

"Ok but you are going down!" called Mito shooting two chains out to fling herself past the creature letting out a whoop of joy as she sailed forwards. Mito was still smirking when there was a small sound like creaking wood before Kuro came rocketing past her his fur pulled back as a swirling mix of wind and leafs from the forest around him spiraled around him allowing him to bounce effortlessly from the very air around him as if he could step upon it like a solid object.

"**Don't think so Mito! I'm winning this!" **he called out as she rocketed forwards seemingly off of the thin air. Causing Mito to let out a defiant laugh firing off a few more chains to fling her forwards.

"MY SUMMON IS AWESOME!" she cried as the two raced into the forest faster and faster. After a few minutes the two reached the outer edge of the Hyuuga property, however, the two were going so fast that stopping seemed like it would be an issue. The pair hurtled out of the forest their eyes going wide as they saw the wall of the baths standing before them. With a crash the two flew through the wall splashing into the large spring that served as the outdoor bath soaking the pair. Mito and Kuro came up from the water both coughing and spitting water before spying each other and letting out laughs that didn't stop until the Hyuugas arrived to find the source of the commotion.

* * *

**Enjoy Hyuga events**

Hanabi had just finished a day of playing with Mito and had found himself cleaning up back at the Hyuga compound before heading to dinner with his family. He had spent the day playing with Mito and Kyueed while working on putting their Shinobi training into practice in their games, at the moment it was in the form of chasing after and trying to catch hold of Kyueed, which wasn't easy when the fox didn't want to be caught. He could break through Mito's chains and Hanabi's moves seemed to do little more that tickle the fox. Worse yet was that when they did manage to tackle the creature Kyueed would just pull them off in his soft tails, the fur tickling them as his set them aside and shot off again.

"At this rate we'll never manage to hold him down, bleagh I think I swallowed some of his fur again!" said the boy as he pulled off his shirt and caught a few of the stray black hairs in his mouth as he moved into the bath. Idly he heard a voice but didn't pay it any mind thinking that it was just someone else in the baths. As he entered he looked around not spotting anyone just shrugging as he moved over to start washing himself off.

"Now come on think Hanabi, how are you and Mito every going to catch Kyueed….maybe we could set up some wire traps like Iruka sensei was showing us." The boy continued speaking to himself as he sat down his eyes closed as he worked the suds up and down his body. For a few minutes the boy was preoccupied with the soap on his body again ignoring what sounded like someone speaking to him from a great distance. As he reached the end of his scrubbing he reached up to pull the hair from his face blinking some water out of his eyes as he did.

Hanabi was sitting in front of a long mirrored wall that allowed for the bath room to have several spots for baths at any one time. As a result when he pulled his hair back and opened his eyes for the first time since he had started scrubbing he was looking into a perfect reflection of himself…or at least that's what he was supposed to be seeing. Instead the boy before him was looking at him with two black eyes with wide white globs in the center of them like moons. The next thing the boy noticed was that there were two horns now coming out of the others forehead just where a headband may go when in a few years he would be receiving his. Hanabi looked at the figure for a few moments in complete shock.

_Who? who's that? _He asked himself as he reached up the figure in the glass mirroring his movements. With a sudden thought Hanabi reached up a hand idly to feel his own forehead, his heart stopping as his fingers traced over a pair of horns just like the figure before him. The boy's reaction was quite reasonable in its own way…though the rest of the Hyuuga household may have disagreed on that point.

From the dining room where Hitomi and Hinata were working to set the table they suddenly heard a shout of pure horror and a commotion causing the two to turn towards one another with equally puzzled looks.

"Kaasan did that come from the baths?" asked Hinata with mild concern as Hitomi nodded in reply. However, before either could do anything more than wonder what was happening pounding footsteps came rushing by. The two women looked up to see Hanabi still wet with soap clinging to his body running by in a dead sprint his hands clutched over his head grabbing onto his new horns, his black and white eyes wide as he let out a stream of excited/horrified cry's.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH! I KNEW IT I KNEW IT SHE IS A DEVIL SHE TURNED ME INTO ONE JUST LIKE HER! NOOOOOO! I DON'T WANT TO BE A DEVIL AAAAHHHH SOMEONE HELP I NEED TO PUSH THEM BACK IN! WHAT! NO YOU CALM DOWN I'M BECOMING LIKE HER I DON'T WANT RED HAIR, NO LEAVE ME ALONE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! TOUSAN HELP ME….STOP LAUGHING…..KKKAAASSAAANNN….NEESSSAANNN! HELP!" cried out the boy as the pounding seemed to travel the full circle of the compound before finding its way back to the dining room the soaped up boy plunging into it looking around in a panic, and spying the two figures he was looking for letting out a small cry of happiness as he flung himself into Hitomi almost flipping the women over.

"KAASAN! You can help right please I don't want to become a redhead!" Hanabi cried into Hitomi's chest, as Hitomi looked from the boy to Hinata and back trying to suppress the laughter that was building in her chest. Hinata in the meantime looked round to see Hiashi standing in the doorway trying not to smile at the source of Hanabi's fear. With a small chuckle Hinata moved over to rest a hand on Hanabi's head causing the boy to look up at her his eyes still wide.

"Imoto, you're not becoming a devil, I think you awakened eyes like mine." Hinata whispered gently to the boy as her eyes shifted to a matching pair like Hanabi's the two rabbit like horns sprouting on either side of her head. Hanabi looked from Hinata to Hitomi who was smiling as she nodded down at her Sochi. From the door there was a small cough and Hanabi turned to see Hiashi standing there a small smile upon his face.

"Hanabi as proud I am to see you achieve the next stage of the Byakugan, maybe it would be better to have this conversation with pants on…..wouldn't you agree." The man said causing Hanabi to suddenly freeze as he noted the state of himself. With an almost Hinata like eep he dove under the dining table only his face showing but glowing bright red from embarrassment all the same.

Hanabi had managed to calm down later, and had even begun to get tutored by Hinata in the days to come on the functions of his new abilities. Needless to say it had taken some getting used to for the boy but after a time he had managed to get the hang of it. It was a few days later Hanabi found himself along with Mito again facing off against Kyueed in a mini battle in the back of the Namikaze compound. Even with his new abilities the fox proved too much for the children to handle and so the two found themselves sitting on the porch both looking out tiredly as Kyueed bounded around the yard chasing a butterfly with apparent interest.

"Hey Hanabi so what kinds of things do your new eyes do anyway?" asked Mito her legs swinging under her as she looked over at her friend. Hanabi seemed to pause for a second before replying.

"Well I guess I can do what my Neesan can, I just need to practice but so far I've only learned the basics so it will be a while till if manage to do more." He replied Mito give him a little smile as three chains slid from her back all pointing at him.

"Ha that means I'm still the best she called hopping up with one hand stuck up in triumph as Hanabi looked worried at her actions seconds before her chains raced towards him to tie him up like she always did when she was excited. However, as the chains shot forwards Hanabi's eyes shifted, and his horns grew before he swung out his hands in a swiping motion towards the oncoming chains causing them to circle back around wrapping Mito from head to toe in her own golden bindings. Mito hadn't even dropped her pose so she fell to her side one hand stuck defiantly up even as her eyes looked around confused at what had happened. For a second Hanabi just stared at the downed girl before letting out a little laugh and standing up.

"Ha not this time Mito now who's superior?" he asked looking down at the girl who was giving him a pouting look from behind the golden chains. Hanabi just smiled in reply before turning around and walking into the house Mito being pulled behind him by her own chains that seemed to be under the boys command.

"Come on Mito let's see if I can find your ramen stash!" he said his voice filled with glee as Mito's eyes went wide and she started to bang back and forth trying to free herself from the bindings her words muffled but sounding something like "anything but the ramen, no Hanabi no fair."

**Well that's all for me hope you enjoyed the chapter and the first part of The Leaf's New Tree, we made it to the time skip, YYYYYAAAAAHHHHHH!( insert Kermit flapping arms here). Hope everyone had a nice holiday, and goodbye for now.**

**Songbird out.**


	30. Chapter 27

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Well here we are again as always thank you for all of the support in the reviews, favorites and follows.

Anyway so big thank you to MightyNo8409 who has agreed to help me out. At the moment he is going back and fixing my earlier chapters and I hope that it helps everyone enjoy the story more, if you can drop him a pm helping me to thank him if you enjoy the change.

Ok two small things, I just saw the last naruto movie and, while I really enjoyed it I had to comment about a few things that made me laugh.

First….the Raikage has a giant lazer cannon that shot to the moon….a giant lazer cannon that shot to the moon….I'm sorry but he is dr. evil now as far as I'm concerned. Also lol is it sad that my own idea for a chakra cannon was less ridiculous than the show lol, I honestly didn't even know about them till just now.

Second…so the byakugan had another form….and it makes you go super sayan….ok….is it sad that my idea was again more reserved than the show lol. Honestly I didn't copy either of these ideas from the movie I thought it was being original and now after seeing the movie I'm feeling a little sad that it now looks like I copied their ideas . Still the movie was fun and I say when it comes out buy it. Anyway onto the story.

Ok on to the chapter enjoy.

**Chapter 27**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-The wheel keeps on turning-**

The sunrise broke over a still morning the new light flooding over the tiled rooftops and into alleyways scattering shadows as they slowly moved over a familiar resting village. As the dawn rushed forward it next found itself climbing a steep cliff side before flashing over four great stone faces their unseeing eyes looking out over the slumbering village in quite reverence as the sun fully pushed itself free from the treetops to take its place within the cloudless sky.

Under its rays figures resting upon the mighty walls that bordered the town, as well as those rising from their time of rest all turned as one with small smiles upon their lips towards what now was undoubtedly the city's most prominent landmark. There in the center of the village a singularly massive tree stood its bark the pale and delicate white of freshly fallen snow, which decorated even the impressive branches that stretched out over what had been the villages stadium casting an unearthly calm as its leaves began to shine in the new days sun. With the light each of the seemingly endless number of black and purple leaves, still touched with the dew of the morning suddenly flashed like a heliograph as the whole tree seemed to sway as if in a soft breeze despite the stillness of the morning.

Then the tree stopped suddenly going still for a moment as if waiting for some unknown sign to continue its work. A moment later that sign passed as the tree sprouted into open flower hundreds of buds bursting to life from its branches plucking themselves from their home to fly out gently into the skies drifting slowly out across the village. As those already awake were joined by those who were just pulling themselves from slumber looked out, it was to see, these beautiful flowers drifted down slowly vanishing into small sparkling fragments of light seeming to melt like snow upon a warm surface. As the spectacle finished heralding a new day, those on guard turned back to their position waiting for their reprieve or simply to begin the day's activities.

Among these numbers was a pair of chunnin each standing on either side of the massive reddened gate of their villages both pressing upon an intricate set of seals feeding their charka into the wooden doors that shivered once before parting. Soon the massive gates of Konoha swung forwards, gliding without effort out till they stood wide like welcoming arms towards the trail leading into the city.

With a small tired stretch both Chunnin moved over to a small wooden booth beside the gate the light catching off of the green and black uniform that distinguished their rank within the villages defenders, both visibly yawning as they began this day's work.

"Well *yawn* at least it's a nice morning." Called one of the men as he settled himself down within the booth, his fellow shrugging slightly as he slipped a pair of massive kunai off of his shoulder to rest against one of the booth's wooden walls before he too took his seat.

"Suppose, still can't wait for our shift to be over, feels like we've been doing this forever." Muttered the man as he ran one hand through his mess of black hair drawing a grin from his fellow that reached up to his one visible eye, the other concealed by a small mess of brown hair held down my his bandana.

"Hai, hai, so Kotetsu how did your little sister's party go? Manage to get her that special visitor." Smirked the one eyed man as he partner gave a proud grin.

"Of course I managed it Izumo, what kind of brother would I be if I wasn't able to get one to show up, heck I even got the one that likes to play with the children as their copy." Replied Kotetsu as his partner nodded.

"That so, bet she loved that." Replied Izumo as his partner nodded reaching into his vest to pull out a small photo showing it off with a smile.

"You know it, take a look." Replied the man as the photo was passed over showing a small black haired girl grinning widely at the camera her hair pulled up into a pair of pigtails that fell down behind here simply blue party dress. The child was not only grinning but flashing a victory sign with one hand, as the other was slung over what one could only describe as a perfect copy of her with only three differences. The first being that this mirror had no true face, but only the shape of the other, the second that where the girl had bright brown eyes, this other held what appeared to be twin glowing purple orbs, and finally the fellow was a single unified shade between deep purple and black.

"Yep I think you're her hero for that one." commented Izumo as Kotetsu took the photo back smiling at it for a moment before pocketing it with a grin.

"Yep, I'm just lucky that two were still in town, heck Naruto's been gone on that mission for a while." Remarked the man as his partner nodded flipping through his list a few times before grinning to himself.

"Well looks like he's due back today, looks like you might get to say thanks to him in person." remarked Izumo as the two turned their eyes out towards the open dirt road leading into the village.

Meanwhile a considerable distance down that road a familiar blond haired youth was stepping forward his orange trench coat billowing out behind him as he moved ahead his hands slipped into the pockets of his blackened pants, that still matched his shirt, both decorated with a few touches of color in the shape of bright orange falling leaves that wrapped around his neck and down one leg. From the rear, one could also see the black tree that decorated his back eight bright fruits depicted hanging from its branches shining lightly like the twin, red and yellow, metal headbands tied to either arm of his coat.

Idly the teen paused turning his mismatched azure and amethyst eyes upwards towards the equally blue sky a small smile touching his lips as the sun beat down upon his golden locks.

"Hey Juubi is that what I think it is?" asked Naruto to apparently no one as he turned back towards Konoha a small stirring within his mind blinking to life before seeming to brighten at his question.

"**Hai, that's her alright, hurry up and get back to Konoha, it's about time those idiots let her come!" **called Juubi excitedly as Naruto let out a small chuckle letting his hand fall to his side as he stretched slightly his taller body popping in a few spots as he nodded.

"Right, right it's been what three years since the last one?" asked the blond as a small stream of black orbs began to tumble from his sleeves slowly snaking up his legs incasing them in a blackened shell. As this was happening a larger orb carry seven green strips popped free from his back cracking open to form into an armored figure, the same height as the blond, shaking its head slightly as it let out what sounded like an annoyed metallic hum even as behind it six bladed wings stretched out the light glinting off the deadly appendages.

"**TO LONG JUST GO!" **called Juubi excitedly causing Naruto to grin as the pollens finished forming over his legs.

"Ok, sides I have a date, can't be late for that or I'll be getting another scolding by bunny-chan. Hey Homeed go ahead and drop off the report ok." Replied Naruto glancing over at the seedling who gave a nod before shooting off into the sky as Naruto crouched forwards like in a running start. As his body moved down his armored feet dug into the ground while from the heel a small pulse appeared as a single pollen seemed to shiver before detonating into a small blast of purple chakra visible for an instant as it added its own force to the blonds step. The next moment Naruto was blasting forwards down the road small wisps of purple chakra swirling behind as he flickered forwards at such speeds he seemed only to be an orange blur that shot towards Konoha.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

As a familiar blond teen was tearing his way towards Konoha within the village upon a small training field stood to figures both facing each other. As the two focused on each other the first lowered herself into a practiced stance her arms held up like those of a boxer as she shook a few blond strands from her before her blue eyes, the green vest she wore already covered in a few spots of dust along with the blackened Anbu style pads and wrappings that covered her legs. Behind her vest the simple short sleeved red kimono shifted slightly showing her arms tight with muscle but unblemished by a scar as she cracked her neck slightly.

"Well, what are you waiting for….let's do this." called the blonde as across from her what appeared to be some kind of cross between a male teen and a fox blinked a pair of red and purple mismatched eyes at her its ears twitching slightly before lowering itself so that its nine massive tails would billow out behind it each now pointing towards her as its whole body visibly tensed. For a moment neither figure even seemed to breathe. Then as if some silent signal had gone up both charged at the same moment.

The blond was faster and closed in swinging an arm out in a devastating strike that was brushed aside as one of the foxes swinging tails smashed into her wrist sending the blow wide. Even as the first blow was turned aside the fox fired a pair of tails forwards like blackened spears forcing the girl to smash one sandaled foot into the ground, the force flinging her up. As she rose the blond twisted in midair spinning as the tails shot under her before righting herself to bring her extended leg down into a devastating axe kick.

With a thump of impact she saw her leg smash into four of the foxes tails the force enough to cause the powerful appendages to buckle slightly even as its paws caused small cracks to appear on the training field.

Before the blond could react to this two of the tails spun around her leg binding it in a tight embrace. The next moment she found herself flying across the field courtesy of the tails hurling her through the air like some human softball. As she closed in on the trees bordering the field the blond managed to right herself enough to smash both feet into the side of a large tree, her impact sending leaves falling even as with a burst of force she flung herself forwards at the fox her fist extended to smash into its blank face.

Her momentum proved enough for the fist to find its mark, as with an audible smack the fox found itself flying back. A triumphant smirk spread across the blondes face as she saw this, only to fade a second later as she felt the familiar tug on her arm.

"CRAP!" roared the blonde as she found herself being pulled along with the fox as it flew back, courtesy of the tail that had managed to wrap around her arm even as her attack landed. What resulted therefore was that both combatants found each other rolling head over heal across the field with a chorus of humming yips, and annoyed cries before both finally came to rest in a small pile upon the grassy field.

Groaning the blond girl raised her head pushing one of the black tails off of her face as she turned towards the sound of padding footsteps. As she turned her blue eyes up it was to see the smiling face attached to a mop of bright red hair that fell over the figures red jacket which in turn draped over a black battle kimono only decorated by a few golden chain designs that carried down the girl's sleeves and pant legs. Despite her current position the blonde found herself smiling up at the younger girl as she pushed herself up dusting off some of the dust as she rose to now look down at her little sister.

"Well, what do you think imoto?" chuckled the blonde as the younger girl took a thinking pose for a moment before grinning widely up at the older girl.

"Sorry Naruko-neesan but Kyueed wins." Replied the girl happily as the black fox creature raised its head yipping happily as it to rose, even as Naruko shot it an annoyed look.

"Oh come on Mito I won that one fair and square, your bias cause he's fully!" called Naruko in an annoyed voice as she set her fists on to either hip squinting down at her redheaded sister who gave a wide grin.

"Sorry Neesan but fluffy always wins!" giggled Mito as Naruko gave her sister a small glare before a wicked smile crossed her lips.

"Well then I suppose I just have to pick on someone who isn't so fluffy." Replied Naruko as Mito froze her violet eyes going wide for a moment before letting out a worried little laugh.

"Um you wouldn't do that would you Naru-neesan?" asked Mito a little to innocently her eyes blinking a few times as her hands came before her as she attempted to look as innocent as possible.

"Don't think so Imoto, that doesn't work on me." replied Naruko cracking in neck slightly as Mito let out another nervous chuckle before turning to Kyueed.

"Kyueed…RUN!" cried the redhead turning to spring off as Naruko charged after her both smiling widely as the chase began Kyueed following after letting out small yips of happiness. The chase carried on around the field for a few laps before Mito found herself in a loving hold of Naruko who was rubbing her head with one fist as the younger girl tried and failed to escape her pleas mixed with both girls laughter.

A moment later, however, a small hum drew the pair's attention around as Naruko turned with Mito still in her arms towards Kyueed who was looking up at the sky. Following the foxes gaze the two sisters looked up in time to see a six winged figure rushing past overhead causing both to smile widely.

"Well, I guess I'll have to put off your punishment for now." chuckled Naruko as she let Mito slip to the ground where she shot an slightly annoyed look up at her sister before it vanished into a wide smile as she pushed herself up reaching out to grab the blonde's hand tugging her forwards.

"Come on Neesan Aniki's back! Kyueed come on!" cried Mito happily as Naruko chuckled before allowing herself to be dragged forwards off of the training field as Kyueed let out a small yip before jumping towards the little redhead. As the black creature flew through the air its form suddenly shivered before with a small plop the shrunken form of the fox landed happily upon Mito's hair as the group dashed out of the training field.

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As the pair of Namikaze's were rushing out of the training field across the village a large elegant home stood basking in the new day's sun. Within the walled compound a small open area part garden and part training area stood bordered by wooden floors that acted as the perfect viewing area for a pair of figures who sat silently their eyes trained upon the garden area. Following their gaze the focus became apparent as two figures preformed a series of fluid movements before them bending and swaying as though dancers in the midst of a beautiful performance. With a final step both dancers suddenly shot forwards their feet snapping into place before them as their arms both shot out palm open as the air around them seemed to shiver with some invisible power that caused the small bushes and trees within the garden to shiver.

As the two finished this position a small clapping caused both to turn smiling softly to see the source, a beautiful pale skinned woman with deep blue hair beaming at them her gently eyes trailing over both. Beside her a stoic man gave the pair a glance before even his stiffness brock as he offered a warm smiling nodding at the two's work.

"An excellent demonstration Hinata, Hanabi." Called Hiashi glancing between his two children his eyes first moving over his son. The boy had changed as much as his friend over the years growing taller, as well as gaining even more of his father's features, though his dress now replicated that of his cousin Neji in the white priest like kimono he wore accessorized by his blackened pants and bare forehead. His brown hair now fell just to his neck ending in a small knot.

As Hiashi's eyes found him he saw the boy smiled proudly as his eyes shifted back to their usual pale completion even as the twin horns that decorated his brow retreated as well. Looking beside his son Hiashi's eyes then traveled up to his daughter's kind face, as her own eyes shifted back to their pale norm the twin horns, that gave her the appearance of having large white rabbit ears, slowly crumbling to wisps of chakra allowing her long blue hair to wave gently down over the cream colored vest tide just under her chest with a violet band. As Hiashi watched Hinata bent slightly brushing her grey leggings free of some dust that had found its way onto both them, and her blackened sandals that reached up to just under her knees. The years had done their work well in transforming Hinata into the beautiful young woman who now stood before him, and Hiashi knew that he was blessed to have her as a daughter.

"Thank you Tousan." Smiled Hinata as she turned her eyes over to see her mother smiling at the two.

"So how's Hanabi's skills progressing?" ask Hitomi happily as her daughter looked down to her brother smiling happily as she pulled her hands to rest behind her back.

"Well Hanabi-kun's been practicing very hard with Mito-chan so he's doing very well." Replied Hinata with a small cock of her head to accompany her smile. Her words caused Hanabi to suddenly blush looking pointedly away from his sister's gaze as Hitomi raised a hand up to stifle a giggle at her son's embarrassment. Beside her Hiashi let out a heavy sigh his eyes moving upwards past the small roof and up into the skies as he privately prayed to know why his children were so infatuated with such eccentric people.

As Hiashi's eyes scanned the skies for his answer a small blur of movement caused him to pause before he found himself letting out a small breath drawing his families attention.

"Hiashi?" whispered Hitomi leaning over as the stoic man's eyes dropped down to Hinata who blinked towards her father in apparent confusion.

"Hinata it would seem that your boyfriend has finally returned…you are dismissed for the remainder of the day from practice." Spoke Hiashi in his usual stoic tone as beside him Hitomi smiled broadly as Hinata's eyes lit up. With a few quick steps Hinata made her way over reaching around to give her father a small hug before shifting over to her mother. Then she was off running towards the compound gates as both parents smiled after her Hitomi's eyes turning around to Hiashi with a knowing smile playing across her lips.

"Well Hiashi-kun, that was awful nice of you." Whispered the woman giving the stoic man a small nudge that he tried to ignore before looking over to see that Hanabi was smirking over at him as well before his finally went lax shaking his head at himself.

"I simply do not wish to deny my daughter any happiness." Replied Hiashi stoically as Hitomi let out a small giggle looking over to her son.

"Your Tousan doesn't want to get Hinata-chan angry at him again; I think he's still afraid of the consequences." Giggled Hitomi as despite himself Hiashi shivered involuntarily his lips parting into a small murmur.

"How was I to know that Roku's Kaasan was such a terrifying creature…..the fur…everywhere." Shivered the man as the other two Hyuugas gave the man a slightly pitying look before turning their attention back to one another as Hanabi moved over to help his mother into her chair along with his father.

Meanwhile Hinata found herself skipping past the two gate guards both smiling as their heiress waved back to them before she turned to raced down the dirt street. As Hinata weaved in-between a general bustle of the village she passed by a familiar restaurant its flaps opening as a pair of kunoichi emerged both watching as the smiling girl ran past.

"Hey Hinata!" called a pink haired girl waving towards the pale eyed heiress as she vanished into the bustle of the village. With a small sigh the kunoichi let her arm fall over the red sleeveless vest and pink split skirt that now decorated her from alongside a pair of shot black pants and high black sandals like those Hinata wore.

"Well she sure was in a hurry." Muttered the girl bringing a hand up to run through her pike hair that lay just to the small of her back, held back by a metal headband carrying a small leaf insignia, as she cast her gaze over to the brown haired kunoichi that stood beside her.

"It's ok Sakura I'm sure she just didn't see us." spoke the girl bushing her brown bangs back from the green vest she wore over the light purple battle kimono that flowed down into two wide sleeves, that swayed gently like the slitted skirt she wore just like Sakura's her legs bare from the knee down to the standard shinobi sandals. Her words caused Sakura to raise both her arms in a slight shrug as she breathed out a sigh.

"Ya your right Yakumo, so want to go meet Shino, Kurenai-sensei said we had a mission coming up." Commented the pinked haired girl. Across from her Yakumo nodded slightly reaching up to brush the mop of brown hair back over her back where it fell to a braided point decorated by a pair of small yellow clips she had kept from childhood.

"Hai." replied the brunette her brown eyes closing into a smile along with Sakura's emerald one as the pair turned from the small wooden ramen stand. Soon the two were away heading towards the training fields moving steadily into the throng on the village streets.

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At the same time across the village within the large red building adorned with the symbol of fire a blond figure sat behind a large wooden desk pilled high with writing implements and scrolls both open and closed. Directly behind the desk sat a wide window that let in trails of light that illuminated the office before it showing a few stacked bookcases as well as the framed faces of the villages Kage's all on full display as they looked own to see the man behind the desk let out a tired sigh as he pushed himself back from his work, hands moving up to rung figures through his blond spiky hair.

"These early mornings are going to be the death of me." muttered the man a moment before his senses screamed at him to duck. With unbelievable speed the man shot down just as a familiar figures slammed through the closed window in a shower of glass promptly catching its foot on the edge of the desk taking both itself and the piece of furniture with it tumbling end over into the center of the office where it came to rest.

"Hokage-sama!" came several voices as black dressed figures appeared dropping down their white porcelain masks turning to face whatever had just arrived as they placed themselves between it and their charge. With an audible sigh the blond man leaned up in his chair his eyes tracing around the general disarray of the room before he blinked over at the thing that had flown into his office just in time to see an armored head popping up two mismatched glowing eyes turning to him as a single ponytail swung from the back of its black spiky hair.

"Homeed." Sighed Minato audibly as the Anbu all relaxed around him most shaking their heads at their clumsiest member's arrival. Among the group as purple haired kunoichi stepped forwards her hands moving to her hips as she glared down at the seedling from behind her mask, causing even the armored creature to shrink back with a worried metallic hum from behind its glowing vented mouth guard. For an armored figure Homeed desperately tried to appear pathetic under the woman's gaze which only seemed to annoy her further.

"Don't even try looking at me like that! What kind of a guard nearly kills their charge!" called the woman as the armored figure watched her for a few moments before letting its head drop with a sad little hum. Behind the woman the two remaining Anbu gave each other a small glance before shrugging as they summoned a few clones to assist with the cleanup seeing their partner had things well in hand with the "intruder".

As the desk was pulled back into place and the numerous scrolls and shards of glass either removed or restacked Homeed continued to be berated by the female Anbu till the room was finally repaired for the most part leaving only a now glassless window to mark the events. As Minato turned his eyes around it was to see Homeed now kneeling as if prepared to commit seppuku, its six bladed wings folded behind it as it shot wide eyed glances between the woman beside it and Minato. The sight was enough to cause a faint smile to touch the man's lips as he let out a breath.

"Well Homeed, I take it Naruto's finished his mission?" asked the blond as the seedling turned to him nodding a few times before its ponytail like appendage shifted before slipping a scroll out from under its armored flaps stretching forwards to drop it upon the desk with a small metallic hum.

"I see." Replied Minato with a serious expression that the Anbu present recognized as fake the moment it was adopted. However, to the poor Homeed not such recognition was available as it sat shivering slightly as it awaited judgment. For a few minutes Minato read over the report before at last he sighed setting it down fixing the seedling with a stern look.

"I am glad the mission was a success Homeed, however your most recent actions require some form of punishment." Spoke Minato stoically as Homeed looked up at him, obviously worried, despite its lack of facial features.

"However, given you have just returned that can wait, you are dismissed." Finished Minato as the Seedling looked from him to the Anbu before rising to its full height the same as Naruto's new size as with a happy hum it began to spread its wings.

"But you are forbidden from flying for the rest of the day, until your punishment is decided." Added Minato as the seedling stopped looking over at the man before its wings dropped a small sad hum issuing from its face as a few flecks of purple dust left it in what could almost be considered a sigh accompanied by its eyes dimming slightly as its eyes closed slightly, the newest expressions the seedlings had managed showing just how much this order affected it. As the seedling turned to slink out its head hung Minato turned to see two of the Anbu peeking out to look after it before turning to face him, their porcelain faces carrying even less expression than the seedling.

"What?" asked Minato as one of the Anbu spoke simply.

"That was unkind Hokage-sama….till out mascot is free from this punishment you may find out protection…lacking." Replied the Anbu before it shivered back into hiding with its fellows as Minato sweet dropped.

"I swear why I wanted to be Hokage escapes me sometimes." Muttered Minato as he pulled up another scroll before paused to look back at the village as small smile touching his lips.

"Welcome home sochi." whispered the man before he turned back to his work. As the Hokage settled back into his work Homeed was shuffling down the buildings steps drawing a few looks but no more than acknowledgement as it passed by shinobi and kunoichi at their work. As the black armored figure passed one hallway a pair halted to let it pass both following its trail with their gaze before the first slightly taller than his fell let out a small sigh.

"You know, at one time I would have found a giant armored buy boy strange." Whispered the man as he turned his black hair, that hung just to the nape of his neck, waving slightly across his pale skin that glinted like the light flickering from the steel headband upon his brow adorned with four etched lines. Turning the figure gave a soft smile down the wrappings bound around his neck shifting slightly so that the single end that hung down over his deep blue and tan kimono and black baggy undervest swung gently from side to side.

As the man's brown eyes moved down towards his fellow those eyes traveled down over the deep red locks of hair that hung low in a simple wave that ended in two small tails drawn tight by blue ties. Behind the mop of hair the girls face turned up to his, a sharp look of intelligence upon it as her ruby red eyes turned up in a small smile to match her lips.

"I guess, but after all this I'd be surprised if anything could shock us Haku." Replied the redhead shrugging slightly her arms rising slightly causing the sleeves of her soft teal battle kimono to fall back into the deeper green of her vest chunnin vest that fell just to where her black leggings took up the duty of covering her accompanied by a pair of armored leggings to match the smaller ones upon each of her forearms were a few visible markings were etched into the steel.

"So you headed back to Kiri." Continued the redhead her tone noticeably dropping in tone as Haku gave her a small smile.

"I do have to report to Mei-sama and Zabuza-sama Minami." Replied the man in a gentle tone that caused the redhead to give him a slightly exasperated look.

"I know that, it's just irritating." Replied Minami with a small sigh.

"**Cheer up Minami-chan cold boy will be back before you know it! And then you take him out to dinner and…" **Started the excited voice of Kyu before Minami cut into his mental stampede.

_Thank's Kyu but not really helping._ Shot Minami as the fox quieted itself. Meanwhile outside Haku watched as Minami's face turned into a small contemplating look before her eye began to twitch slightly drawing a small smile to his lips as he leaned down.

The next moment Minami was pulled from her mindscape as she felt the cool touch of Haku's lips upon her own as she blinked to see the man smiling at her has he pulled out a smooth porcelain mask from a pack beside which hung a long needle like blade.

"Take care of my Minami-chan Kyu." Spoke Haku as he dawned his mask moving out into the lobby and towards the entrance as Minami blinked after him for a moment before blushing as she found herself smiling slightly after the black haired man.

"Well that was sweet." Called a happy voice that caused Minami to stiffen before gazing around to see a blond haired girl leaning out of a doorway with a knowing smirk on her lips.

"Ino you're going to get us killed." Muttered a black haired man as he stepped out of the doorway glancing back at his blonde teammate as he ran a hand up through his pineapple shaped hair. In response to this his blond companion shot him an annoyed glare stepping from the doorway, revealing her two piece purple top and bottom accented by mesh wear near her bare midriff. As Ino stepped out she reached over to poke one figure into the black boys green chunnin vest giving him an annoyed look as she did.

"Oh can it Shikimaru, let me enjoy this." fired off Ino as her blond bang fell over her face her long ponytail doing much the same across her back. In reply Shikimaru simply gave a tired sigh as he turned to Minami with a small wave.

"Yo, any advice dealing with crazy blondes?" called Shikimaru getting another glare from his teammate as Minami chuckled shaking her head.

"Nope sorry you're on your own." Replied Minami as she turned from the pair waving back as the final member of the trio stepped out his plump face turning to see the redhead departing the tower.

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As Minami was exiting the hokage building, across the village a red-haired woman was stepping out of a compound adorned by a large red and white fan, pausing look back as a small breeze blew her simple green and white dress along with her hair as she tapped her foot eyes narrowed upon a figure still inside the compound. After a few more moments standing in the Uchiha compound entrance Kushina finally let out an audible sigh moving forwards across the doorway towards where a black copy of her sochi was standing his hands held by a few black haired children who were blinking innocently up at the approaching redhead.

"I swear you're so easily lead around it's a wonder you haven't been kidnaped by now." muttered the woman as she reached the group looking around at the children feeling her annoyance fading as she saw their happy faces.

"Sorry everyone but seed-kun and I have to go; I promise we'll come back soon. So can I have him back?" asked the redheaded woman even as the children closed rank around the seedling and a small chuckle drew her eyes around to a black haired woman her raven colored eyes watching her over a small warm smile.

"You might as well ask the sun not to rise Kushina." Called a warm voice as Kushina shot her friend an annoyed look.

"Well then how about helping me Mikoto." Fired back the redhead as the matriarch of the Uchiha clan gave her friend a look before shaking her head a little her smiling growing slightly.

"No I don't think I will." Replied Mikoto as Kushina sighed her head dropping as she gazed back at the woman.

"You're a sadist you know that." Replied Kushina as she turned back to the seedling and the children.

"Ok fine, how about if you let seed-kun go for today I'll bring Kyueed and Seed-kun back next time?" asked Kushina as the children looked to one another before smiling as the stepped back from the seedling that hummed happily as it stepped forwards to stand beside Kushina looking up at her with its twin purple orbs turned up in a small eye smile. Not wasting time Kushina turned with the seedling on her tail moving out of the compound before the children decided to make a move to hold out for more. As Kushina and the seedling moved out into the street both had to skip to a stop as a large dog, around the side of a pony, stepped past them, its fur the dusty color of sand.

As the pair drew to a stop the hound turned its mouth opening into a doggy grin as above it a blond haired girl turned her deep green eyes moving over the pair as she brought a hand up to rest against the red sash that decorated her black kimono accessorized by the giant fan slung across her back.

"Hello Kushina-san." Spoke the girl as Kushina gave her a welcoming smile reaching over to scratch the massive hound behind one ear as she did.

"Hello Temari, Cola, how are you?" asked the woman as Temari gave a small shrug watching with a smirk as the seedling moved over to pat Cola who gave it an affectionate lick causing it to hum happily.

"Not bad just heading back to Suna, the Kaze-kage needs the newest reports." Replied Temari as Kushina nodded the four of them moving slowly down the street as Kushina gave the girl a small knowing smile. After a moment of glancing over at the redhead Temari finally let out an audible sigh as she folded her arms over her chest.

"You're as bad as Tsume-san you know that." Muttered the blond as Kushina gave a wide smile nodded.

"Oh you know it, but I'm just looking after one of our own." Replied Kushina as Temari shook her head wondering if all women in Konoha were simply insane.

"Don't worry I took Cola over to get looked at, and she's just fine isn't the right girl?" called Temari as the dog let out a bark of agreement moving close enough to rub affectionately against the blonde who reached down to scratch at the dog ear happily. Meanwhile across from her Kushina was still smiling as she let out a small chuckle.

"Oh I wasn't referring to Cola, I was referring to my student." Added Kushina as Temari blushed slightly before looking away.

"Oh, well he hasn't been neglecting his elemental training, and he and Akamaru are just fine." Replied the blond as Kushina smiled turning to face ahead.

"Well that's good to know, after all can't have a cutie like him getting all banged up." Spoke Kushina smirking evilly as she spoke.

"Ya after all…" started Temari before she found herself blushing again her eyes narrowing as she glared over at the redhead who was fanning innocence as she continued smiling ahead. Before Temari could continue her discussion the pair paused as the Seedling beside Cola let out a happy humming as it moved forwards just as the armored form of Homeed rounded the nearest corner.

"Homeed?" questioned Kushina before breaking out into a wide smile as she gave Temari a small nod.

"Excuse me Temari, but it seems I have somewhere to be." Spoke Kushina in a hurry as she turned to move after the two seedlings leaving Temari to look after the retreating redhead and black figures sighing to herself as she heard a small chuff from beside her. Looking around she saw Cola giving her a pointed stare that she meet for a few moments before letting out an audible sigh.

"Fine, we'll go and say goodbye before we leave." Spoke Temari as the dog let out a happy little bark. As the pair reached the next street they turned left towards where the Inuzuka compound lay and away from the outer gate…

_after all_ Temari reasoned to herself. _It wouldn't hurt to go and make sure that that knucklehead was doing alright…couldn't have him getting himself hurt._

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At the same time at the massive gates of Konoha a few shinobi and kunoichi were passing by one another entering and exiting the village as a few villagers from out outlying areas bustled into the village. As another pair were let into the village carrying their packs with them a distant sound drew many of the milling crowd's attention back down the dusty road bordered by its twin lanes of swaying trees.

As the group searched for the source of the sound it grew steadily closer an audible *phut* sound happening ever second like clockwork steadily growing nearer. Then just on the horizon a small blip of movement drew their eyes to accompany the popping sound as something orange shot towards them streaking down the dirt road sending up small puffs of dust in its wake.

Just as a few of the villagers began to appear nervous the surrounding shinobi relaxed a few chuckling as they moved back to their duties. As the shinobi and kunoichi movd back to their duties a pale eyes girl arrived at the gate her long blue hair waving around her as she turned her eyes left and right before they focused upon the orange blur.

Spotting it Hinata's face blossomed into a wide smile as she reached up her bare arms waving towards the rapidly approaching blur.

"Naruto-kun!" called the girl happily as the approaching orange comet shifted in its course turning towards the girls call. A moment later there was a small blast of dust as the orange blue shot through the crowd passing over where Hinata stood leaving only a puff of dust in his wake. As the group at the gate looked down the orange projectiles path they saw where it seemed to end a small swirl of dust slowly falling away to show a tall blond teen smiling broadly his orange coat fluttering around him as both his arm were bent up to hold the blue haired girl like a bride causing her arms wrapped around his neck to help hold herself in place.

"Hello bunny-chan!" called Naruto happily smiling down at the girl in his arms that meet his gaze with her own dazzling smile.

"Hello Naruto-kun." Whispered Hinata happily before she blinked a few times allowing her eyes to drop from the blond boy's face to looked down at her own position as well as the many eyes both shinobi and not now looking at them, many sporting knowing smiles.

With an embarrassing sounding little squeak Hinata's face turned a magnificent shade of red as she looked pointedly away from the group burying her face in Naruto's blacked shirt as Naruto gave a small smirk as he allowed a flood of pollens to wave to life from the folds of his coat waving out in a veritable storm of purple and black leaves that swirled around them before shifting into a solid wall cutting them off from any prying eyes.

"Hinata, we aren't being watched anymore." Whispered Naruto his cheeks twitching up in a smile as the girls face looked around before turning back to him with a warm smile one hand reaching up to cup his cheek as she pulled him down into a soft kiss. After a few moments their lips broke and Naruto slowly lowered Hinata to stand beside him their hands intertwined with one another.

"Well I may have to go on more long-term missions if this is my greeting." Chuckled Naruto his smile faltering slightly as he looked down to see Hinata's eyes flashing black a pair of horns appearing from her hair as he felt her delicate figures grip his a little harder.

"Or not." Added Naruto smiling as Hinata nodded happily allowing her Byakugan to fade.

"Naruto-kun that wasn't funny." Remarked Hinata as Naruto gave a nervous chuckle.

"**Well nice to see you can still terrify the boy Hinata-chan." **Chuckled Juubi as Hinata smiled nodding her head slightly.

"Hai, Kaasan said I'm getting to be just like she was." Smiled Hinata as Juubi let out a warm chuckle.

"**Oh I bet Hiashi just loved that, well Naruto you might want to drop the pollens." **Added Juubi as Naruto blinked at her before a small pulse of chakra caused him to smile as the leaves slowly fell away allowing the pair to turn in time to see two of his siblings arriving the younger one abandoning all pretense and simply flinging herself like a red missile at the blond.

"ANNIIKKKIII!" called Mito happily as she hurtled towards the blond. As she neared her violet eyes widened in surprise as from behind the blond teen a familiar black orb appeared its one bright yellow strip flashing once before a black figure burst to life between her and her target its mismatched purple and golden eyes focusing on her even as from the mop of its spiky hair a pair of tanuki ears twitched in time with its massive discolored tail.

As Seekaku sprang into being it hefted up one claw like hand with a lazy hum as the appendage burst into a wide expanse of black sand. Mito too late to halt her flight and was carried into the soft embrace of that sand, like she had flown into some pillowed cloud.

From behind Seekaku Naruto allowed a smirk to play across his lips as he saw the redhead fall into the sand watching as it warped gently around her before the seedling stepped back to allow the girl to shoot him a pouting stair, all be it upside-down thanks to Seekaku's decision on how to hold her.

"Aniki." Pouted Mito cutely as both Naruto and Hinata let out small chuckles at her predicament.

"Sorry imoto, but you remember the rules, its training." Called Naruto in a lofty tone as he looked over at his sister who suddenly turned her pouting look into a wide grin.

"Hai I remember!" called the girl happily a moment before she popped into a small cloud of smoke a moment before Naruto felt an impact in the small of his back causing him to stumble slightly as he turned his head back to see Mito smiling happily up at him.

"Got you Aniki!" called the girl as from her hair Kyueed let out a happy humming yip before bouncing up and over to land on Seekaku's head who gave an annoyed Hum, its eyes narrowing in something like annoyance as the fox settled itself onto its head.

"Ok you got me." smiled Naruto turned around to pick his sister up into a hug as Hinata smiled over at the other sibling now stepping up smiling widely.

"So Naruto what do you think?" called Naruko smirking as she folded her bare arms across her green vest. Across from her Naruto was just setting Mito back down as he gave her a welcoming look.

"I think you've doomed us all, shadow clones?" chuckled Naruto as his blond sister shrugged.

"**He's right you know…some things are not meant to have such power."** Whispered Juubi solemnly.

"What my imoto can handle it." Replied Naruko beaming as from below the pair Mito nodded happily.

"Hai Aniki Juubi-chan, Naru-neesan's been teaching me all kinds of things!" called the redhead happily as Naruto smiled reaching down to ruffle the girl's hair.

"I'm sure she has." Replied Naruto as with a small pulse the tanuki boy shivered before collapsing into an orb flying back around to sink into the blonds coat reappearing upon the decorative tree's branches leaving the mini Kyueed to hop over to the blond boy's hair giving a small purring hum before nestling itself into his golden locks.

"So bro how was the mission?" asked Naruko as Naruto gave a small wave of one hand.

"Nothing really, just a simple drop off, Kiri was just fine with the terms from Taki, oh and Fu says hi to everyone." Finished Naruto as the group nodded happily at his words. Before any of them could continue a small call drew their attention around to see Kushina approaching bordered by Homeed on one side and the seedling on the other.

"Hi Kaasan." Called Naruto a moment before Kushina pulled him into a tight hug drawing a few chuckles from the rest of the group. Soon enough Kushina had released her son fussing over him for a few moments before he finally managed to assure her that he was indeed in one peace and safe.

"Well of course you are you're my kid dattebane!" called Kushina smiling broadly her hands moving to her hips as Mito moved to stand beside her mimicking her stance causing the three teens to smile softly at their antics, a second before Naruto was unable to hold back his laughter that soon spread to the others. Before long all six were moving happily back into the village Homeed collapsing black into the blondes coat leaving only Kyueed resting happily upon the blonds head.

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Meanwhile a ways outside of the village, just on the border between the land of fire and lightening, a small band of shinobi darted through the forests of fire springing silently from treetop to treetop. As the group reached a break in the forest the leader threw up a hand causing the others to stiffen their eyes turning to their blond leader.

From between the treetops a small ray of light descended down over the blond figure tracing down her blue bodysuit tracing over where it descended into purple from her chest down to the small red band that acted as a belt. As she slowly rose the light also moved over her deep blue pants ending in a set of wrappings that continued to her sandaled feet. As the woman turned fully to face back towards her team her face became eliminated showing a young woman's completion decorated by sharp features, two black eyes scanning across the group as her bandaged arms moved up to cross over her chest her stance shifting slightly so that she was standing with a slight tilt to her posture.

"Ok team take a rest, we'll be crossing into the land of fire soon." Called the woman as two shinobi nodded before dropping down into the forest floor below even as the blond woman turned to step along the branch till her back was rested against the trunk that allowed her to stretch out along the branch letting out a small sigh of contentment.

"**Well Kitten are you still worried?" **questioned a heavy tone from within the woman's mind causing her to let out a small sigh as she ideally reached up to scratch at her hair pushing a few strands over the headband that decorated her brow etched with the twin clouds of Kumo.

_No Matatabi for the hundredth time I'm alight. You can stop worrying about me; I'm not a kid anymore. _Thought the woman as she felt a small purring pulse of chakra from inside herself.

"**Oh my little Yugito-chan you'll always be my little kitten. I know Kaasan will approve of you, just remember to keep your posture straight, and make eye contact, you're a proper lady and I don't want you presenting yourself as any less."** Replied the Matatabi in her purring tone, with an air not unlike a mother might have when addressing her daughter.

…_..why does she not get that I'm not still that little girl that needed her to take care of me, I'm twenty nine for kami's sake…I know how to be a lady already…_ muttered Yugito from inside her mind as she forced herself to relax her mind. After a few moments of resting the blond kunoichi found herself sinking back into the open blackness of her mindscape her head resting against a bright blue flame that seemed only to comfort her as she unconsciously turned to that more of her body faced the dancing blue and black flames.

Above the resting woman a pair of mismatched green and yellow eyes watched the resting blond from the fiery head of a massive cat, wrapped in blue and black flames that waved gently across its body right down to the twin flaming tails that now acted as pillows for the resting blond.

"**Rest well kitten, I'm sure Kaasan will be just as proud of you as I am." **Spoke the cat in a deep womanly tone that did not seem to disturb the sleeping woman below. As the great flaming cat raised its head, a few small mirrors of light drifted by in the darkness dipping down and shimmering to show the slumbering woman's memories as they passed. One in particular catching the cats eyes, as with a small pulse the mirror flew gently to rest before her mismatched eyes depicting an familiar office a pair of dark-skinned men standing across from a wide desk facing out towards cat their mouths opening to speak.

-Flashback-

"Do you understand Yugito." Spoke a dark skinned man his muscled body, visible behind the wooden desk, draped only in a white coat with great iron brace running down both his forearms.

"Hai Raikage-sama." Replied Yugito nodding towards the man who's black eyes closed the white hair of his borrows knitting themselves down like the rest of his spiked white hair.

"Good, this….thing. That Konoha possessed has begun to push some kind of influence upon both you and B. I need you to figure out what is happening, but be on guard, this so called peace offering doesn't sit well with me. Both Suna and Kiri has already moved into stronger standing with Konoha, and I don't' like the idea of being blind to why." Finished the Raikage as he brought one massive hand up to stock at the hairs of his white beard as beside him the other dark skinned man let out a small huff his arms moving up to fold across his white vest.

"No problem bro, don't you know, she's got the flaming two, she'll pull through." Called the man bobbing his head in time with his words so that the black glasses that covered his eyes, and the headband upon his brow caught the light from the massive wall of windows that decorated the rear of the office looking out over a mountains village with bright yellow rooftops that seemed to stretch on for miles.

In response to his words both Yugito and the Raikage let out almost painful sighs as they gazed over at the rapping man.

"B shut up….please for my sake." Muttered A as B gave him a small frown.

"Oh come on A don't bust my rhyme, your like this all the time!" called B waving his hand around before him before raising both hands to point towards both figures in the room. In reply both Yugito and A simply stared at the man for a few moments before turning to one another deciding to ignore him.

"Do not worry Raikage-sama I will keep an eye out. With any luck I'll be able to find just what has both the Nibi and Hachibi acting up." Replied Yugito as A drew his attention back to her nodding as he brought his hands together before his face fixing her with a serious look.

"Good, but be on your guard, the Hokage is not to be underestimated if you feel you or the Nibi are in any danger you are permitted to uses any force necessary to escape a force will be waiting on the boarder ready to assist you should this prove to be a trap." Finished A as Yugito nodded before turning to leave the reflection in the mirror of memory slowly faded.

-Flashback end-

As the images in the memory slowly distorted the great two tailed cat allowed the mirror to pass from it as it turned a pair of mismatched eyes down upon its host breathing a sigh that was almost pitying.

"**Oh kitten you and that man are so worried about tricks and traps that you're refusing to see the truth. Kaasan is there, and trust me no one is capable of bossing her around." **Purred the cat her words washing over the sleeping resting woman who simply contented herself with moving closer to the flaming tails under the watch of the great cat.

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Meanwhile within the village of Konoha in a small ramen bar expanded enough to fit a few tables inside one of which was currently causing quite the commotion.

"**PPPPPLLLLLEEEEEEAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEE!" **called a loud voice issuing from a black orb that hung just a few feet from a wooden table top where five figures sat around all now clapping hands on in the case of Kyueed tails over their ears as they squinted over their ramen at the hovering orb.

"Juubi for that last time we have to wait till she gets here if we approach now we'll scare them off!" called Naruto through the ten tails continued pleas.

"**but she's not all that far from the village I can since her already, why can't we just go and greet her!" **called Juubi in an annoyed pout as Naruto along with the rest of the table dropped their hands shooting the orb an annoyed look as they did.

"Ya I'll just stroll up to a Kumo shinobi and say "hey come here and touch this shiny black ball" remember what happened last time I tried that?" called Naruto as a small chuckle drew his eyes around towards a redheaded girl who was pushing a few flaps of the ramen stand aside smiling as she entered the tiny establishment.

"Well I seem to remember someone thinking you were possessed and starting a fight. Welcome back by the way Naruto." Chuckled Minami as Naruto along with Kushina, Hinata, and his other siblings turned to greet Minami. After Minami had found her seat beside Kushina the hovering orb that was Juubi spoke again in a small pouting voice.

"**You know I could blow your head up." **Shot Juubi as Naruto smirked over at the orb.

"Juubi I'm not eight anymore, I know you can't actually do that." Replied Naruto with a note of amusement in his tone.

"Besides, what's there to blow up, I've been there not much to see." Chuckled Naruko drawing a few giggles from the rest of the table despite themselves as Naruto shot his sister a small glare.

"Oh you are so getting it for that." Shot Naruto as his sister simply waved off his words returning to her ramen as Juubi let out a sad little sigh the orb slowly drifting down to rest on the table. As the orb settled down the miniature Kyueed hoped lightly from Naruto's hair to land beside the orb letting out a humming purr as it wrapped its nine little tails around it nuzzling up to it as it did.

"**Awe thank you Kyueed-kun you'll protect me from the mean old shinobi."** Smiled Juubi's voice as the table couldn't help but smirk at the sight even as Mito was passed another bowl of ramen from a smiling brunette across the bar.

"So…" started Minami before she saw Naruto stiffen along with Kyueed both suddenly turning towards the back of the shop out towards the village gates.

"Naruto?" asked Hinata worriedly as the blondes eyes narrowed for a moment before widening.

"NO!" called the blond swinging himself around so that in a second his feet were taking him towards the entrance as both Kyueed and the orb pelted into his back both appearing on the waving tree that decorated his retreat.

"Naruto wha.." began Naruko and Kushina before Naruto turned a his head back his voice coming out in a small panicked tone.

"The team from Kumo are under attack!" called Naruto a moment before he was already out of the stand and dashing towards the village gates.

**And that's the chapter, yes it's a cliffhanger, but don't worry the next chapter will be out very, very soon, so don't panic too much. Thanks to everyone who followed, favorite, and reviewed, as well as those that encouraged me to keep writing this story my way. Without you I probably would have just given up and written the same OP antsy Neglect story that seems the norm on this site, but thanks to you I've been able to make this story all its own, so thank you. **

**Songbird out.**


	31. Chapter 28

**I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Well here we are again as always thank you for all of the support in the reviews, favorites and follows.

Anyway so big thank you to MightyNo8409 who has agreed to help me out. At the moment he is going back and fixing my earlier chapters and I hope that it helps everyone enjoy the story more, if you can drop him a pm helping me to thank him if you enjoy the change.

Lol told you it wouldn't be long enjoy

**Chapter 28**

"Talking"

"_Thinking/Mental conversation"_

"**DEMON/God or the like"**

"Jutsu"

**-First impressions-**

It was sudden. One moment her team had been moving out onto the open road having been traveling in the land of fire for only a few miles when it happened. As they moved ahead passing the time with some small conversation a storm of kunai had pelted out of a nearby tree plunging towards them. Even as the assault from the trees erupted the earth around them shuttered springing up into a semi dome cutting off any retreat from the wave of approaching attack.

Luckily Yugito had been at the head of the group her chakra flooding through her arms at the first sign of danger. As the metal missiles plunged ahead there was a series of sparks accented by the sound of snapping metal as the broken remains of the kunai fell around the woman. Turning towards the source of the assault Yugito slipped down into a crouched stance arms crossed before her as a set of ten claws stood out from her figure tips each glinting slightly in the noonday sun. Behind this the woman's black eyes traced up to the treetops as an audible sound somewhere between a hiss and a curse sprang from between her lips.

"Captain!" called one of the Kumo shinobi from behind her as he started to move forwards only to halt as the clawed woman's voice reached him.

"Baka get behind me they aren't done yet!" called Yugito as her eyes focused back ahead just as the treetops exploded outwards great stones flying down like rain towards the shinobi. Spinning to meet the fresh assault the woman's clawed hands danced out carving into the stones rain sending projectiles spinning away from the team, great slabs of the stone smashing into the earthen walls that sealed them into this killing zone. As a fresh wave of stones descended Yugito recognized the assailants plan as her mouth slipped into an angry growl at the continued assault.

"Get those walls down NOW!" called Yugito as she battered aside another stone projectile.

"Captain we can…" started one of the shinobi before Yugito let out an angry snarl.

"Baka they set up a killing zone if we stay here we die now get moving!" roared the blonde as she lashed out again at the storm of stones descending upon her. Her words caused the pair of shinobi behind her to look around with sudden comprehension. A moment later both were flying through hand sighs preparing to demolish the structures as ahead of them their captain kept the projectiles from reaching them effectively pinning her into position.

"DAMB IT HURRY UP!" roared Yugito as a stone projectile managed to slip by her dancing claws smashing into the ground beside her with enough force to form a small crater of impact. No sooner had she cried out then there was a cascade of lightening that blasted a hole into the earthen wall throwing bits of rock and dust up as a voice rang out.

"Captain this wa…" called a voice before it was suddenly cut off as a spear of lightening shot out of the newly created hole slamming into the man's leg drawing a cry of pair from his lips.

"YOU BASTARDS!" roared his fellow a moment before a spear of stone lanced out slamming into his shoulder and pinning him like some twisted doll to the opposite side of the dome. As the second man's voice joined his fellows in pain Yugito spun dropping as she did to avoid a small smattering of stone both her eyes shifting into a mismatched pair of green and blue as her now fanged mouth opened in a howl of anger. With a blast of chakra the blond woman shot forwards her claws cutting the earthen spear, that bound her team, to pieces before she caught both men ignoring their protests as she hurtled herself out through their opening. As she pushed out a wave of fire rushed forwards to meet her just as her own blue and black flams racked up and over her. The blue flames swallowed the attack burning away anything that came near her as she flung herself out carrying both of her injured comrades as she went. As the blue commit rocketed out of the dome the attackers began anew flinging death towards her but to little avail as she speed off into the tree line.

At this a pair of shinobi darted after her while an additional four shinobi emerged from the trees, soon joined by two others from the ground all looking after the fleeing shinobi with visible smirks on their face.

"Keep driving them into the trap, don't let her catch you out in the open!" ordered on of the shinobi his uniform a mix of red and brown common of the shinobi of Iwa, further enforced by the red bandana he wore emblazoned with the metal plate depicting a pair of mountains, though a noticeable difference being the wide scar that ran across the metallic plate. Without comment his fellows nodded before shooting off in pursuit of the woman and her injured comrades the wounded men she carried making the trail child's play to follow.

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As the forces from Kumo were herded deeper into the forests of Konoha a group of four figures shot off into the forests outside of the village. As the four sprang from tree to tree the head of the group suddenly stopped upon an outcropping branch his coat fluttering out around him in a wave of orange cloth.

"They're moving…this way!" called Naruto as he turned towards the forest the three girls behind him speeding after him as he took off once again sending leaves down like rain around them as he leapt from branch to branch.

"Naruto who is it?" called Naruko as she dashed under her brother dancing along a series of lower branches.

"Juubi says it's her other daughter, it means its Kumo!" called Naruto as he shot a slightly worried look back towards Hinata who simply shook her head before focusing ahead as her blue hair whipped out behind her.

"It's ok Naruto-kun, I'll be fine!" called Hinata as Naruto gave a small node turning back ahead. However, even as he did the small form of Kyueed flew off of his head to land delicately upon Hinata's shoulder. As the her pale eyes turned down to the fox she couldn't help but smile softly as she saw the foxes tails wind their way around her bare arm, its soft fur warm against her bare skin.

"Naruto-kun." Whispered Hinata with a faint smile as she saw the small form of Kyueed at attention, its ears twitching out around as it scanned the surrounding forest.

"Well looks like you have a fuzzy bodyguard." Chuckled Minami as she leapt up beside Hinata smirking herself as she saw Hinata looking pointedly away from her.

"Well not all of us have a cold boy to follow them around." Replied Hinata smiling slightly as she saw the redheads face faultier for a moment before her eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"Kyu I'm going to kill you." Muttered Minami as she focused back ahead even as inside of her the chakra fox let out a small whine.

"**Kaasan, Minami-chan's angry at me, don't let her get me!" **called the massive red fox as across the link an audible grown came from three voices.

"**Kyu…just stop." **Groaned a sand colored Tanuki as beside him a massive red ape, its head decorated by a crown let out an equally tired sigh.

"**He wouldn't Kaasan coddles him too much for him to stop." **Sighted the ape as the final member of their discussion threw away all pretense and civility simply roaring out in his annoyance.

"**KYU YOU'RE THE KYUUBI STOP GETTING SCARED OF A LITTLE GIRL!" **bellowed the equally massive red fox that was Kurama as across the wide grassy field that acted as the mental link for the tailed beasts Juubi sat upon the branches of the gigantic white tree. Her great black eyes turned momentarily towards her children before snapping back out ahead into her host's vision as her teeth bit down visibly into her soft lips her hands clasping over her grey kimono as she tried to be calm while she waited for their arrival.

_It will be ok Juubi we'll get there, I promise. _Whispered the thoughts of her host as Juubi gave let out a small breath nodding to herself so that her waves of bright purple hair fell around her.

"**Hai." **she replied sitting up on hand pushing back the mess of hair from her eyes as she narrowed them ahead.

"**And we'll so them just what they get for messing with my reunion!" ** Growled the woman as outside the mindscape Naruto found himself smirking at the woman's words.

"Just a bit further, get ready!" called Naruto as the group leapt deeper into the forest each falling silent as their faces shifted into practiced masks of determination on what was to come. It was many years since they had been genin, many years since each had learned the harsh truth, that sometimes not everyone got to come home from a fight. For Naruto and Hinata it had come upon a great stone bridge in the land of waves, for Minami it had come with a wielder of bone the memory of which still sent shivers down her spine, and for Naruko it had come in the land of rice where she had been forced to kill a pair of crazed shinobi already lost to their curse seals who had descended upon a small village. Each now knew that every fight they entered into could mean that another life would be added to that tally, and yet this was their world, and if this was the price to protect it, then they were prepared to pay it.

"Naruto, when we get there call out the jinchuuriki, if they aren't trained well we could have more problems with them going berserk than with whatever's after them!" called Naruko as the blond boy looked back to her before nodding.

"Do you think it's akatsuki?" called Minami as she turned her red eyes around to the group who went silent for a moment.

"Even if it is, we only have to stall them, Kushina-sensei went to inform the Hokage, another team has to be on its way already." Assured Hinata's voice as the siblings turned to her before nodding a moment later.

"Hai, you're right bunny-chan." Smiled Naruto as Hinata gave him a small nod of thanks before turning her eyes forwards as they shifted into blackened pools holding twin pearl moons, while a pair of horns erupted form her hair.

"There they are, their surrounded!" called Hinata pointing out ahead as the group rushed both Naruko and Minami's eyes shifting into vertical slits as Naruto's own blinked into twin pools of black that seems to glow with an unnatural light.

"Well then let's fix that!" called Naruto as nine blackened orbs burst from his back spinning to take position behind him in a semi-circle as with an audible crunching of branches the four chunnin erupted out of the treetops. Leaves and broken bits of wood scattering around them as the field sprang into view already dotted with scarred landscape and more than a few broken, and in one case burning, bodies.

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As the forces from Konoha were erupting onto the battlefield within the village a much smaller battle was underway, though the blond man involved would likely have rather been on the battlefield at that moment. Within a small office the fourth hokage, greatest kage the village had known since the founder, and hero of the third shinobi war….was currently hiding behind his desk peering over the edge at the battle occurring in his office.

"BUT I CAN HELP!" called a little redheaded girl, as her hair rose into what looked like a pair of horns to any onlooker as she squirmed against the golden chains that bound her from neck to toe leaving her unable to push herself from the sofa she was seated upon. Following the golden bindings back to their creator one would find a violet eyed woman, her own red hair flying up in nine points similar to the small girls own.

"MITO UZUMAKI NAMIKAZEE YOU ARE NOT EVEN A GENIN YET YOU WILL NOT BE RUNNING OFF ON A MISSION!" called Kushina her commanding tone as her daughter returned her white eyes glare her own voice rising in turn.

"SO! I'M STRONG ENOUGH!" called Mito still struggling against her mother's hold as Kushina pumped enough chakra into her bindings to hold her daughters own chains in place.

"I DON'T CARE YOU'RE STAYING PUT!" yelled back Kushina as the two redheads engaged in another glaring match an almost visible lightening sparking between their eyes. As the two redheads continued their argument from across the room Minato looked over to where a pair of Anbu were standing aside simply watching the episode play out.

"Help.." whispered Minato over towards the pair as they turned their porcelain masks towards the Kage, where he could almost see the smirks upon their faces.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama but our duty is to protect from dangers outside of your family." responded the first kunoichi her cat mask turning to face him as a small swatch of purple hair waved out behind her.

"….this is about Homeed isn't it." Muttered Minato his eyes narrowing upon the Anbu, both of whom took that moment to fade back into the shadows the blackness of their armor fading into the shadows without effort. For a moment Minato simply blinked across at the blackened shadows before turning back to see Kushina's chains now having moved up to cover her daughters lips, even as Mito had managed to get one of her own golden chains out was desperately trying to drag her bound self across the sofa and closer to the door.

_Naruto, Naruko, Minami….please get back soon._ Thought Minato looking back out of his office window towards the village below his eyes moving slowly over to the gate where he spotted a pair of teams already departing to support his children. Despite his own wish to rush out with them, he had long come to accept that they didn't need him looking over their shoulders every time they went on a mission.

_Besides _he thought to himself as he looked back to the battling redheads.

_It was probably safer out there than in here at the moment. And besides one kunai through and they might just save him._

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In fact at that very moment his children found themselves dropping into a wide open field each taking in the scene before them. The field itself was now a torn mess of stone, splashes of water, as well as the unmistakable signs of small fires dotted here and there including the crumpled forms of several shinobi all draped in a smattering of red, blue, and even brown uniforms. The remaining shinobi in the meantime being grouped around a trio of figures two laying prone their arms clutched over bleeding wounds as before them stood a woman, her blonde hair billowing out behind her in a wave as her clawed hands coated in a few flecks of crimson rose and fell with her panting breath as she turned her slitted eyes upon the new arrivals.

"Ko…konoha…" breathed Yugito not daring to believe for a moment that the tree huggers were actually here to help.

"You there, back away from the Kumo shinobi!" called Minami stepping forwards her red eyes traveling around the group as they turned to face her the scared forehead protectors sending up warning signals in all of the teens minds.

"Missing-nin?" whispered Hinata in slightly confusion as Naruto let out a small growl his body tensing as he looked around at them.

"Maybe…but it could still be akatsuki the organization has plenty of flunkeys." Muttered the blond as he turned his pitch blackly eyes upon the group before them. Just as a taller man stepped forwards sporting a blackened bandanna emblazed with the symbol of rain, marred like his fellows by a jagged cut that ran across its surface. The man's bearded face turning narrow eyes between the four as he raised one hand flicking it slightly as twelve of the group still surrounding the Kumo team moved to his position all now facing the four teens.

"Leave here Konoha, we have no business with you!" called the man as he lowered his armored arms down across what appeared to be a rougher version of an Anbu's garb, except with the addition of small trails of grey that dotted the otherwise black undershirt. As he spoke the twelve that had gathered all look around at the four teens, a group of three shifting slightly towards each as Naruko let out a small bark of laughter.

"Oh, you start a fight in our backyard with someone coming to visit us, and it isn't out business? How you figure?" called the blonde as he ideally cracked her knuckles eyeing the three that had taken interest in her with a small smirk on her lips.

"Honestly, do you have to antagonize them?" sighed Minami as she stepped up beside her sister two small puffs of smoke from the seals on her wrists depositing a pair of silver blades into her hands.

"not that I don't agree." Added the redhead as with a flick of her wrists the blades unfolded into her four pointed blades, each glowing slightly as the seals upon them erupted into fiery light.

"If you interfere we will be forced to eliminate you, nothing can stand in the way of our savior." Called the shinobi as Naruto and Hinata stepped up beside their sisters, the blond letting out a small sigh at his words.

"And, now they're zealots….great. bunny-chan it looks like we have a few injured, mind if I handle your three?" sighed Naruto as blackened spheres slowly began to drop from his coat drawing the groups eyes in surprise as they slowly crawled their way up the boys form hardening around his legs as the larger orbs came to rest behind him just as his face slowly disappeared what appeared to be a blackened mask, twin orbs of orange now blazing from it.

Beside him Hinata turned her eyes over to him before allowing them to drop across to the two injured Kumo shinobi her eyes focusing on their injuries as she nodded.

"Hai, they need help now, but be careful." Replied Hinata as Naruto turned his blackened mask to her nodding as he cast a quick glance to the Kumo forces.

"Kyueed look after my bunny-chan, if they try anything….sick em." Whispered Naruto as the little black form of Kyueed let out a small yip of agreement tightening its hold on Hinata as Naruto turned back to the force ahead of them. Before any of the shinobi could comment on this Naruto raised a hand now coated in a blacked layer of chakra towards the leader making a "come here" gesture.

"So come and already, you're in my bunny-chan's way." Called the blond just as the battlefield erupted into renewed conflict as the shinobi waiting to engage rushed forwards across the field brandishing blades and justus alike towards the teens.

At the same time across the clearing Yugito was having the oddest sensation as not only was she focusing on the battle at hand, as well as trying to keep her injured team protected, but with the arrival of the Konoha team she was receiving what was possibly the most out of place advice from her tenant.

"**Ok now remember to make eye contact, and bow first when you talk to her, ugh your hair is a mess, well we'll have to worry about that later, just remember to smile, she likes smiles, oh and be firm I don't want her thinking a raised some pushover, now what else." ** Fired of Matatabi in quick succession as though she was a mother fussing over her child's first day, which was not quite what Yugito needed at that moment.

_MATATABI SHUT UP I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT! _The blonde woman mentally roared as she saw the team from Konoha rushing forwards to engage her attackers, while at the same time she saw the three shinobi before her preparing to reengage.

"**What? Oh yes you go play kitten, oh and Ototo's here….well two of him, that's going to be odd, I wonder how that happened? Oh and who is that…NO..I'M AN AUNTY!"** muttered the great cat offhandedly as Yugito felt like tearing her hair out with her own claws, before deciding to bury them in the men before her instead.

"You three picked the wrong day for this!" cried Yugito as with a pulse of chakra her hair fanned out into a mess of waving spikes as she crouched eye's narrowed like her namesake as she flung herself towards the three.

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As the battlefield erupted into renewed conflict across the land a pair figures moved down a worn road each sporting the same mix of back cloaks, accented by a series of red clouds that blew out behind them as they stepped forwards. The first was a tall man his posture showing that despite the apparent apathy he viewed the world with, he was none the less on guard, though a slightly twitch in his green eyes every now and then seemed to show his irritation with his partner. At this moment he turned his masked head around those green eyes burning from between the black facemask and grey mask the covered all of his head except for his forehead where a scarred headband stood out, the bent lines of Taki marred by the horizontal slash that identified him as a missing-nin.

As this man turned his eyes narrowed upon his fellow who was even then still speaking out in a voice that blended joy and cruelty in equal measure his grey hair pulled back from a plane face his eyes closes as he continued to speak.

"And we get to kill those idiots who go off and try to prove themselves to leader! Those that don't follow their betters are defiling the will of Jashin after all of course they should offer themselves to him as payment. Maybe out leader is finally embracing the will of our lord Jas…" Continued the man before his words were finally cut off by the gravelly voice of his partner.

"Hidan if you don't shut that insipid mouth of yours I will tear it from your skull!" threatened the masked man his green eyes twitching within their red pools as the preaching man opened his eyes, face turning in to an annoyed expression his mouth handing open in blatant mockery.

"Wah? You say something Kakuzu, what you find some pocket change or something and want to take time to fondle it?" shot back the man as with one hand he reached back almost lazily for the three pronged scythe on his back, each blade died a deep crimson. Before his hand even reached half way to the blade the masked man let out a scoff his eyes turning back down the path they were traveling.

"Shut up you fool, your babbling is enough to drive me insane." Muttered the man in his gravelly voice. Hidan in the meantime simply broke into a smile with a twinge of madness upon it as he turned back ahead, not even pausing as he continued to speak.

"Oh misguided Kakuzu, I will pray to Jashin for you so that you might find true salvation in your work, after all killing for money is nothing compared to the gift it can be to lord Jashin!" called the man happily as the pair made their way lazily down the path out towards where the misguided followers of their leader hand disappeared to.

As they continued forwards for a time Kakuzu paused, his sudden stop causing the unending chatter of his partner to falter slightly as she shot a glance back at the man.

"Hum…Kakuzu what are you looking at?" called the grey haired man turning back towards his partner who had stopped looking out into the forest his eyes narrowed upon a spot off in the distance that he seemed to see despite the only visibly being the great expanse of forest in every direction.

"HEY I'M TALKING TO YOU!" roared Hidan as he stepped over to Kakuzu who gave the direction a last glance before turning back ahead.

"Fool, your slowing us down." spoke the masked man as he stepped by his partner causing him to glare towards him.

"WHAT ME I'M NOT THE ONE GOING ALL STIFF! HEY KAKUZU I'M TALKING TO YOU!" called Hidan as he turned to follow after his partner who's mind was currently on a long forgotten time…in a village that had once been his own. Still after they were finished with their target he would be returning there. After all _Taki had a jinchuuriki to capture_ thought the man as he continued ahead his partner babbling away as they moved past the hidden trail leading towards the hidden village.

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Meanwhile upon an open clearing in the land of fire a group of shinobi found themselves in an all-out brawl. At that very moment a grey clad shinobi went flying across the field skipping twice before slamming into the tree line with a sickening crunch. Soon enough the broken man slipped to the ground just as two of his fellows landed on either side of him both panting as they looked across that the blond teen currently walking calmly towards them cracking her knuckles before a green vest, the red sleeves of her kimono pulled back to expose a pair wrapped arms.

"DIE!" roared one of the shinobi as he spat a cannonball sized blast of water towards her eyes narrowed upon the girl as she sank almost lazily back into her stance her feet tapping lightly upon the ground at the attack closed.

"Ya, no." called Naruko lazily as she kicked off from the ground spinning forwards, dipping as she went so that the shot went wide. As she speed past the first shot the man's partner joined in flinging forth his own shot of water.

With a shiver of movement Naruko dodged this latest attack as well closing in on the pair even as traces of red began to leak out around her fists, her eyes flashing crimson above a feral grin. The sight of red eyed kunoichi approaching was enough to send shivers up both men's spines as they abandoned all strategy simply flinging shot after shot downrange towards the girl trying to keep her from reaching them at any cost.

Shot after shot pounded out as Naruko swerved between them shifting just enough to keep each from hitting her as she almost lazily allowed two tails of reddened chakra to slip from her back swatting another pair of blasts as she closed on the pair. Appearing before the pair each only had a glimpse of the girls bright golden hair, twinged with the red roar of her chakra, before a crashing impact slammed into both sending them sprawling back into the tree line.

Skipping to a stop one of the pair managed to right himself just as he looked up to see the blond spinning before him a pair of red tails lashing out like a club to slam against his head just before the lights went out. Across from him the remaining shinobi staggered to his feet staring unbelievingly as he saw his partner battered away his eyes shifting over to where Naruko landed the bright red foxtails now sticking out of the girls back, waving gently as though it had always been there. As she turned smirking towards the final man, her slitted eyes and fanged smirk caused him to slip back to the ground trying to push himself back from the teen.

"WH…what are you?" called the man in a small panic as Naruko faced him, her arms reaching up in a small shrug on hand falling to her hip as she looked at the man.

"A Kunoichi…du." Chuckled the blond a moment before with another flicker of movement she disappeared flashing before the man just as she bury a fist into the side of his head knocking him unconscious as he slumped to the forest floor.

"Well that was disappointing." Muttered Naruto as she glanced around her for a moment before allowing the red fox tails she had sprouted to drift lazily before her as she pulled them to her rubbing her face against it with a happy smile on her face.

"Man I love this thing!" cheered Naruko as inside her mind a heavy sigh echoed out.

"**My tails are not for petting." **Growled the Kyuubi as Naruto shot him a mental glare.

"Ya well I had to work to make this thing appear, so I'll enjoy it." Shot back Naruko smiling as she nuzzle the tail for a moment longer.

"**You know I could tell the others you like to do this. Wonder how the big bad Kunoichi would look then?" **called the fox slyly as the blond froze both her body as well as the tail going stiff as she narrowed her yes a pouting look crossing her face.

"That's low Kurama." Muttered the girl as with a sigh she let her eyes blink back to their usual blue completion felling the fluffy tails disappear from her grasp with a small sigh of disappointment as she turned back towards the clearing where she could distantly hear a few shouts.

"Well let's see how the others are, not that these guys were much of a threat." Muttered the blond as she raced back towards the clearing.

Meanwhile just about the time Naruko was shooting off into the forest after her opponents her sister was staring down three of her own, one hand lazily spinning a single sliver blade dancing with flames so that it appears she simply held disk of fire as her other held her other four pointed blades her red eyes looking across the three before her.

"I would suggest you play this smart and give up!" called Minami as the heat from her blade caused a small gust of warm air to brush against her face causing her hair to flutter slightly in its wake.

"We stand for the lord of Rain, we will never falter!" roared one of the three, his garb a mix of what was likely once a uniform from Kumo, the blue and white now smattered with ash from the fight. With a shake of her head Minami sank slowly down here arms stretching out behind her as her blades began to spin anew flames licking out behind her.

"Have it your way." Whispered the redhead before she stepped forwards flinging the first firry disk towards the three. In an instant all three shinobi scattered the disk racing past as they turned back towards where the redhead stood, only to see a small flash of red where the girl had once stood. Before any of the group could do more than look across in confusion the center shinobi let out a howl of pain as a spinning blade still trailing a river of fire cut across his back splashing a wave of crimson out past his grey vest. As the pain flared up the man turned just in time to see Minami's let coming around to smash into the side of his head sending him crumpling to the ground as on either side of him the remaining pair leapt back.

Landing softly from her strike Minami glanced between the two shinobi still standing her blades once more spinning in her hands the red light they produced dancing across the light and dark green of her battle kimono and Vest the head causing both to wave slightly giving the girl an unearthly look to her, as though a tongue of flames had simply decided to alight upon a grassy field without setting it ablaze.

"Ho..HOW!" managed one of the shinobi who now stood opposite to his partner both staring towards the girl, more frightened now, than they had been when perusing the Kumo force. In reply Minami shook her head as with a small pulse of chakra a second redhead appeared stretching out a hand to catch one of the flaming blades so that now the two mirrored girls stood back to back each holding a spinning disk of fire as they looked at the remaining shinobi.

"Sorry clan secret." Replied Minami as both she and her clone let their weapons fly, spinning out towards each of the men who dove once again to avoid the spinning flames. As each leapt they saw again as the redheads disappeared into a flash of red light. Seeing this both men's instincts roared at them to turn. Twisting even as they dove away each saw to their horror the redhead reappear catching the spinning blade, without effort, before spinning towards the pair. Neither had time to do more than shout out in surprise as the twin Minami's buried a fist into their faces smashing them down into the ground beneath them sending a spider web of cracks out accompanied by an unpleasant crunch.

Pulling back from the pairs now broken faces the two Minami's gave a quick look over their three unconscious opponents before the redhead to the left snapped the flaming blade shut, returning it to a single sliver blade, which she then tossed the other Minami before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

As Minami' caught her second blade she let out a small sigh as she turned across the field her mind wondering slightly as she did.

_Darn it, I'm still too slow, Tousan makes it look so easy….gah what am I doing wrong? _Thought the redhead as a happy yipping from her mind momentarily drew her attention.

"**It's ok Minami-chan you did great, who cares if you aren't like your tousan yet, or that you can only use two seals, or that Naruko-chan can use more power than you, or…" **began Kyu before Minami let out a mental groan.

_Ok, ok Kyu….thanks._ chuckled the redhead at just how horribly the fox had failed in its attempt to cheer her up, succeeding in his abject failure. Kyu, however, remained blissfully ignorant to this simply waving its nine tails happily at her words.

"**No problem Minami-chan! I'll always cheer you up!"** called the fox happily as Minami found herself chuckling slightly wondering if that should be considered a threat or not.

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At the same time across the clearing Yugito had managed to take down another of her attackers, but things were still not in her favor. The remaining two had figured out her weakness, exploiting it to land several attacks on her as they targeted her wounded team forcing her to divert the attacks leaving her open for another strike.

With a small hiss of pain Yugito ripped shrunken from her leg with one clawed hand her eyes narrowing upon the men before her. The pair were even then darting back and forth to try and keep out of her line of sight, while at the same time trying to get around her to the injured pair she stubbornly defended.

"Cap….captain just leave us…" managed one of the Kumo shinobi, his voice coming out in pained gasps as one hand pushed against the massive wound decorating his chest. Even as he spoke he watched as the blond woman dove her claws tearing another spear of stone to ribbons before it could reach him, her mismatched eyes blazing as they turned to him above an angry snarl.

"SHUT UP AND STAY DOWN!" roared the woman as she turned back towards the pair of attackers her own breath coming in a few panting breaths. Even with her impressive reserves the drawn out retreat had chipped away at her reserves till she now stood with only a fraction of her full power, and even that was limited with comrades on the battlefield.

_This isn't good. _ Muttered the woman glancing up to see the larger group of attackers rushing out to engage the Konoha forces.

_And now Konoha's here….I can't give them an opening like this….darn tree lovers may finished what these bastards started… _Thought the blond just before she felt the equivalent of a mental smack that momentarily shook her.

"**Enough of that Kitten, do not be suspicious of my Kaasan she is not the kind to deal in lies. I swear if you embarrass me I won't let you forget it." **Lectured the great flaming cat as Yugito found herself blazing with her own flames of anger towards her passenger.

_THIS IS NOT THE TIME I'M BEING ATTACKED AND THOSE KONOHA SHINOIB MAY BE NEXT SO FOR ONE SECOND STOP WITH ALL OF THIS KAASAN CRAP! IF SHE'S SO GREAT WHY ISN'T SHE HELPING!? _ Yugito mentally shouted the situation finally breaking through her calm. For a second as she spun to launch a pair of blue balls of flame towards the attackers she believed that Matatabi had finally been driven to silence her focus returning to the battle just as a deep sigh came from the blue flamed cat.

"**Kitten's these days, so focused on themselves, who do you suppose that is then, if not help?"** asked Matatabi mentally nodding towards the pair of attackers just as a horned girls dropped behind one of the two silent as a shadow. As Yugito turned her eyes ran across the new arrival the wide black and white eyes, the horns that resembled the ears of a rabbit, but most of all what the woman clutched in her hands.

The attacking shinobi's first warning of the newest arrival was a sudden crashing impact in the center of his back. As the overwhelming force came there was a dull thrum of power as he suddenly felt a wave of chakra building behind him before he was flying across the grassy field rolling to a stop just before his partner. As he rolled to a stop his whole body shivered once before simply shutting down his last glimpse, before his mind joined his body, being of his partner now looking horrified at whatever had done this to him.

Joining Yugito the remianing attacker stared in open shock as Hinata rose tracing down the woman's bear arms to the long handled of what looked like some kind of glowing blue hammer. Oddly enough the hammer itself was longer on one end that it's other, like the kind that old fairytales told of rabbits using to pound out treats for children. As the pair watched Hinata pulled the hammer up to cradle against her slightly as he looked up at the remaining shinobi who stood frozen as he looked across at the one who had just attacked them.

"Mo…mocha rabbit?" managed the man in a tone of blank shock just before Yugito flickered behind him a pair of clawed hands dancing out towards him as she did. The next moment with a slight cry of pain the man crumpled to the ground, fresh crimson lines now drawn across his chest. Even as the man fell Yugito spun to face the horned girl her mismatched eyes moving up to meet the girls own. For a few moments the two simply started at one another before with a heavy breath Hinata let her horns and hammer fade the chakra constructing both flickering for a moment before dispersing as she blinked her usual pale eyes back towards the woman who blinked a few times a little surprised by the sudden change.

_A Hyuuga? What the hell was that? I've never heard about Hyuugas having horns? _Thought Yugito before Hinata's calm voice called across to her cutting off her thoughts before they could continue anew.

"Will you let me help them?" asked Hinata calmly looking too the pair behind Yugito as the blond turned her gaze back towards Hinata eyes narrowing slightly. This did not go unnoticed to Hinata who in turn matched the woman's glare her hands clenching slightly as she drew in a clamming breath.

"We came to help you, and if I don't hurry those two are going to bleed out. I don't like you're village either but I won't let them die for that." called Hinata as Yugito glanced back to her team silently cursing at the situation before with reluctance she lowered her claws, letting the tenseness go out of her muscles.

"Fine but if you try…" began the blond before Hinata pushed past her taking a knee beside the first shinobi. As Yugito turned she saw the girl's hands glowing green as she pressed them to the injured man's chest, his voice coming out in a small pained groan that slowly softened as Hinata continued her work.

_Just like that? Is she a fool I could be after her an unmarked Hyuuga like this? _wondered Yugito as another sigh drew her attention once more inside as her tenant shook her head in apparent annoyance with her host.

"**Oh my little nephew is so cute…I'm sure Kaasan is proud, oh and so well behaved. " **remarked the cat drawing complete confusion from the blonde woman.

_What? Matatabi what are you talking about? _asked Yugito as she glanced around to make sure another attacker was not approaching, sparing a glance back to the Hyuuga what was engrossed in her work.

"**Kitten you're exhausted, we are being watched right now, and that Hyuuga is not open." **Replied Matatabi as Yugito glanced back noticing for the first time that a small black object was now perched upon the blue hair of the girl a pair of mismatched glowing eyes looking pointedly at her from what appeared to be a small nine tailed fox creature.

_What the?_ wondered Yugito as the fox creature watched her stationary except for the continued waving of its tails. Just as she was about to ask what this was the shinobi she had struck down began to rise behind her his bloody chest heaving as he reached to pull out another blade to strike down the woman before him.

The next moment, however, he was hit with a blast of charka squarely in the face, that detonated a second later sending him sprawling to the ground as Yugito spun to see his now unmoving form collapse upon the field. Looking back she saw the little fox creature shutting a small mouth composed of several oddly symmetrical points as it let out what she thought was some kind of happy hum.

"Thank you Kyueed." Smiled Hinata as she continued to work drawing a small yip from the fox creature as Yugito looked between the creature and the downed shinobi still lost as inside her head Matatabi was letting out a purring giggle.

"**Oh and strong, maybe Ototo is a better tousan than I would have thought. Hum…maybe Kaasan will let me have my own…I do think another kitten wouldn't be so bad."** Thought the cat as Yugito simply stood slightly dumbfounded her eyes slowly tracing back towards the open field where the last remnants of the battle were underway.

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Across the field the remaining six shinobi stood in a wide circle around the blond shinobi watching his black masked face turning between them twin dots of orange light facing each in turn. Drawing in a small breath Naruto allowed his hands to fall to his side each empty, against his orange coat that whipped around him.

"Fool, you could have lived if you'd left!" cried one of the shinobi, draped in a ragged looking uniform red and brown like those of Iwa. After speaking the man began to fly through hand sighs prompting the same from his fellows as Naruto's almost lazy gaze drifted across them. Soon pulses of chakra were starting to rocket up from each as Naruto audibly sighed as he let one of the nine orbs circling his back slowly drift into his free left hand. As the orb moved into the boys grasp the surrounding shinobi finished their work each crying out as blasts of fire, earth, lightening and water were hurtled towards the blond from all angles. As the attacks closed the blackened orb, decorated by a single golden stripe, broke in the blonds grasp, flooding up the blonds arm swallowing the bright orange behind a wave of black decorated by a large golden stripe that wound around the boys arm. A moment later a thunder of explosions ripped out as the attacks plunged one after another into the blond kicking up clouds of dust with each impact, each successive attack adding to the din as the broke upon their target.

After thunder of attacks finally died down the shinobi watching as the dust slowly cleared a few openly smirking at how easily the shinobi had apparently fallen, their eyes tracing across the slowly clearing dust for any sign of the shinobi. Still others watched silently eyes narrowed at the last sight they had glimpse of the blond, their instincts telling them that something about this was off.

"Good now!" began one of the shinobi a moment before a grinding noise drew his eyes around just in time to see a blackened claw, the size of a small food cart, shooting out of the dust streaking out as it plowed forwards towards him dagger like figures all pointed at him. Just as the man began to step back the clawed hand opened wide as the palm of the horrible appendage seemed to ripple just as several blackened tendrils exploded out reaching forwards to ensnare the man.

With a desperate cry the man swung a kunai towards one of the tendrils only to see sparks erupt as for a second the blade scattered the black mass, like so many grains of sand, only to stop with a grinding sound as it connected with was appeared to be a blackened chain. Before the shinobi could get more than a glimpse of the object it was again swallowed by the blackened sand as he found the tendrils themselves wrapping around him dragging him forwards across the open field towards the horrible looking claw.

"HELP!" cried the man in a panic as he tried to struggle free only to find his body weakening as the sand rushed over him the clawed fingers closing around him as it withdrew back into the dust cloud his fellows to slow to do more than watch in abject horror at what they were seeing. A moment later from within the dust came a dull thump of something hitting flesh as the sounds of struggle died out.

Just as the group began to shake themselves out of their stupor there was a whooshing sound as their fellow came flying out of the clouds smashing into the ground once before rolling to a halt where he lay unmoving.

"Wh…what?" managed one of the shinobi as his fellows drew blades eyes focused back to where the dust was slowly parting showing the scarred earth of the training field. As the dust continued to drift away the group froze as they saw the destruction suddenly stop as if cut off by some invisible wall; at the center of which stood a familiar pair of blackened legs. Following them up the group stared unbelieving at Naruto's form, unchanged, and unblemished apart from his right arm now decorated by that golden striped cover stood motionless.

However, what truly drew the attacker's eyes was what hung slightly above that arm, hanging there as if attacked to some invisible giant, that horrible clawed arm. If floated like some kind of cloud beside the blond, a few small trails leading from the boys shoulder to the appendage, that was even then mimicking his arms movements as thought they were one in the same.

"Mo…mon…MOSTER!" cried one of the shinobi flinging a blade towards the blond who turned his blackened face around at the sound. As the blade neared Naruto simply flicked his hand as the sand arm exploded out into a wave swallowing the blade before flickering back to position as a kunai fell to the ground with a soft thump from within its blackened folds.

_Really why do they always say that?_ Naruto mentally muttered as from within his mind a deep voice called out in a lecturing voice drawing his momentary attention.

"**Because that is was you meat bags do fear what is greater than you. Now let my Sochi handle your defense and finish this fight, I would like to see those that endangered my imoto in pain." **Called a giant Tanuki sitting upon a wave of sand as his looked across the grassy mindscape to where his mother stood looking towards the sky where the events outside were visible.

"**Yep just leave it to my grandbaby and show them what they get!" **called Juubi happily pumping a fist up from the folds of her grey kimono as around her, her remaining children nodding in agreement.

_Right ok Juubi-sensei, Hear that Seekaku? _Naruto mentally called as a heavy hum worked over his arm as he mentally sent another seed around to his free arm where it cracked covering it in a similar blackened glove, only lacking the decorated strip.

As the second cover shifted into place small eruptions of chakra kicked off from each of the blonds feet, as a few pollens exploded, rocketing him forwards towards a group of three attackers still frozen after what they had witnessed. With cries of fear the trio began to fling blades and justus towards the approaching blond. As if carrying a mind of its own the blackened sand rushed forwards waving out to capture the blades, or battering away the balls of flame and stone as Naruto closed, the sequence of pulsing chakra from his pollens turning him into an orange blur, as he rushed the three.

A moment later he was among them the blackened wave of sand lashing out in a wide wave that smashed into each of them with enough force to stagger them. Before any could ready themselves Naruto was already air born spinning to meet them. With another explosion of pollens and flash of purple chakra Naruto's leg came around into a devastating kick that caught the first shinobi in the face with enough force to send him flying through the wave of blackened sand, that now swirled around them, and into a nearby tree with an audible crack of impact.

Even as their fellow flew back one of the remaining pair rushed forwards at the teen who still hung in midair his arm flinging up, blade in hand, towards Naruto. However, before his blade could come within a foot of the boy the sand itself rocketed forwards slamming, like a fist, into the figure bowling him over as an angry hum came out. Looking up the Man's last sight was of some kind of blackened figure pulling themselves free of the boys arm, a pair of mismatched glowing eyes meeting his a moment before the sand slammed him into the ground with a dull fleshy thump. The final of the trio seeing this blackened creature's appearance let out a roar carry both fear and rage as he swung his fist towards its head. As his fist rocketed towards the creature he vaguely heard another small popping explosion as a flash of purple erupted a second before Naruto's blackened left fist smashed into his head from above driving him down into the ground beside his fellow just as Naruto landed his masked face turning to see Seekaku now rising from the second attacker.

"Nice, but next time there's no need to leave." Chuckled Naruto waving his now bare right hand showing the absence of his stripped accessory. With a small, almost tired sounding, hum Seekaku nodded glancing down at the three as the blackened wall of sand around them slowly coalesce into its tail so that it now stood fully formed, a blackened copy of Naruto only sporting a pair of tanuki ears to go with its massive tails and clawed arms.

"Well look after these three, I'll let Homeed handle the others, he's getting anxious after all." commented Naruto as he saw Seekaku give what almost appeared to be an eye roll sigh as it watched the seven striped orb move down to break across the boys arm swallowing it in another addition.

As this finished Naruto turned to see the remaining five shinobi watching him as the black sand fell away their eyes traveling from their downed comrades to the imposing forms of Naruto and Seekaku.

"TAKE HIM!" cried one of them as he began to fly through signs as Naruto spun to face them, another small eruption of pollens, flinging him forwards across the field towards the remaining shinobi. As he neared, dodging around the random shots of fire and water, the remaining pair, that looked to have once belonged to Kiri, dropped their jutsu assault instead rushing forwards pulling katana's from their backs which they brought swinging around towards the blonde.

As the blades descended Naruto swung his orange striped arm around as it began to bubble the seemingly living blackness flinging itself out to impact the blades as a shower of sparks rose up a second later with a grinding sound of impact. From behind their swords the attacking shinobi froze as they saw a pair of waving blades pushing out of the blackened shoulder of the teen, like some kind of sharpened insect winds slapping their weapons aside causing them to leap back eyes wide. Even as the pair landed they saw another four blades push from the blond's blackened shoulder as if by their own accord. Swinging free the blades surged up free form the boy on the ends of blackened chains waving like some kind of horrible serpents. In the next instant the four blades flung themselves forwards slashing down at them forcing them to raise their blades in a desperate attempt to shield their bodies. The resulting clash sent them reeling back even as a final whip like tendril shot out smashing into their hands causing their blades to go flying.

As the blades spun free into the air the chained blades whipped back from the pair just as Naruto rushed after them the six blades snapping into place upon the boys back like some kind of odd decorative wing. As the two shinobi recoiled from the bladed assault they looked up just in time to see Naruto's other arm swinging forwards the palm open towards them as another rippling occurring a second before a storm of black rods shot forth one after another slamming into the pair with bone breaking force drawing a strangled cries from them. The rods impact drove them to the ground as Naruto skipped to a stop hand raised as he watched the pair groaning on the ground for a moment before letting his hand fall to his side as he glance back across the field.

"Well that was fast….guess they were more worn out than I thought." Muttered Naruto as his mask slowly cracked falling away into a small wave of pollens his remaining seeds dropping down to form in the blackened seedlings. As the black figures appeared Naruto let out a small pulse as his blacked wing shrunk back into his blackened arm. After a small shiver the striped covering receded into a familiar orb that Homeed soon emerged from a moment later dropping the ground beside him. The winged knight had changed little over the years, only growing to match its creator's height, and so as it rose it struck a rather intimidating appearance.

As the son of Chomei appeared it turned its mismatched orange and purple eyes around a metal hum issuing from behind its vented face as it set its fists onto its armored hips taking a cocky pose as it looked across the field to where Seekaku stood glancing back, his own mismatched purple and gold eyes focusing for a moment on the knight before with a humming sigh he looked back to his work a little shake of his head accompanying the motion.

"**YA YOU TELL HIM SOICHI SEEDKAKU'S SO JELOUS!" **called a happy chirping from inside Naruto's head as the golden swarm that was Chomei swirled around excitedly drawing an audible grown from her elder brother.

"**Imoto this isn't a competition….and even if they were Seekaku is far superior to Homeed." **Spoke Shukaku in a heavy tone as from across the grassy mindscape Kyu let out a huff drawing a few eyes.

"**And Kyueed is better than anyone because he's fluffy." ** Called the fox happily as from before the cage the small form of Kyueed that now resided within the mindscape rolled around trying and failing to grab at the massive tails of Goku who was enjoying pestering the small fox. Both Homeed and Shukaku blinked over at this performance before turning to see Juubi watching them all her arms folded.

"**My grandbabies are not a competition they are mine." **Stated Juubi simply eyeing her children who each paused for a moment before nodding in understand bringing a smile to the woman's face as she turned back to the outside world. Where Naruto couldn't help but smile at the bit of the conversation he had snatched.

With a little shake of his head Naruto pointed towards the downed group as Homeed and the rest of the seedlings set to work gathering them, leaving Naruto to turn his eyes around to see Naruko and Minami, aided by clones, doing much the same as him.

As the clones and seedlings got to work Naruto found himself moving over to where Hinata was finishing up her work on the Kumo forces; his sisters falling into step beside him as they approached the group.

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From her position Yugito watched the three teens approaching as within her mind Matatabi had begun her lecture anew which was doing little to help the woman hold onto her emotions after the recent series of events.

"**Good now that's done, ok here she comes, oh and Ototo to…well two anyway, still remember back straight, gah if only we had time to fix your hair. Well nothing to do now, but bow low, Kaasan was part of Kami's court she is knows manners when she sees them, oh and don't fidget it's not ladylike, oh and you claws are covered in blood, no no that won't do well just put them behind your back, and…"** continued Matatabi as the last strings of Yugito's sanity were quickly snapping.

A surprise attack, that she could handle, her team injured, hard but she could handle, Matatabi's constant motherly lectures annoying but something she was used to, group of Konoha shinobi obviously dangerous now surrounding her hard but still manageable….all of these together….not so much. So giving the situation Yugito's reaction to all of this was rather tame in comparison to what it could have been.

As Naruto, Naruko and Minami stepped but to stand before her the blonds body just moved in an odd mixture of proper etiquette and honesty that would have appeared odd to anyone who didn't know what kind of day it had already been.

With a jerk Yugito snapped into a solders position before bowling low so that her mop of blond hair fell over her head causing the three before her to now be facing what appeared to be a creature of pure blond hair from which issues an oddly jerky voice.

"hELlo I am Yugito Ni Jonin of KUMo and PROPER lady; I throw the FIRE that makes the people fall down and have a Cat LIVING IN MY HEAD who is currently yelling at me to stop embarrassing her in front of her mother WHO LIVES IN THE MOON, thank you for sending the moochi bunny to help you tree loving BASTARDS. Now if you wish to attack me I will be happy to attack you with my claws which are VERY DIRTY, I apologize for that, and then collapse." Finished the woman in one breath never taking her eyes from the ground the three siblings blinking down at her unsure of just what to make of that particular first impression.

**And that's the end of that chapter, and no I don't count that as a cliffhanger, but I expect the rants anyway so go ahead lol. **

**Quickly because I can see this being a question, but with Naruto's new ability, the idea is thanks to his work with Kyueed, he can now merge with the seedlings to a greater extent allowing for both the ability to draw from their chakra as well as using their individual powers to augment his own and vice versa.**

**Hope that helps and thanks again to everyone for your support **

**Songbird out.**


	32. Authors Notedon't panic 3

**Authors Note.**

**Ok sorry for such a long break long story short finals +work + head injury = long break…and butter for some reason…thinking that last part is the head injury. Anyway sorry for the delay but I will be updating again soon, in the meantime I have a little something for you chapters 1-5.5 (yes 5.5 is new) have been redone by myself and around 38,000 words added between them for your enjoyment, just looking back and fixing the chapters I wrote in a day a piece. If you are interested take a look and tell me what you think. If you like the changes then I'll start doing the same on the other chapters in between working on the new ones. Thanks as always.**

**Also saw the new Naruto manga….yeah I'm not buying it Sakura's the mother, heck wouldn't be surprised if Sasuke doesn't even know he has a daughter lol.**

**Songbird out.**


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